The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome

C Ellie Wilson; Francesca Happé; Sally J Wheelwright; Christine Ecker; Michael V Lombardo; Patrick Johnston; Eileen Daly; Clodagh Murphy; Debbie Spain; Meng-Chuan Lai; Bhismadev Chakrabarti; Disa A Sauter; MRC AIMS consortium; Simon Baron-Cohen; Declan G M Murphy

doi:10.1002/aur.1394

The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome

C Ellie Wilson, Francesca Happé, Sally J Wheelwright, Christine Ecker, Michael V Lombardo, Patrick Johnston, Eileen Daly, Clodagh Murphy, Debbie Spain, Meng-Chuan Lai, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Disa A Sauter, MRC AIMS consortium, Simon Baron-Cohen, Declan G M Murphy

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Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources—including clinical history.

Original language	English
Journal	Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1394
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 2014

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10.1002/aur.1394

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Wilson, C. E., Happé, F., Wheelwright, S. J., Ecker, C., Lombardo, M. V., Johnston, P., Daly, E., Murphy, C., Spain, D., Lai, M.-C., Chakrabarti, B., Sauter, D. A., MRC AIMS consortium, Baron-Cohen, S., & Murphy, D. G. M. (2014). The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1394

@article{4ae2132a3f8441128bf43fdd53e167a8,

title = "The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome",

abstract = "Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources—including clinical history.",

author = "Wilson, {C Ellie} and Francesca Happ{\'e} and Wheelwright, {Sally J} and Christine Ecker and Lombardo, {Michael V} and Patrick Johnston and Eileen Daly and Clodagh Murphy and Debbie Spain and Meng-Chuan Lai and Bhismadev Chakrabarti and Sauter, {Disa A} and {MRC AIMS consortium} and Simon Baron-Cohen and Murphy, {Declan G M}",

year = "2014",

doi = "10.1002/aur.1394",

language = "English",

journal = "Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research",

issn = "1939-3806",

publisher = "Wiley",

}

Wilson, CE , Happé, F, Wheelwright, SJ, Ecker, C, Lombardo, MV, Johnston, P , Daly, E , Murphy, C , Spain, D, Lai, M-C, Chakrabarti, B, Sauter, DA, MRC AIMS consortium, Baron-Cohen, S & Murphy, DGM 2014, 'The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome', Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1394

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T1 - The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome

AU - Wilson, C Ellie

AU - Happé, Francesca

AU - Wheelwright, Sally J

AU - Ecker, Christine

AU - Lombardo, Michael V

AU - Johnston, Patrick

AU - Daly, Eileen

AU - Murphy, Clodagh

AU - Spain, Debbie

AU - Lai, Meng-Chuan

AU - Chakrabarti, Bhismadev

AU - Sauter, Disa A

AU - MRC AIMS consortium

AU - Baron-Cohen, Simon

AU - Murphy, Declan G M

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources—including clinical history.

AB - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources—including clinical history.

U2 - 10.1002/aur.1394

DO - 10.1002/aur.1394

M3 - Article

C2 - 24903974

SN - 1939-3806

JO - Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research

JF - Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research

ER -

The Neuropsychology of Male Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome

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