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Updated: Apr 3, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome
Published on: July 31, 2016
Callous-unemotional traits in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder
Virginia Carter Leno1, Tony Charman2, Andrew Pickles2
1Virginia Carter Leno, BSc, MSc, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London; Tony Charman, PhD, Department of Psychology, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London; Andrew Pickles, PhD, Department of Biostatistics, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London; Catherine R. G. Jones, PhD, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff; Gillian Baird, FRCPCH, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Newcomen Centre, London; Francesca Happé, PhD, MRC SDGP Centre, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London; Emily Simonoff, MD, FRCPsych, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, London, UK virginia.m.carter_leno@kcl.ac.uk.
Background:
People with callous-unemotional traits and also those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display sociocognitive difficulties. However, the frequency and neurocognitive correlates of callous-unemotional traits within individuals with ASD are unknown.
Aims:
To determine the prevalence of callous-unemotional traits in individuals with ASD and test their association with behavioural and cognitive measures.
Method:
Parents of 92 adolescents with ASD completed the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD) for callous-unemotional traits. Adolescents participated in tasks of emotion recognition, theory of mind and cognitive flexibility.
Results:
In total 51% (n = 47) scored above a cut-off expected to identify the top 6% on the APSD. Of these 17% (n = 8) had concurrent conduct problems. Regression analyses found callous-unemotional traits were associated with specific impairment in fear recognition but not with theory of mind or cognitive flexibility.
Conclusions:
Adolescents with ASD show high rates of callous-unemotional traits but, unlike in the general population, these are not strongly associated with conduct problems. The relationship of callous-unemotional traits to impairments in fear recognition suggests similar affective difficulties as in individuals with callous-unemotional traits without ASD.
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