Dr Zoe Reed, Research Fellow and Dr Angela Attwood in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Bristol, as part of a wider team, have been conducting studies with the aim of developing an intervention to support autistic children with emotion recognition (ER) difficulties. An early part of this work, led by Dr Reed investigated the relationship between autistic traits and ER in an existing cohort study, This particular project was funded by a Postgraduate Discipline Hopping Fellowship from the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute (EBI) and has informed further studies as part of a wider project developing this intervention.
Multi-methodology
In the EBI study Dr Reed used a multi-methodological approach which combined epidemiological and experimental methods in a study of two parts. In the first, epidemiological component, Dr Reed examined whether there was an association between autistic traits and ER outcomes in an existing general population cohort, and whether it was possible to infer the direction of any association.
For the epidemiological study, Dr Reed used the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) which is a Bristol based birth cohort study. In the early 1990s, more than 14,000 pregnant women were recruited into the study, which then followed the children and their families. It is a rich resource which enables researchers to investigate factors that affect an individual’s health and development.
“My colleagues and I used ALSPAC to examine whether earlier autistic traits were associated with later ER difficulties” explained Dr Reed. “We also investigated whether the opposite was true - whether earlier ER difficulties were associated with later autistic traits. Because we used measures at different time points, we could also use this to help determine the direction of effect.”
“Our epidemiological research found evidence of an association between earlier autistic traits and later ER difficulties”, she continued.
Modifying the protocol
The second, experimental, part of the study was originally planned as an investigation into how autistic schoolchildren performed on an ER task. However, Covid-19 meant that Dr Reed was unable to perform any school visitations, and thus modified her protocols to investigate the effect of the ER task in a general population sample (i.e., non-autistic individuals) in an online study.
“We found evidence to suggest that completing our ER task resulted in improvements in those completing the task compared to those completing a control task” said Dr Reed, “but the findings were limited by the inclusion of facial stimuli with only four different emotional expressions and did not examine this in autistic individuals.”
The team have since conducted further online studies with additional funding, first examining this with six emotions, suggesting stronger effects than the previous four emotion study, and then examining the effect of the ER task in a multi session study with autistic adults, which again showed promising results. They have followed this up with a recent study with autistic children (in person and online) over multiple sessions and found evidence suggesting benefits of engaging with the ER task over time on ER ability. The team plan to apply for further funding to finalise development of an ER intervention which can be rolled out across schools in the UK to support autistic children with ER difficulties.
Discipline Hopping
The Elizabeth Blackwell Institute’s Postgraduate Discipline Hopping Fellowships fund postdocs for up to nine months to work in a different laboratory after submitting their PhD, and thus enable researchers to gain additional experience at an early career stage that they wouldn’t otherwise have gained.
Dr Reed said, “This fellowship has provided me with greater research independence as well as skills in experimental and translational areas. This work has continued and become a large part of my research direction.”