The subjective experience of music in autism spectrum disorder.
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. The analysis showed that most participants exploit music for a wide range of purposes in the cognitive, emotional and social domains, but the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) group's descriptions of mood states reflected a greater reliance on internally focused (arousal) rather than externally focused (emotive) language, when compared with studies of typically developing individuals.
Allen
Rory
R
Goldsmiths, University of London, Department of Psychology, New Cross, London, United Kingdom. R.Allen@gold.ac.uk
Hill
Elisabeth
E
Heaton
Pamela
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D055815:Young Adult