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Formal Thought Disorder and the Autism Spectrum: Relationship with Symptoms, Executive Control, and Anxiety

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Abstract

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) exhibit formal thought disorder (FTD), and whether this is related to ASD symptoms, executive control, and anxiety. Participants aged 8–17 with ASDs exhibited significantly more illogical thinking and loose associations than matched typically developing control subjects. In participants with ASDs, illogical thinking was related to aspects of cognitive functioning and to executive control. Loose associations were related to autism communication symptoms and to parent reports of stress and anxiety. When FTD is present in ASDs, it generally is not a co-morbid schizophrenia symptom, but is related to pragmatic language abnormalities found in ASDs. The clinical and neurobiological significance of this work is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Solomon was supported by a grant NIH K12 HD051958 from the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health program, MIND Institute, and Autism Speaks. Dr. Ozonoff was supported during the writing of this paper by R01 MH068398 and U19-HD35468. Dr. Carter was supported during the writing of this paper by MH64190. The authors also would like to acknowledge Neil Cummings, Kate Wilson and Maria Ventura for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript, and to Drs. Robert Hendren and J. Daniel Ragland for helpful comments on prior drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon, Sally Ozonoff & Cameron Carter

  2. MIND Institute, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon & Sally Ozonoff

  3. UC Davis Imaging Research Center, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon & Cameron Carter

  4. UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Rochelle Caplan

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  1. Marjorie Solomon
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Correspondence to Marjorie Solomon.

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Solomon, M., Ozonoff, S., Carter, C. et al. Formal Thought Disorder and the Autism Spectrum: Relationship with Symptoms, Executive Control, and Anxiety. J Autism Dev Disord 38, 1474–1484 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0526-6

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