Co-segregation of Social Cognition, Executive Function and Local Processing Style in Children with ASD, their Siblings a
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Co-segregation of Social Cognition, Executive Function and Local Processing Style in Children with ASD, their Siblings and Normal Controls Anoek M. Oerlemans • Katharina Droste • Daphne J. van Steijn • Leo M. J. de Sonneville Jan K. Buitelaar • Nanda N. J. Rommelse
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Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition, affective prosody, and facial emotion recognition), EF (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal working memory) and local processing style was assessed. Compelling evidence was found for the interrelatedness of SC and EF, but not local processing style, within individuals and within families, suggesting that these domains tend to co-
Katharina Droste is no longer employed by the Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. A. M. Oerlemans K. Droste N. N. J. Rommelse Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands A. M. Oerlemans (&) D. J. van Steijn J. K. Buitelaar N. N. J. Rommelse Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre Nijmegen, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC Nijmegen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] L. M. J. de Sonneville Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands J. K. Buitelaar Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
segregate in ASD. Using the underlying shared variance of these constructs in genetic research may increase the power for detecting susceptibility genes for ASD. Keywords Autism Spectrum Disorder Social cognition Executive function Local processing style Familial segregation
Introduction Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are pervasive developmental disorders, characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and by restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities (American Psychiatric Association 2000). Evidence from twin and family studies suggest a large genetic contribution, with heritability estimates up to 90 % (see for reviews Freitag 2007; Holt and Monaco 2011). Twin and family studies have also shown that genetic liability for ASD is expressed in unaffected relatives of individuals with ASD through features that are milder but qualitatively similar to the defining characteristics of ASD (Losh et al. 2009). This is referred to as the ‘‘broader autistic phenotype’’ (BAP). Exploration of the
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