Additional file 1: of Initial evidence that non-clinical autistic traits are associated with lower income

This file gives further information about the financial decision task in study 2. It also tabulates the educational background of participants in studies 1–4, employment status for participants in studies 3 and 4, and ethnicities of participants in study 5. (PDF 286 kb

Empathizing-systemizing cognitive styles: Effects of sex and academic degree

<div><p>This study tests if the drives to empathize (E) and systemize (S), measured by the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (SQ-R) and Empathy Quotient (EQ), show effects of sex and academic degree. The responses of 419 students from the Humanities and the Physical Sciences were analyzed in terms of the E-S theory predictions. Results confirm that there is an interaction between sex, degree and the drive to empathize relative to systemize. Female students in the Humanities on average had a stronger drive to empathize than to systemize in comparison to males in the Humanities. Male students in the Sciences on average had a stronger drive to systemize than to empathize in comparison to females in the Sciences. Finally, students in the sciences on average had a stronger drive to systemize more than to empathize, irrespective of their sex. The reverse is true for students in the Humanities. These results strongly replicate earlier findings.</p></div

Percentage of participants classed into each brain type by sex, major and both sex and major.

<p>Percentage of participants classed into each brain type by sex, major and both sex and major.</p

Brain type boundaries, based on D scores of the current sample.

<p>Brain type boundaries, based on D scores of the current sample.</p

D scores as a function of sex and major.

<p>Error bars show 95% confidence intervals.</p

Differences in change blindness to real-life scenes in adults with autism spectrum conditions

<div><p>People often fail to detect large changes to visual scenes following a brief interruption, an effect known as ‘change blindness’. People with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have superior attention to detail and better discrimination of targets, and often notice small details that are missed by others. Together these predict people with autism should show enhanced perception of changes in simple change detection paradigms, including reduced change blindness. However, change blindness studies to date have reported mixed results in ASC, which have sometimes included no differences to controls or even enhanced change blindness. Attenuated change blindness has only been reported to date in ASC in children and adolescents, with no study reporting reduced change blindness in adults with ASC. The present study used a change blindness flicker task to investigate the detection of changes in images of everyday life in adults with ASC (n = 22) and controls (n = 22) using a simple change detection task design and full range of original scenes as stimuli. Results showed the adults with ASC had reduced change blindness compared to adult controls for changes to items of marginal interest in scenes, with no group difference for changes to items of central interest. There were no group differences in overall response latencies to correctly detect changes nor in the overall number of missed detections in the experiment. However, the ASC group showed greater missed changes for marginal interest changes of location, showing some evidence of greater change blindness as well. These findings show both reduced change blindness to marginal interest changes in ASC, based on response latencies, as well as greater change blindness to changes of location of marginal interest items, based on detection rates. The findings of reduced change blindness are consistent with clinical reports that people with ASC often notice small changes to less salient items within their environment, and are in-line with theories of enhanced local processing and greater attention to detail in ASC. The findings of lower detection rates for one of the marginal interest conditions may be related to problems in shifting attention or an overly focused attention spotlight.</p></div

Empathizing scores as a function of sex and major.

<p>Error bars show 95% confidence intervals.</p

Response latencies for central and marginal interest changes.

<p>Mean response latencies and standard errors by both groups for each of the three categories of changes. The ASC group was significantly faster than the control group to detect changes of location, with no group differences to detect changes of colour or absence/presence.</p

Distributions of D scores across “brain types” for females (F) and for males (M).

<p>Distributions of D scores across “brain types” for females (F) and for males (M).</p

Means and standard deviations of EQ and SQ-R and D scores for males and females in the humanities and the sciences.

<p>Means and standard deviations of EQ and SQ-R and D scores for males and females in the humanities and the sciences.</p