Physiological Arousal and Emotion Regulation Strategies in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

AUT766439_Lay_Abstract – Supplemental material for Concordance between physiological arousal and emotion expression during fear in young children with autism spectrum disorders

<p>Supplemental material, AUT766439_Lay_Abstract for Concordance between physiological arousal and emotion expression during fear in young children with autism spectrum disorders by Gemma Zantinge, Sophie van Rijn, Lex Stockmann and Hanna Swaab in Autism</p

Concordance between physiological arousal and emotion expression during fear in young children with autism spectrum disorders

This study aimed to measure emotional expression and physiological arousal in response to fear in 21 children with autism spectrum disorders (43–75 months) and 45 typically developing children (41–81 months). Expressions of facial and bodily fear and heart rate arousal were simultaneously measured in response to a remote controlled robot (Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery). Heart rate analyses revealed a main effect of task from baseline to fear (p r = 0.45, n = 45, p r = 0.20, n = 21, p = 0.38). A moderation analysis revealed no significant interaction between expression and arousal for children with and without autism spectrum disorder (F(1, 62) = 1.23, p = 0.27,  2   ηp2 ), which might be the result of limited power. The current results give reason to further study concordance between expression and arousal in early autism spectrum disorder. Discordance might significantly impact social functioning and is an important topic in light of both early identification and treatment