Do coping strategies mediate the effects of childhood adversities and traumata on clinical high-risk of psychosis, depression, and social phobia? A cross-sectional study on patients of an early detection service.

Background: Childhood adversities and traumata (CAT) increase the risk for various mental disorders, including the clinical high-risk of psychosis (CHR-P) state and its main comorbidities, i.e., depression, and social phobia.

Understanding the sense of self through robotics.

Robotics can play a useful role in the scientific understanding of the sense of self, both through the construction of embodied models of the self and through the use of robots as experimental probes to explore the human self. In both cases, the embodiment of the robot allows us to devise and test hypotheses about the nature of the self, with regard to its development, its manifestation in behavior, and the diversity of selves in humans, animals, and, potentially, machines. This paper reviews robotics research that addresses the topic of the self-the minimal self, the extended self, and disorders of the self-and highlights future directions and open challenges in understanding the self through constructing its components in artificial systems.

A novel screening instrument for the assessment of autism in German language: validation of the German version of the RAADS-R, the RADS-R.

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) demonstrated excellent results in its original study, with a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 100% (Ritvo et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 41:1076-1089, 2011). As a result, it was included in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines (Recommendations | Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management | Guidance | NICE, 2022).

Barriers to healthcare predict reduced health-related quality of life in autistic adults without intellectual disability.

Health-related quality of life reflects a person's perspective on their well-being in physical, mental, social, work-related, and other aspects of health or life. Autistic adults typically report difficulties in many or all of these domains and, thus, often experience their health-related quality of life being reduced. Nonetheless, they do not obtain the professional support they need and report barriers to accessing or receiving appropriate healthcare.

Temporal binding and sense of agency in major depression.

Background: Alterations in the experience of controlling oneself and one's environment are of high relevance to understanding the psychopathology of depression. This study investigated the relationship between Temporal Binding for action-event sequences, sense of agency, self-efficacy and symptom severity in Major Depressive Disorder.

Method: We employed the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS) and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) to assess explicit Sense of Agency and self-efficacy in a group of 42 persons diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) [20 identifying as female, 19 as male; mean age 37.

Impaired recognition of interactive intentions in adults with autism spectrum disorder not attributable to differences in visual attention or coordination via eye contact and joint attention.

Altered nonverbal communication patterns especially with regard to gaze interactions are commonly reported for persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study we investigate and differentiate for the first time the interplay of attention allocation, the establishment of shared focus (eye contact and joint attention) and the recognition of intentions in gaze interactions in adults with ASD compared to control persons. Participants interacted via gaze with a virtual character (VC), who they believed was controlled by another person.

An evaluation of the German version of the Sensory Perception Quotient from an expert by experience perspective.

Sensory processing is often altered in individuals with autism; thus, it is essential to develop reliable measurement tools to assess sensory perception. The Sensory Perception Quotient (SPQ) quantifies basic sensory sensitivities in adults via self-report. Adopting an expert by experience perspective, this study aimed to evaluate a German translation of the SPQ for its use in clinical and research applications, especially for autistic adults.

Interacting with autistic virtual characters: intrapersonal synchrony of nonverbal behavior affects participants' perception.

Temporal coordination of communicative behavior is not only located between but also within interaction partners (e.g., gaze and gestures).

Health-related quality of life in family caregivers of autistic adults.

Introduction: Family members of autistic individuals often provide support for their autistic relative throughout the lifespan which can lead to massive burden themselves. Reduced health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in family caregivers is assumed; however, only a handful studies on the HRQoL of family caregivers providing care to adult relatives exist as opposed to autistic children. Thus, the current study aimed to (i) investigate the current state of physical and mental HRQoL of family caregivers of autistic adults compared to the general population, and (ii) examine caregiver-related (e.

Barriers and needs in mental healthcare of adults with autism spectrum disorder in Germany: a qualitative study in autistic adults, relatives, and healthcare providers.

Background: Autism refers to a neurodevelopmental condition with characteristic impairments in social interaction and communication, restrictive and repetitive behaviors, as well as difficulties in sensory information processing and daily living skills. Even though symptoms persist from early childhood throughout the lifespan and often require long-term support, there is a lack of mental health services that sufficiently meet the needs of autistic adults. Previous evidence suggested individual, professional and structural barriers to healthcare for autistic adults.

Differentiated, rather than shared, strategies for time-coordinated action in social and non-social domains in autistic individuals.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition with a highly heterogeneous adult phenotype that includes social and non-social behavioral characteristics. The link between the characteristics assignable to the different domains remains unresolved. One possibility is that social and non-social behaviors in autism are modulated by a common underlying deficit.

What is specific about employment status, workplace experiences and requirements in individuals with autism in Germany?

