Are autistic and alexithymic traits distinct? a factor-analytic and network approach by Cuve, H, Murphy, J, Hobson, H, Ichijo, E, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…If, as some propose, autistic traits are responsible for socioemotional impairments, then alexithymia may itself be a symptom of autism. …”

Information gathering: dissociable effects of autistic and alexithymic traits in youths aged 6–25 years by Lee, KS, Long, EL, Catmur, C, Hauser, TU, Bird, G

“…Autistic youths tend to react negatively to uncertain events. …”

Autistic traits are associated with atypical precision-weighted integration of top-down and bottom-up neural signals by Coll, MP, Whelan, E, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Low levels of autistic traits were associated with the expected increase in the integration of top-down and bottom-up signals with increasing predictability, while this effect decreased as the degree of autistic traits increased. …”

No evidence for an opposite pattern of cognitive performance in autistic individuals with and without alexithymia: a response to Rødgaard et al. (2019) by Oakley, BFM, Brewer, R, Bird, G, Catmur, C

“…In their analysis of our cognitive Theory of Mind data, however, they did not control for autistic traits, which covary with alexithymia. Here we demonstrate that when autistic traits are controlled for, there is no significant association between alexithymia and cognitive theory of mind performance in participants with autism. …”

Differences in own-face but not own-name discrimination between autistic and neurotypical adults: a fast periodic visual stimulation-EEG study by Nijhof, A, Catmur, C, Brewer, R, Coll, M-P, Wiersema, J, Bird, G

“…Self-related processing is thought to be altered in autism, with several studies reporting that autistic individuals show a diminished neural response relative to neurotypicals for their own name and face. …”

Face memory and face perception in autism by Stantic, M, Ichijo, E, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…It has been argued that autistic individuals have difficulties with face memory but typical face perception. …”

Equivalent own name bias in autism: An EEG study of the Attentional Blink by Nijhof, A, von Trott zu Solz, J, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…In line with previous studies, the Attentional Blink was reduced when the participant’s own name was the second target, with no differences between autistic and neurotypical participants. ERP results show that the effect on the Attentional Blink of one’s own name was reflected in increased N2 and P3 amplitudes, for both autistic and nonautistic individuals. …”

Alexithymia explains atypical spatiotemporal dynamics of eye gaze in autism by Cuve, HC, Castiello, S, Shiferaw, B, Ichijo, E, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Converging evidence from traditional and novel analysis methods revealed that atypical gaze to the eyes is best predicted by alexithymia in both autistic and non-autistic individuals. Information theoretic analyses also revealed differential effects of task on gaze patterns as a function of alexithymia, but not autism. …”

Emotional decision-making in autism spectrum disorder: the roles of interoception and alexithymia by Shah, P, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Accordingly, the present study compared framing effects in autistic individuals with neurotypical controls matched for alexithymia. …”

The influence of action–outcome contingency on motivation from control by Penton, T, Wang, X, Coll, M, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Furthermore, some evidence was observed for a positive correlation between influence of contingency and autistic traits, with individuals with higher autistic traits showing a greater influence of contingency on reaction times. …”

Alexithymia and autism diagnostic assessments: Evidence from twins at genetic risk of autism and adults with anorexia nervosa by Hobson, H, Westwood, H, Conway, J, McEwen, FS, Colvert, E, Catmur, C, Bird, G, Happé, F

“…Participants included 96 women with anorexia, and 147 adolescents who were either high in autistic symptoms, or whose twin had high autistic symptoms. …”

Alexithymia, not autism, is associated with impaired interoception by Shah, P, Hall, R, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Elevated rates of alexithymia in the autistic population have been shown to underpin several socio-emotional impairments thought to be symptomatic of ASD, raising the possibility that interoceptive difficulties in ASD are also due to co-occurring alexithymia. …”

Potential mechanisms underlying the association between feeding and eating disorders and autism by Adams, K, Mandy, W, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…Artefactual associations may be due to conceptual overlap in both diagnostic criteria and measurement, Feeding and Eating Disorders causing transient autistic traits, or the association being non-specific in nature. …”

Independent measurement of face perception, face matching, and face memory reveals impairments in face perception and memory, but not matching, in autism by Stantic, M, Brown, K, Ichijo, E, Pounder, Z, Catmur, C, Bird, G

“…In Study 2, the same procedure was used to test face perception, face matching and face memory in a group of 57 autistic adults and a matched neurotypical control group. …”

No evidence for a common self-bias across cognitive domains by Nijhof, A, Catmur, C, Shapiro, K, Bird, G

“…Furthermore, in contrast with extant models, neither type of self-bias was predicted by autistic traits. …”