Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Outputs (40)

Relationship between autonomic arousal and attention orienting in children and adolescents with ADHD, autism and co-occurring ADHD and autism (2023)
Journal Article
Bellato, A., Arora, I., Kochhar, P., Ropar, D., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. J. (2023). Relationship between autonomic arousal and attention orienting in children and adolescents with ADHD, autism and co-occurring ADHD and autism. Cortex, 166, 306-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.002

Introduction Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be characterized by different profiles of visual attention orienting. However, there are also many inconsistent findings emerging from the literature... Read More about Relationship between autonomic arousal and attention orienting in children and adolescents with ADHD, autism and co-occurring ADHD and autism.

The forensic implications of camouflaging: a study into victimisation and offending associated with autism and pathological demand avoidance (2022)
Journal Article
Trundle, G., Jones, K. A., Ropar, D., & Egan, V. (2023). The forensic implications of camouflaging: a study into victimisation and offending associated with autism and pathological demand avoidance. Advances in Autism, 9(2), 116-131. https://doi.org/10.1108/aia-02-2022-0006

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the influence of social camouflaging on victimisation and offending in relation to autism and pathological demand avoidance (PDA) traits. Camouflaging aims to overcome or conceal difficulties in social and comm... Read More about The forensic implications of camouflaging: a study into victimisation and offending associated with autism and pathological demand avoidance.

Prevalence of Victimisation in Autistic Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2022)
Journal Article
Trundle, G., Jones, K. A., Ropar, D., & Egan, V. (2023). Prevalence of Victimisation in Autistic Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 24(4), 2282-2296. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221093689

Autistic individuals are at an increased risk of experiencing victimisation. Previous reviews have focussed specific types of victimisation. Thus, a clearer picture considering the range of victimisation experiences autistic people face is required.... Read More about Prevalence of Victimisation in Autistic Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Trying to solve the ‘worst situation’ together: participatory autism research (2022)
Journal Article
Costley, D., Emerson, A., Ropar, D., Sheppard, E., McCubbing, A., Campbell Bass, S., …Ward Penny, J. (2022). Trying to solve the ‘worst situation’ together: participatory autism research. Educational Action Research, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2021.2019075

The importance of participatory autism research is discussed in relation to a project involving six autistic researchers and five non-autistic university researchers collaborating to investigate anxiety in autistic adolescents. The paper describes th... Read More about Trying to solve the ‘worst situation’ together: participatory autism research.

A pilot study of co-produced autism training for police custody staff: evaluating the impact on perceived knowledge change and behaviour intentions (2022)
Journal Article
Holloway, C., Munro, N., Cossburn, K., & Ropar, D. (2022). A pilot study of co-produced autism training for police custody staff: evaluating the impact on perceived knowledge change and behaviour intentions. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 45(3), 434-447. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-11-2021-0159

Purpose: Autistic people have reported particularly negative experiences in police custody, which can lead to significant long-term personal and legal consequences. Research has suggested providing autism training to police forces would help improve... Read More about A pilot study of co-produced autism training for police custody staff: evaluating the impact on perceived knowledge change and behaviour intentions.

Dimensions of Self-Reported Driving Difficulty in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults and their Relationship with Autistic Traits (2022)
Journal Article
Sheppard, E., van Loon, E., & Ropar, D. (2023). Dimensions of Self-Reported Driving Difficulty in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults and their Relationship with Autistic Traits. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53, 285-295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05420-y

A survey asked autistic and non-autistic people about the driving difficulties they experience and their autistic traits. Principle components analysis was used to identify how reported difficulties clustered together in each group, and regression wa... Read More about Dimensions of Self-Reported Driving Difficulty in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults and their Relationship with Autistic Traits.

Social context facilitates visuomotor synchrony and bonding in children and adults (2021)
Journal Article
Howard, E. M., Ropar, D., Newport, R., & Tunçgenç, B. (2021). Social context facilitates visuomotor synchrony and bonding in children and adults. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 22869. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02372-2

Interpersonal synchrony is a fundamental part of human social interaction, with known effects on facilitating social bonding. Moving in time with another person facilitates prosocial behaviour, however, it is unknown if the degree of synchronisation... Read More about Social context facilitates visuomotor synchrony and bonding in children and adults.

The anxiety caused by secondary schools for autistic adolescents: In their own words (2021)
Journal Article
Costley, D., Emerson, A., Ropar, D., & Sheppard, E. (2021). The anxiety caused by secondary schools for autistic adolescents: In their own words. Education Sciences, 11(11), Article 726. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11110726

Secondary schools are increasingly becoming inclusive of all students whatever their individual needs, but we question whether teachers understand enough about specific needs in order to effectively support all their students. Research indicates that... Read More about The anxiety caused by secondary schools for autistic adolescents: In their own words.

Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions (2021)
Journal Article
Bellato, A., Arora, I., Kochhar, P., Ropar, D., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. J. (2022). Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52, 4679-4691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05244-w

Despite overlaps in clinical symptomatology, autism and ADHD may be associated with opposite autonomic arousal profiles which might partly explain altered cognitive and global functioning. We investigated autonomic arousal in 106 children/adolescents... Read More about Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions.

The Relative Contributions of Visual and Proprioceptive Inputs on Hand Localization in Early Childhood (2021)
Journal Article
Ratcliffe, N., Greenfield, K., Ropar, D., Howard, E. M., & Newport, R. (2021). The Relative Contributions of Visual and Proprioceptive Inputs on Hand Localization in Early Childhood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, Article 702519. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.702519

Forming an accurate representation of the body relies on the integration of information from multiple sensory inputs. Both vision and proprioception are important for body localization. Whilst adults have been shown to integrate these sources in an o... Read More about The Relative Contributions of Visual and Proprioceptive Inputs on Hand Localization in Early Childhood.

What is the Effect of Stimulus Complexity on Attention to Repeating and Changing Information in Autism? (2021)
Journal Article
Arora, I., Bellato, A., Gliga, T., Ropar, D., Kochhar, P., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. (2022). What is the Effect of Stimulus Complexity on Attention to Repeating and Changing Information in Autism?. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(2), 600–616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6

Slower habituation to repeating stimuli characterises Autism, but it is not known whether this is driven by difficulties with information processing or an attentional bias towards sameness. We conducted eye-tracking and presented looming geometrical... Read More about What is the Effect of Stimulus Complexity on Attention to Repeating and Changing Information in Autism?.

Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence (2021)
Journal Article
Arora, I., Bellato, A., Ropar, D., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. (2021). Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 125, 417-441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.041

Background: Theories of differences in resting-state arousal in autistic individuals are influential. Differences in arousal during resting-state would impact engagement and adaptation to the environment, having a cascading effect on development of a... Read More about Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence.

Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport (2020)
Journal Article
Crompton, C. J., Sharp, M., Axbey, H., Fletcher-Watson, S., Flynn, E. G., & Ropar, D. (2020). Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 586171. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586171

The Double Empathy Problem suggests that communicative difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people are due to bi-directional differences in communicative style and a reciprocal lack of understanding. If true, there should be increased simil... Read More about Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport.

Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective (2020)
Journal Article
Crompton, C. J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C. V., Flynn, E. G., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective. Autism, 24(7), 1704-1712. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286

Abstract Effective information transfer requires social communication skills. As autism is clinically defined by social communication deficits, it may be expected that information transfer between autistic people would be particularly deficient. How... Read More about Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective.

‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family (2020)
Journal Article
Crompton, C. J., Hallett, S., Ropar, D., Flynn, E., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). ‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family. Autism, 24(6), 1438-1448. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320908976

Many autistic people are motivated to have friends, relationships and close family bonds, despite the clinical characterisation of autism as a condition negatively affecting social interaction. Many first-hand accounts of autistic people describe fee... Read More about ‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family.

Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough (2019)
Journal Article
Holloway, C. A., Munro, N., Jackson, J., Phillips, S., & Ropar, D. (2020). Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 97, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103545

© 2019 The Authors Background: Research suggests that autistic individuals may be more likely to come into contact with police and have more negative experiences in police custody. However, limited information about the difficulties they experience d... Read More about Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough.

Are you watching me?: the role of audience and object novelty on overimitation (2019)
Journal Article
Marsh, L. E., Ropar, D., & De C. Hamilton, A. F. (2019). Are you watching me?: the role of audience and object novelty on overimitation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 180, 123-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.12.010

This study tests whether overimitation is subject to an audience effect, and whether it is modulated by object novelty. Eighty-six 4-to-11-year old children watched a demonstrator open novel and familiar boxes, using sequences of necessary and unnece... Read More about Are you watching me?: the role of audience and object novelty on overimitation.

Does stereopsis account for the link between motor and social skills in adults? (2018)
Journal Article
Smith, D., Ropar, D., & Allen, H. A. (2018). Does stereopsis account for the link between motor and social skills in adults?. Molecular Autism, 9, Article 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-018-0234-4

Background: Experimental and longitudinal evidence suggests that motor proficiency plays an important role in the development of social skills. However, stereopsis, or depth perception, may also play a fundamental role in social skill development eit... Read More about Does stereopsis account for the link between motor and social skills in adults?.

