eprintid: 1466983
rev_number: 31
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/01/46/69/83
datestamp: 2015-04-21 21:38:26
lastmod: 2021-10-05 00:37:54
status_changed: 2015-04-21 21:38:26
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
item_issues_count: 0
creators_name: Foulkes, L
creators_name: Bird, G
creators_name: Gökçen, E
creators_name: McCrory, E
creators_name: Viding, E
title: Common and distinct impacts of autistic traits and alexithymia on social reward.
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: C07
divisions: D05
divisions: F66
divisions: F69
note:  © 2015 Foulkes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
abstract: According to the social motivation hypothesis of autism, individuals with high levels of autistic traits experience reduced levels of reward from social interactions. However, empirical evidence to date has been mixed, with some studies reporting lower levels of social reward in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and others finding no difference when compared to typically developing controls. Alexithymia, a subclinical condition associated with the reduced ability to identify and describe one's own emotions, has been found to account for other affective difficulties observed inconsistently in individuals with ASD. The current study used a nonclinical sample (N = 472) to explore the associations between autistic traits and the value of six types of social reward, as measured by the Social Reward Questionnaire. In addition, we measured alexithymia to assess if this accounted for associations between autistic traits and social reward. There were three main findings. Firstly, higher levels of autistic traits were associated with significantly less enjoyment of admiration and sociability, and adding alexithymia to these models did not account for any additional variance. Secondly, both autistic traits and alexithymia were uniquely associated with reduced levels of enjoyment of prosocial interactions and sexual relationships. Thirdly, autistic traits were associated with higher levels of enjoyment of passivity and negative social potency, but these associations were no longer significant once alexithymia was taken into account, suggesting that co-occurring alexithymia accounted for these apparent associations. Overall, the current findings provide a novel and more nuanced picture of the relationship between autistic traits and social reward.
date: 2015-04-08
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121018
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
article_type_text: Journal Article
verified: verified_manual
elements_source: PubMed
elements_id: 1026723
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121018
pii: PONE-D-14-46498
lyricists_name: Foulkes, Lucy
lyricists_name: McCrory, Eamon
lyricists_name: Viding, Essi
lyricists_id: FOULK91
lyricists_id: EJMCC66
lyricists_id: EVIDI50
full_text_status: public
publication: PLoS One
volume: 10
number: 4
article_number: e0121018 
event_location: United States
citation:        Foulkes, L;    Bird, G;    Gökçen, E;    McCrory, E;    Viding, E;      (2015)    Common and distinct impacts of autistic traits and alexithymia on social reward.                   PLoS One , 10  (4)    , Article e0121018 .  10.1371/journal.pone.0121018 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121018>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1466983/1/journal.pone.0121018.pdf