Several measures have been developed to assess loneliness in the general population. Here, we examined if, and how accurately, widely-used measures capture the experience of loneliness in autistic adults. A total of 203 autistic participants from the UK completed an online survey, which included two widely-used loneliness questionnaires: the…

Although differences in DNA methylation have been associated with both syndromic and idiopathic autism, differential methylation has not been examined previously with respect to sex differences. The goals of this study were to (1) identify differences in the DNA methylation profiles of lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from a subgroup of severely…

Repetitive and restricted behaviours are a core feature of autism, and cognition in autistic individuals may also be repetitive and restricted. We aimed to investigate the relationship between repetitive behaviours and repetitive thinking. We predicted that autistic people would experience more repetitive, perseverative, visual and negative…

A common example of social differences in autism spectrum disorder is poor modulation of reciprocal gaze, including reduced duration of eye contact and difficulty detecting the aim of another's gaze. It remains unclear, however, whether such differences are specific to the social domain, or are instead indicative of broader alterations in…

Children with autism often display discrepancies in their intellectual functioning, with nonverbal skills frequently being more developed than verbal. Compared to monolingual autistic children, however, much less is known about how bilingualism affects intelligence in autism. The current study examined the intelligence profiles of 146 bilingual…

The mediators of real-world executive functions in autism during the transition into adulthood are mainly unknown. This study aimed to identify the mediators for the behavioral and cognitive domains of real-world executive functions in late adolescent and young adult autistic populations. We followed up 289 autistic children (aged 11.6 ± 3.8, male…

A case-control study was performed to determine whether an association exists between exposure to synthetic oxytocin and a subsequent autism spectrum disorder diagnosis; 171 children under age 18 meeting "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (5th ed.) autism spectrum disorder criteria were compared to 171 children…

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder show an increased risk of experiencing potentially traumatic events, particularly social victimization. However, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder co-occurrence was hardly studied. We examined exposure to potentially traumatic life events and PTSD symptoms in adults with Autism…

Anxiety is common in autism spectrum disorder. Many anxiety symptoms in autism spectrum disorder are consistent with "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (5th ed.) anxiety disorders (termed "common" anxieties), but others may be qualitatively different, likely relating to autism spectrum disorder traits…

Atypical learning and memory in early life can promote atypical behaviors in later life. Less relational learning and inflexible retrieval in childhood may enhance restricted and repeated behaviors in patients with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms of atypical memory in children with autism…

Among neurotypical adults, errors made with high confidence (i.e. errors a person strongly believed they would not make) are corrected more reliably than errors made with low confidence. This 'hypercorrection effect' is thought to result from enhanced attention to information that reflects a 'metacognitive mismatch' between one's beliefs and…

Mother-infant interactions are a proximal process in early development and may be especially salient for children who are at risk for social difficulties (i.e. infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder). To inform how indices of maternal behaviors may improve parent-mediated interventions designed to mitigate autism spectrum…

Rumination has a large direct effect on psychopathology but has received relatively little attention in autism spectrum disorder despite the propensity to perseverate in this population. This study provided initial evidence that adolescents with autism spectrum disorder self-report more anger-focused rumination than typically developing controls,…

Autism spectrum disorder is the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States. As such, there is an unprecedented need for research examining factors contributing to the health disparities in this population. This research suggests a relationship between the levels of physical activity and health outcomes. In fact, excessive…

The comprehension of dynamically unfolding social situations is made possible by the seamless integration of multimodal information merged with rich intuitions about the thoughts and behaviors of others. We examined how high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder and neurotypical controls made a complex social judgment (i.e. rating the…