| Summary: | Individuals with autism do not seem to respond to social situations, especially situations
that, in individuals of typical development, elicit an empathic response. This study was
designed to determine if heart rate could provide a means of investigating whether the
social disturbance in autism is associated with specific empathy processes, general social
interaction processes, or with general attention processes.
Ten young male children with autism and 10 young male children of typical development
(chronological age between 3-6.5 years) served as participants. The children were
exposed to three auditory tones (a cry, a laugh, and a tone), while their heart rate was
measured. The experiment took place in each child's home.
There were three between group hypotheses formulated. If the two groups responded
differently to all three stimuli, the inference would be that the children with autism have a
general attention abnormality. Secondly, if the two groups differed in response to the cry
and laugh stimuli but not to the tone, the inference would be that children with autism are
responding differentially to stimuli that are social in nature. Finally, if children with autism
differentially responded only to the cry stimulus, an empathic deficit hypothesis would be
supported. It was hypothesized that children with autism would respond with heart rate
acceleration (personal distress) to the cry stimulus.
The results were inconsistent with all three between group hypotheses and the within
group hypothesis. Rather results indicated a significant difference between the two groups
in response to the laugh stimulus. Only the typically developing children had a significant
deceleration response to the cry stimulus. However, the children with autism did not
respond with an anxiety response to the cry stimulus as was hypothesized.
The findings from this study suggest that at least some aspect of social function is intact in
young children with autism. Results are interpreted in terms of a limbic-hypothalamic
deficit hypothesis. Further investigations should include a larger sample size, more
ecologically valid stimuli and concurrent behavioral response measures.
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