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. 2016 Jan;46(1):139-154.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2558-7.

Sex-Related Cognitive Profile in Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed Late in Life: Implications for the Female Autistic Phenotype

Fritz-Georg Lehnhardt  1 , Christine Michaela Falter  2 , Astrid Gawronski  2 , Kathleen Pfeiffer  2 , Ralf Tepest  2 , Jeremy Franklin  3 , Kai Vogeley  2   4
Affiliations

Sex-Related Cognitive Profile in Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed Late in Life: Implications for the Female Autistic Phenotype

Fritz-Georg Lehnhardt et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Females with high-functioning ASD are known to camouflage their autistic symptoms better than their male counterparts, making them prone to being under-ascertained and delayed in diagnostic assessment. Thus far the underlying cognitive processes that enable such successful socio-communicative adaptation are not well understood. The current results show sex-related differences in the cognitive profile of ASD individuals, which were diagnosed late in life exclusively. Higher verbal abilities were found in males (n = 69) as opposed to higher processing speed and better executive functions in females with ASD (n = 38). Since both sexes remained unidentified during childhood and adolescence, these results are suggestive for sex-distinctive cognitive strategies as an alternative to typically-developed reciprocal social behavior and social mimicry in high functioning ASD.

Keywords: Adulthood; Autism spectrum disorder; Cognitive profile; Female autistic phenotype; Processing speed.

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