The link between interoceptive processing and anxiety in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder: extending adult findings into a developmental sample.

The link between interoceptive processing and anxiety in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder: extending adult findings into a developmental sample. Biol Psychol. 2018 May 06;: Authors: Palser ER, Fotopoulou A, Pellicano E, Kilner JM Abstract Anxiety is a major associated feature of autism spectrum disorders. The incidence of anxiety symptoms in this population has been associated with altered interoceptive processing. Here, we investigated whether recent findings of impaired interoceptive accuracy (quantified using heartbeat detection tasks) and exaggerated interoceptive sensibility (subjective sensitivity to internal sensations on self-report questionnaires) in autistic adults, can be extended into a school-age sample of children and adolescents (n = 75). Half the sample had a verified diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and half were IQ- and age-matched children and adolescents without ASD. The discrepancy between an individual's score on these two facets of interoception (interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility), conceptualized as an interoceptive trait prediction error, was previously found to predict anxiety symptoms in autistic adults. We replicated the finding of reduced interoceptive accuracy in autistic participants, but did not find exaggerated interoceptive sensibility relative to non-autistic participants. Nonetheless, the positive association between anxiety and interoceptive trai...
Source: Biological Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Biol Psychol Source Type: research