Neuropsychological profile of autism and the broad autism phenotype.
BACKGROUND
Multiple articles describe a constellation of language, personality, and social-behavioral features present in relatives that mirror the symptom domains of autism, but are much milder in expression. Studies of this broad autism phenotype (BAP) may provide a potentially important complementary approach for detecting the genes causing autism and defining associated neural circuitry by identifying more refined phenotypes that can be measured quantitatively in both affected and unaffected individuals and that are tied to functioning in particular regions of the brain.


OBJECTIVE
To gain insight into neuropsychological features that index genetic liability to autism.


METHODS
Case-control study.


METHODS
The general community.


METHODS
Thirty-eight high-functioning individuals with autism and parents of autistic individuals, both with and without the BAP (n = 83), as well as control individuals.


METHODS
A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tasks assessing social cognition, executive function, and global vs local processing strategies (central coherence).


RESULTS
Both individuals with autism and parents with the BAP differed from controls on measures of social cognition, with performance in the other 2 domains being more similar to controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Data suggest that the social cognitive domain may be an important target for linking phenotype to cognitive process to brain structure in autism and may ultimately provide insight into the genes involved in autism.
Department of Allied Health Sciences, Campus Box 7190, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7190, USA. losh@med.unc.edu
Molly
M
Losh
Ralph
R
Adolphs
Michele D
MD
Poe
Shannon
S
Couture
David
D
Penn
Grace T
GT
Baranek
Joseph
J
Piven
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010641:Phenotype; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult