title: Over-Selectivity is Related to Autism Quotient and Empathizing, But not to Systematizing.
abstract: The relationships of autism quotient (AQ), systematizing (SQ), and empathizing (EQ), with over-selectivity were explored to assess whether over-selectivity is implicated in complex social skills, which has been assumed, but not experimentally examined. Eighty participants (aged 18-60) were trained on a simultaneous discrimination task (AB+CD-), and tested in extinction on the degree to which they had learned about both elements of the reinforced (AB) compound. Higher AQ and lower EQ scorers demonstrated greater over-selectivity, but there was no relationship between SQ and over-selectivity. These results imply that high AQ scorers perform similarly to individuals with ASD on this cognitive task, and that over-selectivity may be related to some complex social skills, like empathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK. p.reed@swansea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D066107:Social Skills; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Autism quotient; Broad autistic phenotype; Empathizing quotient; Over-selectivity; Systematizing quotient