The challenge of sustainably integrating highly educated individuals with ASD without intellectual disabilities in the first labor market is repeatedly described in literature. In a retrospective study, a group of 197 clinically late-diagnosed adults with ASD without intellectual disabilities was compared to a closely matched group of 501 individuals who did not meet the criteria for the diagnosis of ASD within a utilization population of the Cologne Autism Outpatient Clinic. Results indicated that the pronounced demand for reduction of social and interpersonal requirements at the workplace (including planned or limited contact with colleagues and customers) as well as the experience of difficulties following unexpected changes in the daily routine were specific for ASD.

Filled Pauses Produced by Autistic Adults Differ in Prosodic Realisation, but not Rate or Lexical Type.

We examined the use of filled pauses in conversations between homogeneous pairs of autistic and non-autistic adults. A corpus of semi-spontaneous speech was used to analyse the rate, lexical type (nasal "uhm" or non-nasal "uh"), and prosodic realisation (rising, level or falling) of filled pauses. We used Bayesian modelling for statistical analysis.

Turn-timing in conversations between autistic adults: Typical short-gap transitions are preferred, but not achieved instantly.

The organisation of who speaks when in conversation is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of human communication. Research on a wide variety of groups of speakers has revealed a seemingly universal preference for between-speaker transitions consisting of very short silent gaps. Previous research on conversational turn-taking in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) consists of only a handful of studies, most of which are limited in scope and based on the non-spontaneous speech of children and adolescents.

Binding paradox in artificial social realities.

The relation between communication partners is crucial for the success of their interaction. This is also true for artificial social agents. However, the more we engage in artificial relationships, the more we are forced to regulate and control them.

Perceptual Grouping in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploratory Magnetoencephalography Study.

Visual information is organised according to visual grouping principles. In visual grouping tasks individuals with ASD have shown equivocal performance. We explored neural correlates of Gestalt grouping in individuals with and without ASD.

Intrapersonal synchrony analysis reveals a weaker temporal coherence between gaze and gestures in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

The temporal encoding of nonverbal signals within individuals, referred to as intrapersonal synchrony (IaPS), is an implicit process and essential feature of human communication. Based on existing evidence, IaPS is thought to be a marker of nonverbal behavior characteristics in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but there is a lack of empirical evidence. The aim of this study was to quantify IaPS in adults during an experimentally controlled real-life interaction task.

Temporal binding of social events less pronounced in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Differences in predictive processing are considered amongst the prime candidates for mechanisms underlying different symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A particularly valuable paradigm to investigate these processes is temporal binding (TB) assessed through time estimation tasks. In this study, we report on two separate experiments using a TB task designed to assess the influence of top-down social information on action event related TB.

Mixed-methods investigation of barriers and needs in mental healthcare of adults with autism and recommendations for future care (BarrierfreeASD): study protocol.

Introduction: Autism refers to an early-onset neurodevelopmental condition with characteristic impairments and difficulties in practical living skills, which persist across the lifespan such that adults with autism often require substantial support and comprehensive care. Yet, mental health and other services are frequently unavailable for adults with autism despite considerable need for mental healthcare and individual, familial and socioeconomic burdens. This study will (1) examine current needs, barriers and burdens related to ineffective healthcare of adults with autism in Germany, (2) develop specific recommendations for a need-oriented mental healthcare model and (3) evaluate its future implementation.

Figure-Disembedding Is Inferior in Non-autistic Compared to Autistic Individuals but Can Be Improved by Training.

Background: Figure-disembedding is one of the most discussed visuo-cognitive functions, in which individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been reported to outperform non-autistic individuals. A local processing bias has been assumed to underlie such superior performance patterns. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether processing preferences can be modified by procedural priming.

Are Executive Dysfunctions Relevant for the Autism-Specific Cognitive Profile?

Executive functions (EF) have been shown to be important for the understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but dysfunctions of EF are not autism-specific. The specific role of EF in ASD, its relationship to core autism characteristics, such as mentalizing, needs to be explored. Medline- and PsychINFO databases were searched for studies published between 1990 and 2020 that included measures of EF in ASD and typically developing control persons (TD) in combination with either Theory of Mind (ToM) or Weak Central Coherence (WCC) tasks.

Autism traits outweigh alexithymia traits in the explanation of mentalising performance in adults with autism but not in adults with rejected autism diagnosis.

Background: Pronounced alexithymia traits have been found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and recent research has been carving out the impact alexithymia traits might have on mentalising deficits associated with ASD.

Method: In this cross-sectional study, a large representative referral population for diagnostic examination for possible ASD (n = 400) was screened for clinical alexithymia with a German version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RME). In contrast to previous attempts to carve out the impact of alexithymia traits on mentalising deficits though, we employed dominance analysis to account for the correlation between predictors.

Dissociating passage and duration of time experiences through the intensity of ongoing visual change.

The experience of passage of time is assumed to be a constitutive component of our subjective phenomenal experience and our everyday life that is detached from the estimation of time durations. However, our understanding of the factors contributing to passage of time experience has been mostly restricted to associated emotional and cognitive experiences in temporally extended situations. Here, we tested the influence of low-level visual stimuli on the experience of passage and duration of time in 10-30 s intervals.