关键词: 自闭谱系障碍, 主动性控制, 反应性控制, 社会认知

Abstract: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is characterized by early onset qualitative impairments in reciprocal social development (DSM-V; APA 2013). High functioning children and adults with autism often have difficulty making decisions about appropriate social behaviors. Cognitive control which is taken as a part of the individual executive function is an advanced cognitive ability and the executive function defects including cognitive control are considered to be one of the main causes of children with autistic spectrum disorders. This study investigated the traits of cognitive control in children with ASD. On the basis of dual cognitive control model, this study compared the differences in cognitive control ability between children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) (N=15) and normal development children (TD) (N=20) through the tasks in both non-social and social fields. We used the AX continuous performance test (AX-CPT)) to collect the reaction times and the number of correct response. In this task, participants was required to respond to the subsequently presented target stimulus (X/Y) based on the first presented cue stimulus (A/B). The target stimulus is defined as A-X pairing (i.e., only if the cue stimulus is A and the target stimulus is X, the response to the target stimulus needs to be made). A non-target response was designed to other pairing (A-Y、B-X、B-Y). The proportion of trial times of target pairing (A-X pairing) was 70%, and that of other pairing (A-Y、B-X、B-Y) was 10% respectively. We took the reaction times in AY trails as the parameter of proactive control, and the reaction times in BX trails as the parameter of reactive control. And we furtherly calculated the proactive control level basing on the reaction times in trail AY and BX. To more accurately reflected the difference in the degree of active processing between the two groups of children, the researchers further calculated the active control rate(i.e., PR=[(AY?BX)/(AY)]). The stronger the initiative control, the longer the response time to the AY trial. The results showed that :1) children with ASD did not show defects in cognitive control in non-social field, on the contrary, they only showed defects in proactive cognitive in social field and their cognitive control was intact in reactive control in both social field and non-social field.2)Children with ASD did not show proactive initiative preference in social filed when compared with TD children;３) proactive control and reactive control in the social field can be used to predict the severity of autistic symptoms significantly in both negative and positive directions. According to this study, we concluded that: ASD can be regarded as a case of initiative social cognitive control defect. Children with ASD did not showed the phenomenon of differentiation between social field and non-social field as TD Children which implied a delayed development in initiative social cognitive control. Cognitive control index in social field can provide important reference of diagnosis and training for children with for ASD.

Key words: Autistic spectrum disorder, proactive control, reactive control, social cognition