The Costs and Benefits of Self-monitoring for Higher Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism

Abstract

The ability to regulate behaviors and emotions depends in part on the ability to flexibly monitor one’s own progress toward a goal. Atypical patterns of response monitoring have been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the current study we examined the error related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological index of response monitoring, in relation to behavioral, social cognitive, and emotional presentation in higher functioning children (8–16 years) diagnosed with autism (HFA: N = 38) and an age- and IQ-matched sample of children without autism (COM: N = 36). Both HFA and COM participants displayed larger amplitude responses to error compared to correct response trials and these amplitudes did not differ by diagnostic group. For participants with HFA, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with more parent-reported autistic symptoms and more self-reported internalizing problems. However, across the full sample, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with better performance on Theory of Mind tasks. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of electrophysiological measures for understanding essential moderating processes that contribute to the spectrum of behavioral expression in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Error‐related brain activity and anxiety symptoms in youth with autism spectrum disorder

“…The average accuracy rate for the group was 75.15% ( SD = 17.37), which is comparable to that seen in ASD samples [Henderson et al, ; South et al, ]. Consistent with previous research in non‐ASD [Meyer, Hajcak, Torpey‐Newman, Kujawa, & Klein, ; Meyer et al, ] and ASD samples [Henderson et al, ], response time (RT) was faster for error ( M = 391.82 ms, SD = 82.86) compared to correct trials ( M = 523.27 ms, SD = 158.59; t (50) = 6.37 , P < 0.001), while post‐error RT was slower ( M = 509.98 ms, SD = 152.68) compared to post‐correct RT ( M = 492.78 ms, SD = 135.45; t (50) = −2.54, P < 0.05).…”

“…To date, ten studies have been conducted that examine the ERN in ASD, some which provide inconsistent information regarding the relationship between the ERN and ASD symptoms. For example, though Henderson et al [] and Santesso et al [] found a larger ERN to relate to fewer ASD symptoms, Henderson et al [] found a larger ERN to relate to more ASD symptoms. By comparison, South, Larson, Krauskopf, and Clawson, [] found no relationship between ERN magnitude and ASD symptoms, and a more recent study found that the ERN was not correlated with ASD symptoms in family members of youth with ASD, nor in a control group [Clawson, South, Baldwin, & Larson, ].…”

“…First, the measurement of anxiety in these studies was broad; that is, South et al [] looked at a composite measure of overall anxiety (which included cue‐specific and generalized anxiety), rather than looking at generalized anxiety symptoms that are specific to the ERN, such as those seen in OCD, GAD, and SAD. Likewise, Henderson et al [] and Groen et al [] did not parse out generalized versus cue‐specific anxiety symptoms, or depression symptoms versus anxiety symptoms; rather, they indexed broadband internalizing symptoms, including anxiety and depression, and their relation to the ERN. Thus, it is unclear from these designs how cue‐specific anxiety, which is not related to a heightened ERN [Vaidyanathan et al, ], or depression, which can attenuate the ERN [Weinberg, Klein, et al, ], may have affected the results.…”

Impact of alcohol use disorder comorbidity on defensive reactivity to errors in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

“…Age, total CES scores (i.e., level of combat exposure), total CAPS scores (i.e., level of PTSD severity), and psychotropic medication status (yes/no; dummy-coded) were included as covariates in both models. The CRN was also included as a covariate to test whether the groups differed in ERN when controlling for potential differences in neural response to correct trials, consistent with prior studies (e.g., Henderson et al, 2015). The multilevel models used restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimation and an unstructured covariance matrix.…”

Power and Autistic Traits

“…For example, Baron-Cohen and Hammer (1997) found that parents of children with Asperger syndrome did worse than controls on a theory of mind-related test – while in a study of healthy university students, Kunihira et al (2006) did not find a relation between results on a theory of mind test and a test of autistic tendencies – and Henderson et al (2015) found no difference between high functioning autistic participants and typical controls on theory of mind tasks.…”