De Jesus Cintron Kassandra, Yang Xiao
Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, 346G Mills Godwin Life Sciences Building, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Oct 7;14(10):903. doi: 10.3390/bs14100903.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that influences an individual's cognitive functions and social interaction. While most studies have focused on children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD, elevated levels of autistic traits in subclinical populations may also influence individuals' daily functioning. Autistic traits are also linked to the Big Five personality. In particular, neuroticism (emotion instability) has been shown to be positively associated with autistic traits, which may contribute to behavioral symptoms of autistic traits. The present study aimed to investigate the association between autistic symptoms and sensorimotor processing among a subclinical population. One hundred young adults ( = 20.32 years; = 3.69 years; 69 female) completed a choice reaction time (RT) task, and their behavioral performance was analyzed using the ex-Gaussian modeling. The Autism Quotient (AQ) and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) were used to assess autistic traits and neuroticism, respectively. The mediation analysis was conducted to examine the behavioral mechanism through which autistic traits influence sensorimotor processing. The results showed that the AQ score was negatively correlated with RT and positively correlated with neuroticism score. Importantly, the mediation analysis indicated an indirect effect, suggesting that neuroticism mediates the association between the AQ score and RT. The findings indicated a possible mechanism of the association between autistic traits and sensorimotor responses and suggested that neuroticism should be included as an intervention target for ASD. The present study contributes to the research on autistic traits and has practical implications for future intervention programs to improve daily functioning among individuals with ASD.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经发育障碍，会影响个体的认知功能和社交互动。虽然大多数研究都集中在被诊断患有ASD的儿童和青少年身上，但亚临床人群中自闭症特征水平的升高也可能影响个体的日常功能。自闭症特征还与大五人格相关。特别是，神经质（情绪不稳定）已被证明与自闭症特征呈正相关，这可能导致自闭症特征的行为症状。本研究旨在调查亚临床人群中自闭症症状与感觉运动处理之间的关联。100名年轻人（平均年龄 = 20.32岁；标准差 = 3.69岁；69名女性）完成了一项选择反应时（RT）任务，并使用前高斯模型分析了他们的行为表现。分别使用自闭症商数（AQ）和十项人格量表（TIPI）来评估自闭症特征和神经质。进行中介分析以检验自闭症特征影响感觉运动处理的行为机制。结果表明，AQ得分与RT呈负相关，与神经质得分呈正相关。重要的是，中介分析表明存在间接效应，表明神经质介导了AQ得分与RT之间的关联。这些发现揭示了自闭症特征与感觉运动反应之间关联的一种可能机制，并表明神经质应作为ASD的干预目标。本研究为自闭症特征的研究做出了贡献，并对未来改善ASD个体日常功能的干预计划具有实际意义。
