Enhanced Sensitivity to Angry Voices in People with Features of the Broader Autism Phenotype

The present study examined whether the ability to recognize vocal emotional expressions is negatively related to features of the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) in the general population. We assessed 61 typically developing adults on a BAP self-report measure (Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2018-11, Vol.48 (11), p.3899-3911
Main Authors: Yap, Valerie M. Z., McLachlan, Neil M., Scheffer, Ingrid E., Wilson, Sarah J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acknowledgment
Adult
Adults
Anger
Auditory Perception
Auditory Stimuli
Autism
Autistic Disorder - psychology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child and School Psychology
Emotion recognition
Emotional intelligence
Emotional Response
Emotions
Female
Genotype & phenotype
Humans
Interpersonal theory
Male
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Pediatrics
Personality Traits
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Phenotypes
Psychological aspects
Psychological Patterns
Psychological research
Psychology
Public Health
Questionnaires
Self report
Verbal Communication
Voice
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Summary:The present study examined whether the ability to recognize vocal emotional expressions is negatively related to features of the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) in the general population. We assessed 61 typically developing adults on a BAP self-report measure (Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire) and a purpose-developed online emotion recognition task for efficient delivery of non-linguistic vocal stimuli corresponding to the six basic emotions. Contrary to expectations, we found that higher self-ratings of rigid BAP traits correlated with better recognition accuracy and higher intensity ratings for angry voices. We interpret this anger-specific association as an advantage for enhanced threat detection in the BAP and discuss this finding in the broader context of personality research and interpersonal theory.
ISSN:0162-3257
1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-018-3641-7