Higher autism trait severity in children associates with diminished integration of angry prosody in semantic processing

Background: Previous studies examined group differences of individuals with and without autism. This study investigated individual differences in automatic integration of emotional prosody during semantic processing at the behavioral and neural levels among children using a continuous measure of autism trait severity.

Method: Event-related potentials (ERPs) of 46 children, 21 of them diagnosed with ASD, were measured. Children determined the semantic valence of spoken words, and ignored the emotional prosody, which was either congruent or incongruent with the semantic valence.

Results: Independent of congruency, higher autism trait severity and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) were associated with faster reaction times (RTs), while higher IQ and language ability were associated with higher accuracy. The difference between congruent and incongruent conditions (congruency effect) indicates automatic integration of emotional prosody in semantic processing. In ERPs, higher autism trait severity and higher IQ were associated with smaller congruency effects on P2 amplitudes for angry (but not happy) prosodic stimuli.

Conclusion: The findings suggest a stronger tendency to ignore angry prosodies among children with higher autism trait severity. This has implications for educational practices and parent counseling regarding communication with children with high autism trait severity.