Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec;53(12):4560-4576.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05742-5. Epub 2022 Sep 22.

Autism Traits and Cognitive Performance: Mediating Roles of Sleep Disturbance, Anxiety and Depression

Gaynor E McArthur  1 , Eunro Lee  1 , Robin Laycock  2
Affiliations

Autism Traits and Cognitive Performance: Mediating Roles of Sleep Disturbance, Anxiety and Depression

Gaynor E McArthur et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Theories about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have addressed cognitive deficits however few have examined how comorbid diagnoses, including sleep disturbance, anxiety and depression contribute to the underlying deficits. We investigated potential mediations of common ASD comorbidities in the relationship between sub-clinical autism traits and cognitive performance using an international community sample. Cognitive tasks assessed working memory [executive functioning (EF) theory], mental state attribution [theory of mind (ToM)], and global/local visual processing [weak central coherence (WCC) theory]. Structural equation modelling (SEM) demonstrated sleep disturbance and anxiety mediated the relationship of autism traits on measures of EF, but not WCC and ToM. This suggests that treating the symptoms of sleep disturbance and anxiety may lead to improvements in working memory.

Keywords: Anxiety; Autism traits; Executive function; Sleep disturbance; Theory of mind; Weak central coherence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Top: Illustration of the online Corsi block tapping task presented to participants. Following a sequence of blocks that flashed a different colour, participants used a computer mouse to press the same sequence of blocks. Bottom: Stimuli used in the Navon Task: From left to right, Congruent, Global Incongruent, and Local Incongruent Stimuli for X (upper) and A (lower) target stimuli. Participants indicated whether there was an X or A present, which could be at either the global or local levels
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Three outcome variables for the navon task for high and low AQ groups. Global interference represents the difference in reaction time between congruent navon stimuli and incongruent stimuli with the target present at the local level. Local interference represents the difference in reaction time between congruent navon stimuli and incongruent stimuli with the target present at the global level. Global precedence represents the difference in reaction time between target identification for global and local incongruent stimuli. The high AQ group demonstrated significantly lower global precedence when compared with the low AQ group. Error bars indicate Standard Error of the Mean. **p < .01
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Final mediation SEM: the mediation effects of sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety in the impact of autism traits on theory of mind, executive functioning and weak central coherence. Note. Error terms and correlations are omitted for simplicity
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Standardised SEM coefficients: the mediation effects of sleep disturbance and anxiety in the impact of autism traits on executive functioning. Note. For the model fit, refer to Table 4. Sleep Disturbance: Good Sleep = 0, Poor Sleep = 1, Gender: male = 1, female = 2, †p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, Error terms, correlations, and related coefficients are omitted for simplicity. Solid lines depict significant paths while dotted lines depict non-significant effects
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
    1. Andersen IM, Kaczmarska J, McGrew SG, Malow BA. Melatonin for insomnia in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Neurology. 2008;23(5):482–485. doi: 10.1177/0883073807309783. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andreou M, Skrimpa V. Theory of mind deficits and neurophysiological operations in autism spectrum disorders: A review. Brain Sciences. 2020;10(6):393. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10060393. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anwyl-Irvine AL, Massonnié J, Flitton A, Kirkham N, Evershed JK. Gorilla in our midst: An online behavioral experiment builder. Behavior Research Methods. 2019 doi: 10.3758/s13428-019-01237-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Austin EJ. Personality correlates of the broader autism phenotype as assessed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Personality and Individual Differences. 2005;38(2):451–460. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2004.04.022. - DOI