Understanding Emotional Flexibility in Autism: The Social Factor Matters

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Lacroix, A., Bennetot-Deveria, Y., Baciu, M., Dutheil, F., Magnon, V., Gomot, M., & Mermillod, M. (2024). Understanding Emotional Flexibility in Autism: The Social Factor Matters [Preprint]. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4330306/v1

Publication date: 9 May 2024 Added to AutiHub: 9 Aug 2026 Type: Preprint Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
7
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 7 (14.3%)
  1. Adeline Lacroix *
  2. Yoann Bennetot-Deveria
  3. Monica Baciu
  4. Frédéric Dutheil
  1. Valentin Magnon
  2. Marie Gomot
  3. Martial Mermillod

Abstract

Abstract Autistic individuals often present difficulties in flexibly adjusting their behavior, yet laboratory experiments have yielded inconsistent results, potentially due to various influencing factors requiring precise examination. This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that the social content of stimuli could play a specific role in some of the flexibility challenges faced by autistic individuals. We analyzed data from 256 adult participants (124 with autism), matched in age, gender, and sex, who performed an emotional shifting task involving unpredictable shifts between positive and negative stimuli. In addition, the task had a social and a non-social condition. Our results revealed a larger switch cost in the social compared to the non-social condition, which was more pronounced in autism compared to non-autistic individuals. Expanding upon previous research demonstrating a greater switch cost in autistic than non-autistic individuals for socio-emotional stimuli, our study further extends these findings by highlighting that the social context, rather than the emotional nature of the stimuli alone, could play a particular role in some of the flexibility challenges faced by autistic individuals. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to investigate if these results also apply to autistic children or autistic individuals who also have intellectual disabilities.

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Cited references
55
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
3 / 55 (5.5%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
3 / 232 (1.3%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 3 / 67 (4.5%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 2 / 208 (1.0%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
67 / 232 (28.9%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 49 / 208 (23.6%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
64 / 67 (95.5%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 64 / 232 (27.6%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 47 / 49 (95.9%).
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