Testing the empathizing–systemizing theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain theory of autism in half a million people

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volumn 115, Issue 48, 2018, Pages 12152-12157

  Greenberg, David M ^a   Warrier, Varun ^a   Allison, Carrie ^a   Baron Cohen, Simon ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Autism; Big data; Empathy; Sex differences; Systemizing

Indexed keywords

AGE DISTRIBUTION; ARTICLE; AUTISM; AUTISM SPECTRUM QUOTIENT; CONTROLLED STUDY; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; EMPATHY; EMPATHY QUOTIENT; EXTREME MALE BRAIN THEORY; FEMALE; HIGH RISK POPULATION; HUMAN; INDIVIDUALITY; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; MASCULINITY; NERVOUS SYSTEM PARAMETERS; PREDICTIVE VALUE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RISK ASSESSMENT; RISK FACTOR; SENSORY PERCEPTION QUOTIENT; SEX DIFFERENCE; SYSTEMIZING QUOTIENT; THEORY; THEORY VALIDATION; ADOLESCENT; ADULT; BRAIN; PATHOPHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGIC TEST; PSYCHOLOGY; SEX FACTOR; SYSTEMS THEORY; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AUTISTIC DISORDER; BRAIN; EMPATHY; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS; SEX FACTORS; SYSTEMS THEORY; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 85057284804     PISSN: 00278424     EISSN: 10916490     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1811032115     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Baron-Cohen S (2009) Autism: The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1156:68–80.
2. Baron-Cohen S, Knickmeyer RC, Belmonte MK (2005) Sex differences in the brain: Implications for explaining autism. Science 310:819–823.
3. Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S (2004) The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. J Autism Dev Disord 34:163–175.
4. Wheelwright S, et al. (2006) Predicting autism spectrum quotient (AQ) from the systemizing quotient-revised (SQ-R) and empathy quotient (EQ). Brain Res 1079:47–56.
5. Chapman E, et al. (2006) Fetal testosterone and empathy: Evidence from the empathy quotient (EQ) and the “reading the mind in the eyes” test. Soc Neurosci 1:135–148.
6. Auyeung B, et al. (2006) Foetal testosterone and the child systemizing quotient. Eur J Endocrinol 155(Suppl 1):S123–S130.
7. Warrier V, et al.; iPSYCH-Broad autism group; 23andMe Research Team (2018) Genome-wide analyses of self-reported empathy: Correlations with autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia nervosa. Transl Psychiatry 8:35.
8. Warrier V, et al. (2017) Systemizing is genetically correlated with autism and is genetically distinct from social autistic traits. bioRxiv:10.1101/228254. Preprint, posted December 3, 2017.
9. Baron-Cohen S, Richler J, Bisarya D, Gurunathan N, Wheelwright S (2003) The systemizing quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 358:361–374.
10. Baron-Cohen S, et al. (2014) Attenuation of typical sex differences in 800 adults with autism vs. 3,900 controls. PLoS One 9:e102251.
11. Baron-Cohen S, et al. (2011) Why are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males? PLoS Biol 9:e1001081.
12. Halladay AK, et al. (2015) Sex and gender differences in autism spectrum disorder: Summarizing evidence gaps and identifying emerging areas of priority. Mol Autism 6:36.
13. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Baron-Cohen S (2014) Autism. Lancet 383:896–910.
14. Ruzich E, et al. (2015) Sex and STEM occupation predict autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) scores in half a million people. PLoS One 10:e0141229.
15. Channel Four Television Corporation (2018) Are You Autistic? [Factual Entertainment and Features, Programme Info]. Available at https://www.channel4.com/programmes/are-you-autistic. Accessed September 27, 2018.
16. American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Publishing, Arlington, VA), 5th Ed.
17. Ruzich E, et al. (2015) Measuring autistic traits in the general population: A systematic review of the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) in a nonclinical population sample of 6,900 typical adult males and females. Mol Autism 6:2.
18. Happé F, Ronald A, Plomin R (2006) Time to give up on a single explanation for autism. Nat Neurosci 9:1218–1220.
19. Shuster J, Perry A, Bebko J, Toplak ME (2014) Review of factor analytic studies examining symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 44:90–110.
20. Ronald A, Happé F, Plomin R (2005) The genetic relationship between individual differences in social and nonsocial behaviours characteristic of autism. Dev Sci 8: 444–458.