A Neural Basis for Contagious Yawning (2017)
Journal Article
Brown, B. J., Kim, S., Saunders, H., Bachmann, C., Thompson, J., Ropar, D., …Jackson, G. M. (2017). A Neural Basis for Contagious Yawning. Current Biology, 27(17), 2713-2717.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.07.062

Contagious yawning, in which yawning is triggered involuntarily when we observe another person yawn, is a common form of echophenomena—the automatic imitation of another’s words (echolalia) or actions (echopraxia) [1]. The neural basis for echophenom... Read More about A Neural Basis for Contagious Yawning.

Developmental changes in sensitivity to spatial and temporal properties of sensory integration underlying body representation (2017)
Journal Article
Greenfield, K., Ropar, D., Themelis, K., Ratcliffe, N., & Newport, R. (2017). Developmental changes in sensitivity to spatial and temporal properties of sensory integration underlying body representation. Multisensory Research, 30(6), https://doi.org/10.1163/22134808-00002591

The closer in time and space that two or more stimuli are presented, the more likely it is that they will be integrated together. A recent study by Hillock-Dunn and Wallace (2012) reported that the size of the visuo-auditory temporal binding window —... Read More about Developmental changes in sensitivity to spatial and temporal properties of sensory integration underlying body representation.

Social seeking declines in young adolescents (2017)
Journal Article
Dubey, I., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2017). Social seeking declines in young adolescents. Royal Society Open Science, 4(8), Article 170029. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170029

The desire to engage with others is an important motivational force throughout our lifespan. It is known that social behaviour and preferences change from childhood to adulthood, but whether this change is linked with any changes in social motivation... Read More about Social seeking declines in young adolescents.

The integration of occlusion and disparity information for judging depth in autism spectrum disorder (2017)
Journal Article
Smith, D., Ropar, D., & Allen, H. A. (in press). The integration of occlusion and disparity information for judging depth in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3234-x

In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), atypical integration of visual depth cues may be due to flattened perceptual priors or selective fusion. The current study attempts to disentangle these explanations by psychophysically assessing within-modality int... Read More about The integration of occlusion and disparity information for judging depth in autism spectrum disorder.

Body representation difficulties in children and adolescents with autism may be due to delayed development of visuo-tactile temporal binding (2017)
Journal Article
Greenfield, K., Newport, R., Smith, A. D., Carey, M., & Ropar, D. (in press). Body representation difficulties in children and adolescents with autism may be due to delayed development of visuo-tactile temporal binding. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.007

Recent research suggests visuo-tactile binding is temporally extended in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), although it is not clear whether this specifically underlies altered body representation in this population. In the current study children and a... Read More about Body representation difficulties in children and adolescents with autism may be due to delayed development of visuo-tactile temporal binding.

Attentional differences in a driving hazard perception task in adults with autism spectrum disorders (2016)
Journal Article
Sheppard, E., van Loon, E., Underwood, G., & Ropar, D. (in press). Attentional differences in a driving hazard perception task in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2965-4

The current study explored attentional processing of social and non social stimuli in ASD within the context of a driving hazard perception task. Participants watched videos of road scenes and detected hazards while their eye movements were recorded.... Read More about Attentional differences in a driving hazard perception task in adults with autism spectrum disorders.

The Latent Structure of Autistic Traits: A Taxometric, Latent Class and Latent Profile Analysis of the Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient (2016)
Journal Article
James, R. J., Dubey, I., Smith, D., Ropar, D., & Tunney, R. J. (2016). The Latent Structure of Autistic Traits: A Taxometric, Latent Class and Latent Profile Analysis of the Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(12), 3712-3728. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2897-z

Autistic traits are widely thought to operate along a continuum. A taxometric analysis of Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient data was conducted to test this assumption, finding little support but identifying a high severity taxon. To understand this furt... Read More about The Latent Structure of Autistic Traits: A Taxometric, Latent Class and Latent Profile Analysis of the Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient.

