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

作者：Gaynor E. McArthur, Eunro Lee & Robin Laycock

摘要：

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.

关于自闭症谱系障碍 （ASD） 的理论已经解决了认知缺陷，但很少有人研究合并症诊断，包括睡眠障碍、焦虑和抑郁如何导致潜在的缺陷。我们使用国际社会样本调查了亚临床自闭症特征与认知表现之间关系中常见 ASD 合并症的潜在中介。认知任务评估了工作记忆 [执行功能 （EF） 理论]、精神状态归因 [心理理论 （ToM）] 和全局/局部视觉处理 [弱中枢相干 （WCC） 理论]。结构方程模型（SEM）表明，睡眠障碍和焦虑介导了自闭症特征对EF测量的关系，但不能介导WCC和ToM。这表明治疗睡眠障碍和焦虑的症状可能会改善工作记忆。