Brief Report: Selective Social Anhedonia in High Functioning Autism

Diminished social motivation is one of the most striking features in autism. Yet, few studies have directly assessed the value people with an ASD place on social interactions, or how rewarding they report it to be. In the present study, we directly measure social motivation by looking at responses to a questionnaire assessing self-reported pleasure in social and non social situations. Twenty-nine adolescents with ASD and matched controls took part in the study. Our results reveal that children with an ASD differ from the controls with respect to social enjoyment, but not with respect to physical and other sources of hedonism. Further analyses demonstrate that the degree of social anhedonia correlates with autism severity.