Abstract
The present study examined the understanding of emotional transfer in 11 children with autism, 20 children with PDD-NOS and 31 typically developing children, aged 6 to 12 years. Children were asked about their emotional responses to successive, conflicting emotional situations. All children reported that preceding emotional situations would influence their emotional response towards a successive situation. Children from the typically developing group reported a stronger influence of preceding negative versus positive emotions. However, children with autism reported equal effects of preceding positive and negative emotions, and children with PDD-NOS were relatively unaffected by the preceding emotions. These findings may indicate a scripted understanding of emotions in children with autism in contrast to a more personalized understanding of typically developing children. © The Author(s), 2010.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 629-640 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Autism |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |