Response inhibition and immediate arousal in children with high-functioning autism

Abstract

The current study compared high-functioning children with autism (HFA) and a peer control group on an immediate arousal task measuring response inhibition. In one condition go stimuli were presented whereas in another condition a tone preceded the go stimulus. The tone caused an immediate arousal effect, which resulted in a reaction time decrease and an error rate increase. It was expected that children with HFA would produce a higher error rate in comparison with normal peers, since they might be less able to suppress immediate arousal. However, the HFA group outperformed the control group, indicating neither arousal regulation deficit nor response inhibition deficit.