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A Familiarization Protocol Facilitates the Participation of Children with ASD in Electrophysiological Research
Published on: July 31, 2017
Reactions to ostracism in adolescents with autism spectrum conditions
Catherine Sebastian1, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Tony Charman
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK. c.sebastian@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract:
Little is known about how adolescents with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) experience the initial impact of ostracism. This study investigated whether a mild, short-term episode of experimentally induced ostracism (Cyberball) would affect self-reported anxiety, mood, and the extent to which four social needs (self-esteem, belonging, control and meaningful existence) were threatened in adolescents with ASC and matched controls. Anxiety and the four needs were negatively affected by ostracism in both groups. However, ostracism did not modulate mood in the ASC group, and a number of possible interpretations of this group difference are discussed. In general, the results of this study suggest that normative models of ostracism are applicable to ASC.
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