title: Co-segregation of social cognition, executive function and local processing style in children with ASD, their siblings and normal controls.
abstract: Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition, affective prosody, and facial emotion recognition), EF (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal working memory) and local processing style was assessed. Compelling evidence was found for the interrelatedness of SC and EF, but not local processing style, within individuals and within families, suggesting that these domains tend to co-segregate in ASD. Using the underlying shared variance of these constructs in genetic research may increase the power for detecting susceptibility genes for ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, am.oerlemans@psy.umcn.nl.
authors.forename: Anoek M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Oerlemans
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Droste
authors.forename: Daphne J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: van Steijn
authors.forename: Leo M J
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: de Sonneville
authors.forename: Jan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Buitelaar
authors.forename: Nanda N J
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Rommelse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior