| Title | Emotional Arousal During Social Stress in Young Adults With Autism: Insights From Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability and Self-Report. | ||
| Author | Dijkhuis, Renee R; Ziermans, Tim; van Rijn, Sophie; Staal, Wouter; Swaab, Hanna | ||
| Journal | J Autism Dev Disord | Publication Year/Month | 2019-Jun |
| PMID | 30945093 | PMCID | PMC6546666 |
| Affiliation + expend | 1.Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies, Neuropedagogics and Developmental Disorders, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court Building, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands. | ||
In order to better understand which factors play a role in non-adaptive social behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) we looked into physiological arousal and awareness of one\'s own emotions. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during a public speaking task in 51 young adults with ASD and 28 typically developing (TD) controls. The results showed no significant group differences in baseline HR/HRV, HR reactivity (change from baseline to the speaking task) or self-reported emotional awareness. However, adults with ASD showed significantly lower HRV reactivity (p = .023, d = 0.6) compared to TD adults. These results suggest a mismatch between arousal regulation and emotional awareness, which may be related to problems in social adaptation in ASD.