title: Autism Tendencies and Psychosis Proneness Interactively Modulate Saliency Cost.
abstract: Atypical responses to salient information are a candidate endophenotype for both autism and psychosis spectrum disorders. The present study investigated the costs and benefits of such atypicalities for saliency-based selection in a large cohort of neurotypical adults in whom both autism and psychosis expressions were assessed. Two experiments found that autism tendencies and psychosis proneness interactively modulated the cost incurred in the presence of a task-irrelevant salient distractor. Specifically, expressions of autism and psychosis had opposing effects on responses to salient information such that the benefits associated with high expressions for autism offset costs associated with high expressions for psychosis. The opposing influences observed on saliency cost may be driven by distinct attentional mechanisms that are differentially affected by expressions for autism and psychosis.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK; a.m.abu-akel@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abu-Akel
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Apperly
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.|Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Carmel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mevorach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autism; cognitive control; interindividual differences; salience; schizotypy; selective attention