Social cognition and communication skills in Asperger syndrome young adults

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare patients with Asperger syndrome (AS) and control participants on social cognition tasks and communication skills. Twenty young adults were assessed in three social cognition domains; recognition of basic emotions, recognition of complex emotions and Theory of Mind (ToM). In addition participants completed a self-report questionnaire as a measure of social communication skills. The results indicate that adults with AS perform below neurotypical control participants in emotion processing, ToM and communication skills. There were no significant correlations between the variables of social cognition and communication skills in the group of AS. Taken together, results suggest that people with a diagnosis of AS present a deficit in ToM and emotional processing as well as in communication skills. However, it was not possible to identify a significant association between the variables of social cognition and communication skills.

Keywords

• Asperger syndrome
• social cognition
• communication skills