Many studies have already focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, few studies have focused on specifically women with ASD. In practice, evidence is provided for the fact that women with...Show moreMany studies have already focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, few studies have focused on specifically women with ASD. In practice, evidence is provided for the fact that women with ASD show different symptoms than men with ASD, especially as regards to social skills. These different symptoms sometimes make these women hard to distinguish from women without ASD, with wrong diagnosis and treatments as a result. Therefore, information about these differences between women with and without ASD is needed. The first purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between arousal and emotion recognition of women with ASD. The second purpose of this study is to investigate the role of alexithymia on this relationship. Emotion recognition was examined by two tasks, Prosody Task (vocal emotion recognition) and FERT (visual emotion recognition), in a group of 31 women with ASD and 32 women without ASD, controlled for educational level. The current study used heart rate as a measure of physiological activity to relate arousal responses in rest to accuracy of emotion recognition. With the use of a Mediation Model is examined whether alexithymia is playing a mediating role on the relationship between the arousal and emotion recognition. Findings revealed that women with ASD do not differ from women without ASD in their ability to recognize emotions. In addition, no relationship was found between arousal and emotion recognition of women with ASD. Moreover, alexithymia did not play a mediating role. Although these findings are contrary to expectation, they support the hypothesis that women with ASD are hard to distinguish from women without ASD due to their (relatively) intact socio-emotional skills. This highlights the need to adapt current diagnostic and therapeutic protocols to meet the needs of these women. However, more research to social development of women with ASD is needed.Show less
The relationship between alexithymia and arousal and the effect of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on this relationship is examined in this research. In other research a relationship has been...Show moreThe relationship between alexithymia and arousal and the effect of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on this relationship is examined in this research. In other research a relationship has been established between ASD or alexithymia and high arousal. A prolonged increased arousal increases risk of psychosomatic problems. Therefore, research on arousal in ASD and alexithymia is relevant. In addition, studies on ASD have usually included men only, although there is evidence that women have other features of ASD. It is important to investigate this potential gender difference in the relation between ASD and arousal. In this study participated only women, 30 with ASD and 30 without ASD. Arousal was recorded by the average heartbeat per minute in two conditions: at rest and during stress. In the stress conditions participants looked at tree clips of social situations that evoke different emotions. In the resting condition participants watched a soothing movie clip. Alexithymia is measured by the BVAQ. Findings revealed that there were no significant differences in the arousal at rest or in stress between females with alexithymia or ASD and females without alexithymia or ASD. There were no significant relations between the two dimensions of alexithymia and arousal. Furthermore, ASD was not a moderator in the relation between alexithymia and arousal in either condition. As such the current research suggests that there is no higher risk of psychosomatic problems due to prolonged elevated arousal in people with ASD or alexithymia or a combination of both.Show less
