Social Information Processing in Preschool Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The social cognitive deficiencies of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are well documented. However, the mechanisms underlying these deficiencies are unclear. Therefore, we examined the social information processing (SIP) patterns and social behaviors of 25 preschool children with ASDs in comparison to a matched group of 25 typically developing children. We found children with ASDs to be less likely than typically developing children to efficiently encode social information, to positively construct and evaluate competent responses, and to exhibit prosocial behaviors. They were also more likely than typically developing children to attribute hostile intentions to others in benign social situations, to construct and evaluate more positively aggressive responses, to construct more avoidant responses, and to display more externalizing behaviors. Interestingly, counterintuitive patterns of relationships were found within the ASD group with more competent SIP and theory of mind (ToM) patterns relating to less competent social behaviors. Finally, within the ASD group, more competent SIP patterns were found to be significantly related to higher ToM capacities.

Virtual Environment for Social Information Processing: Assessment of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…VESIP scores exhibited strong evidence of reliability. Consistent with prior studies using a range of assessment techniques [Channon et al, 2001;Bauminger et al, 2005;Embregts & van Nieuwenhuijzen, 2009;Flood et al, 2011;Meyer et al, 2006;Ziv et al, 2014;Russo-Ponsaran et al, 2015], children with ASD generally performed at a lower level than their TD peers. Response preferences varied significantly by diagnostic group.…”

“…Assessment of SIP skills has important implications for understanding the social challenges of children with an autism-spectrum disorder [ASD; Channon, Charman, Heap, Crawford, & Rios, 2001;Bauminger et al, 2005;Embregts & van Nieuwenhuijzen, 2009;Flood, Hare, & Wallis, 2011;Meyer, Mundy, Van Hecke, & Durocher, 2006;Ziv, Hadad, Khateeb, & Terkel-Dawer, 2014;Russo-Ponsaran et al, 2015]. For example, children with ASD have difficulty accurately describing the nature of a social problem and also encoding emotional and negative cues [Stichter, O'Connor, Herzog, Lierheimer, & McGhee, 2012].…”

Social‐Emotional Correlates of Early Stage Social Information Processing Skills in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Akin to work by Ziv et al [], theory of mind skills were most robustly correlated with problem identification and goal generation.…”

“…Another recent study evaluated SIP and theory of mind skills in preschool‐aged children with autism [Ziv et al, ]. Contrary to Flood et al [], Ziv et al [] identified a positive relationship between better performance on false belief and knowledge access theory of mind tests and SIP steps of encoding and response generation within the ASD group. Differences in age range and specific diagnosis confound the comparison of results.…”

Correlatos estructurales de las alteraciones cognitivas en niños con TEA

“…Las meteduras de pata (Faux pas) permiten valorar la sensibilidad social, mientras que la expresión emocional a través de la mirada valora aspectos emocionales complejos que surgen en la interacción social, permitiendo que la persona se ponga en el lugar de la otra persona (Tirapu-Ustárroz, Pérez-Sayes, Erekatxo-Bilbao y Pelegrín-Valero, 2007). Por tanto, las dificultades que caracterizan a los niños con TEA en el desarrollo de la ToM están relacionadas con un comportamiento social inadecuado y con malas habilidades de comunicación social (Lerner et al, 2011;Ziv, Hadad, Khateeb & Terkel-Dawer, 2014). …”