title: 'Hath charms to soothe . . .': an exploratory study of how high-functioning adults with ASD experience music.
abstract: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 high-functioning adults on the autism spectrum, in order to examine the nature of their personal experiences of music. Consistent with the literature on typically developing people's engagement with music, the analysis showed that most participants exploit music for a wide range of purposes in the cognitive, emotional and social domains, including mood management, personal development and social inclusion. However, in contrast to typically developing people, the ASD group's descriptions of mood states reflected a greater reliance on internally focused (arousal) rather than externally focused (emotive) language.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. r.allen@gold.ac.uk
authors.forename: Rory
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heaton
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001143:Arousal; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009146:Music; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult