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The concept identification and concept formation aspects of abstract reasoning were examined in 90 nonmentally retarded individuals with autism and 107 normal controls. It was hypothesized that pronounced deficits would be found on concept formation tests, whereas performance on concept identification tests would be relatively intact. There was a significant difference between individuals with autism and individuals from a matched control group on all abstract reasoning tasks, but, with the exception of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (R. K. Heaton et al., 1993), differences on concept identification tests were not clinically significant. Factor analyses showed that concept formation and concept identification tasks loaded on separate factors in the autism group but not in the control group. Stepwise discriminant function analyses revealed that 2 tests of concept formation correctly classified 78.4% of cases, whereas concept identification tasks did not pass the tolerance test.

These observations indicate that anterior EEG asymmetry may be a marker of motivation and emotion processes that refract the autism taxon into important individual differences in social presentation among higher functioning children.

The factors that place children with Asperger syndrome at risk for comorbid psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, remain poorly understood. We investigated the possibility that the children's emotional and behavioral difficulties are associated with social information and attribution processing. Participants were children with either Asperger syndrome (n = 31) or typical development (n = 33).To assess social information and attribution processing, children responded to hypothetical social vignettes.They also completed self-report measures of social difficulties and psychological functioning. Their parents provided information on social competence and clinical presentation. Children with Asperger syndrome showed poor psychosocial adjustment, which was related to their social information and attribution processing patterns. Cognitive and social-cognitive abilities were associated with aspects of social information processing tendencies, but not with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Results suggest that the comorbid symptoms of children with Asperger syndrome may be associated with their social perception, understanding, and experience. KeywordsAsperger syndrome; comorbid symptoms; social information processing In his original case descriptions, Asperger (1944) highlighted pervasive deficits in the children's capacity to understand social interaction, awareness of their social difficulties, and emotional symptoms, including anxiety and depression (Wing, 1981). Since then, emotional symptoms in adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome have been emphasized in a number of reports (Volkmar et al., 2000;Wolff and Chick, 1980;Wolff and McGuire, 1995;Wing, 1981). Recently, several empirical studies have documented comorbid psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, in individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger syndrome (Ghaziuddin et al., 1998;Green et al., 2000;Hill et al., 2004;Howlin, 2000;Kim et al., 2000;Rinehart et al., 2002;Rumsey et al., 1985;Tonge et al., 1999). Disruptive and aggressive behavior has also been reported (Eaves et al., 1994;Muris and Correspondence should be addressed to: JESSICA A. MEYER, PhD, Tavistock Clinic and Institute of Child Health, UCL, Developmental Psychopathology Research Unit, 120 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA, UK. e-mail: Jessica.Meyer@ucl.ac.uk. Steerneman, 1998;Pomeroy, 1998;Rinehart et al., 2002;Tantam, 2000;Tonge et al., 1999). However, the factors giving rise to these comorbid psychiatric symptoms remain unclear. NIH Public AccessDespite the often intense desire to do so, many individuals with Asperger syndrome find it extremely difficult to establish reciprocal relationships with others (Barnard et al., 2000;Green et al., 2000;Sigman and Ruskin, 1999). Limitations in the capacity for intersubjective contact with others (Hobson, 1992;Mundy and Sigman, 1989), coupled with repeated experiences of negative, unsuccessful social interactions (Bauminger, 2002;Frith, 1996;2004;Tantam, 2000;2003) may place children wit...

Infant joint attention has been observed to be related to social-emotional outcomes in at-risk children. To address whether this relation is also evident in typically developing children, 52 children were tested at 12, 15, 24, and 30 months to examine associations between infant joint attention and social outcomes. Twelve-month initiating and responding to joint attention were related to 30-month social competence and externalizing behavior, even when accounting for 15-month temperament ratings, 24-month cognition and language, and demographic variables. These results suggest that, in addition to associations with language and cognition, infant joint attention reflects robust aspects of development that are related to individual differences in the emergence of social and behavioral competence in childhood.