Atypical Emotional Electrodermal Activity in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Angelina Vernetti, Frederick Shic, Laura Boccanfuso and 7 others
PMID 32896980WHAT IT FOUND
Toddlers with autism showed typical physiological arousal to frustration but significantly lower arousal to threatening objects than typically developing peers.
Their skin conductance decreased in response to fear probes, suggesting they may not perceive these nonsocial threats as dangerous.
Key findings
01Toddlers with ASD showed a significant decrease in skin conductance when exposed to threatening objects, whereas typically developing toddlers showed an increase.
02There was no difference in physiological arousal between groups during anger or joy conditions, and both groups showed comparable increases in arousal during frustration.
03Physiological arousal levels did not correlate with autism symptom severity in any condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study may have been underpowered to detect smaller differences in arousal during anger conditions. The fear and anger probes were nonsocial (objects, restraints), so results may not apply to social threats or interactions. The study did not include a developmental delay comparison group, so it is unclear if the low fear response is specific to autism or common in other developmental conditions. Skin conductance only measures sympathetic nervous system activity, missing parasympathetic regulation which is also important for emotion.
Declared interests
The authors report no biomedical financial interests or conflicts of interest. The study was supported by NIH grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume toddlers with ASD are generally emotionally dysregulated or hyperaroused. This study found typical arousal to frustration and lower arousal to nonsocial threats, indicating that emotional responses in ASD are highly dependent on the specific context and type of stimulus.