RESEARCH ARTICLE

Different associations between intelligence

and social cognition in children with and

without autism spectrum disorders

Tetsu HirosawaID 1,2*, Keiko Kontani1,2, Mina Fukai1, Masafumi Kameya1, Daiki Soma1,

Shoryoku Hino 3 , Tatsuru Kitamura

3 , Chiaki Hasegawa

2 , Kyung-min An

2 ,

Tetsuya Takahashi 2 , Yuko Yoshimura

2,4 , Mitsuru Kikuchi

1,2

1 Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University,

Kanazawa, Japan, 2 Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa,

Japan, 3 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Ishikawa Prefectural Takamatsu Hospital, Ishikawa, Japan,

4 Faculty of Education, Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

* hirosawatetsu1982@yahoo.co.jp

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social cognition and com-

munication. In addition to social impairment, individuals with ASD often have intellectual dis-

ability. Intelligence is known to influence the phenotypic presentation of ASD. Nevertheless,

the relation between intelligence and social reciprocity in people with ASD remains unclear,

especially in childhood. To elucidate this relation, we analyzed 56 typically developing chil-

dren (35 male, 21 female, aged 60–91 months) and 46 children with ASD (35 male, 11

female, aged 60–98 months) from university and affiliated hospitals. Their cognitive function

was evaluated using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Their social cognition

was assessed using the Social Responsiveness Scale. We used linear regression models

to ascertain whether the associations between intelligence and social cognition of typically

developing children and children with ASD are significantly different. Among the children

with ASD, scores on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children correlated significantly

with social cognition, indicating that higher intelligence is associated with better social cogni-

tion. For typically developing children, however, no significant correlation was found. One

explanation might be that children with ASD fully use general intelligence for successful

learning in social cognition, although extensive use of intelligence might not be necessary

for TD children. Alternatively, autistic impairment in social cognition can be compensated by

intelligence despite a persistent deficit in social cognition. In either case, when using the

SRS as a quantitative phenotype measure for ASD, the influence of intelligence must be

considered.

Introduction

Numerous and diverse difficulties driven by social impairment are experienced by individuals

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with

PLOS ONE

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235380 August 21, 2020 1 / 18

a1111111111

a1111111111

a1111111111

a1111111111

a1111111111

OPEN ACCESS

Citation: Hirosawa T, Kontani K, Fukai M, Kameya

M, Soma D, Hino S, et al. (2020) Different

associations between intelligence and social

cognition in children with and without autism

spectrum disorders. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0235380.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235380

Editor: John Richey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

and State University, UNITED STATES

Received: August 24, 2019

Accepted: June 7, 2020

Published: August 21, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Hirosawa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution License, which

permits unrestricted use, distribution, and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original

author and source are credited.

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are

within the manuscript and its Supporting

Information files.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding

for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared

that no competing interests exist.

repetitive behaviors and characterized by impaired social cognition and communication [1].

For example, social impairment leads people with ASD to experience difficulties in education,

employment, and in severe cases, independent living [2–5]. Moreover, it is noteworthy that

severe social impairment in childhood strongly predicts those factors later in their adulthood

[6], which emphasizes the importance of understanding factors associated with childhood

social impairment.