21. Ronald A, et al. (2006) Genetic heterogeneity between the three components of the autism spectrum: A twin study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 45:691–699.
22. Ronald A, Happé F, Price TS, Baron-Cohen S, Plomin R (2006) Phenotypic and genetic overlap between autistic traits at the extremes of the general population. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 45:1206–1214.
23. Van Der Miesen AIR, Hurley H, De Vries ALC (2016) Gender dysphoria and autism spectrum disorder: A narrative review. Int Rev Psychiatry 28:70–80.
24. Pohl A, Cassidy S, Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S (2014) Uncovering steroidopathy in women with autism: A latent class analysis. Mol Autism 5:27.
25. Strang JF, et al. (2014) Increased gender variance in autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Arch Sex Behav 43:1525–1533.
26. Warrier V, et al. (2018) Genome-wide meta-analysis of cognitive empathy: Heritability, and correlates with sex, neuropsychiatric conditions and cognition. Mol Psychiatry 23:1402–1409.
27. Lai M-C, et al.; MRC AIMS Consortium (2012) Individual differences in brain structure underpin empathizing-systemizing cognitive styles in male adults. Neuroimage 61: 1347–1354.
28. Focquaert F, Steven-Wheeler MS, Vanneste S, Doron KW, Platek SM (2010) Mind-reading in individuals with an empathizing versus systemizing cognitive style: An fMRI study. Brain Res Bull 83:214–222.
29. Lai M-C, et al.; MRC AIMS Consortium (2013) Biological sex affects the neurobiology of autism. Brain 136:2799–2815.
30. Beacher FD, et al. (2012) Autism attenuates sex differences in brain structure: A combined voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging study. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 33:83–89.
31. Beacher FDCC, et al. (2012) Sex differences and autism: Brain function during verbal fluency and mental rotation. PLoS One 7:e38355.
32. Ypma RJF, et al. (2016) Default mode hypoconnectivity underlies a sex-related autism spectrum. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 1:364–371.
33. Floris DL, Lai M-C, Nath T, Milham MP, Di Martino A (2018) Network-specific sex differentiation of intrinsic brain function in males with autism. Mol Autism 9:17.
34. Baron-Cohen S, et al. (2015) Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism. Mol Psychiatry 20:369–376.
35. Schwarz E, et al. (2011) Sex-specific serum biomarker patterns in adults with Asperger’s syndrome. Mol Psychiatry 16:1213–1220.
36. Cherskov A, et al. (2018) Polycystic ovary syndrome and autism: A test of the prenatal sex steroid theory. Transl Psychiatry 8:136.
37. Dziobek I, et al. (2008) Dissociation of cognitive and emotional empathy in adults with Asperger syndrome using the multifaceted empathy test (MET). J Autism Dev Disord 38:464–473.
38. Rueda P, Fernández-Berrocal P, Baron-Cohen S (2015) Dissociation between cognitive and affective empathy in youth with Asperger syndrome. Eur J Dev Psychol 12:85–98.
39. Baron-Cohen S (2013) Empathy deficits in autism and psychopaths: Mirror opposites? Navigating the Social World: What Infants, Children, and Other Species Can Teach Us, eds Banaji M, Gelman S (Oxford Univ Press, New York).
40. Baron-Cohen S (2011) Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty (Allen Lane, London).
41. Fine C (2011) Delusions of Gender: The Real Science behind Sex Differences (Icon Books, London).
42. Joel D, et al. (2015) Sex beyond the genitalia: The human brain mosaic. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112:15468–15473.
43. Billington J, Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright SJ (2007) Cognitive style predicts entry into physical sciences and humanities: Questionnaire and performance tests of empathy and systemizing. Learn Individ Differ 17:260–268.
44. Allison C, Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S (2012) Toward brief “red flags” for autism screening: The short autism spectrum quotient and the short quantitative checklist for autism in toddlers in 1,000 cases and 3,000 controls [corrected]. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 51:202–212.e7, and erratum (2012) 51:338.
45. Tavassoli T, Hoekstra RA, Baron-Cohen S (2014) The sensory perception quotient (SPQ): Development and validation of a new sensory questionnaire for adults with and without autism. Mol Autism 5:29.
46. Baron-Cohen S, et al. (2009) Prevalence of autism-spectrum conditions: UK school-based population study. Br J Psychiatry 194:500–509.
47. Tingley D, Yamamoto T, Hirose K, Keele L, Imai K (2014) Mediation: R package for causal mediation analysis. J Stat Softw 59:1–38.
48. Wakabayashi A, et al. (2006) Development of short forms of the Empathy Quotient (EQ-Short) and the Systemizing Quotient (SQ-Short). Pers Individ Dif 41:929–940.