Difficulties predicting time-to-arrival in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (2016)
Journal Article
Sheppard, E., van Loon, E., Underwood, G., & Ropar, D. (2016). Difficulties predicting time-to-arrival in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 28, 17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.05.001

Background: Previous research suggests people with ASD may have various difficulties in processing and interacting with motion in the environment. We investigated whether individuals with ASD have difficulty judging the location of moving objects i... Read More about Difficulties predicting time-to-arrival in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

How easy is it to read the minds of people with autism spectrum disorder (2015)
Journal Article
Sheppard, E., Pillai, D., Tze-Lynn Wong, G., Mitchell, P., & Ropar, D. (2016). How easy is it to read the minds of people with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(4), 1247–1254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2662-8

How well can neurotypical adults’ interpret mental states in people with ASD? ‘Targets’ (ASD and neurotypical) reactions to four events were video-recorded then shown to neurotypical participants whose task was to identify which event the target had... Read More about How easy is it to read the minds of people with autism spectrum disorder.

Visuo-tactile integration in autism: atypical temporal binding may underlie greater reliance on proprioceptive information (2015)
Journal Article
Greenfield, K., Smith, A., Carey, M., ROPAR, D., & Newport, R. (2015). Visuo-tactile integration in autism: atypical temporal binding may underlie greater reliance on proprioceptive information. Molecular Autism, 6(51), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-015-0045-9

Background Evidence indicates that social functioning deficits and sensory sensitivities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are related to atypical sensory integration. The exact mechanisms underlying these integration difficulties are unknown; howev... Read More about Visuo-tactile integration in autism: atypical temporal binding may underlie greater reliance on proprioceptive information.

Cognitive Mechanisms underlying visual perspective taking in typical and ASC children (2015)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Marsh, L., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. (2016). Cognitive Mechanisms underlying visual perspective taking in typical and ASC children. Autism Research, 9(1), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1501

Previous research has suggested that people with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) may have difficulty with visual perspective taking (VPT) but it is not clear how this relates to different strategies that can be used in perspective taking tasks. The... Read More about Cognitive Mechanisms underlying visual perspective taking in typical and ASC children.

Processing of Spontaneous Emotional Responses in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effect of Stimulus Type (2015)
Journal Article
Cassidy, S., Chapman, P., Ropar, D., & Mitchell, P. (2015). Processing of Spontaneous Emotional Responses in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effect of Stimulus Type. Autism Research, 8(5), 534-544. doi:10.1002/aur.1468

Recent research has shown that adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty interpreting others' emotional responses, in order to work out what actually happened to them. It is unclear what underlies this difficulty; important cues may... Read More about Processing of Spontaneous Emotional Responses in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effect of Stimulus Type.

Responses to irrational actions in action observation and mentalising networks of the human brain (2014)
Journal Article
Marsh, L. E., Mullett, T. L., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2014). Responses to irrational actions in action observation and mentalising networks of the human brain. NeuroImage, 103, 81-90. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.020

By observing other people, we can often infer goals and motivations behind their actions. This study examines the role of the action observation network (AON) and the mentalising network (MZN) in the perception of rational and irrational actions. Pas... Read More about Responses to irrational actions in action observation and mentalising networks of the human brain.

Spatial transformations of bodies and objects in adults with autism spectrum disorder (2014)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Marsh, L., Hamilton, A., & Ropar, D. (2014). Spatial transformations of bodies and objects in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(9), 2277-2289. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2098-6

Previous research into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown people with autism to be impaired at visual perspective taking. However it is still unclear to what extent the spatial mechanisms underlying this ability contribute to these difficulties... Read More about Spatial transformations of bodies and objects in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Predictive gaze during observation of irrational actions in adults with autism spectrum conditions (2014)
Journal Article
Marsh, L., Pearson, A., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2015). Predictive gaze during observation of irrational actions in adults with autism spectrum conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(1), 245-261. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2215-6

Understanding irrational actions may require the observer to make mental state inferences about why an action was performed. Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have well documented difficulties with mentalizing; however, the degree to... Read More about Predictive gaze during observation of irrational actions in adults with autism spectrum conditions.

Using other minds as a window onto the world: guessing what happened from clues in behaviour (2014)
Journal Article
Pillai, D., Sheppard, E., Ropar, D., Marsh, L., Pearson, A., & Mitchell, P. (2014). Using other minds as a window onto the world: guessing what happened from clues in behaviour. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(10), 2430-2439. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2106-x

It has been proposed that mentalising involves retrodicting as well as predicting behaviour, by inferring previous mental states of a target. This study investigated whether retrodiction is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)... Read More about Using other minds as a window onto the world: guessing what happened from clues in behaviour.

The social modulation of imitation fidelity in school-age children (2014)
Journal Article
Marsh, L. E., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2014). The social modulation of imitation fidelity in school-age children. PLoS ONE, 9(1), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086127

Children copy the actions of others with high fidelity, even when they are not causally relevant. This copying of visibly unnecessary actions is termed overimitation. Many competing theories propose mechanisms for overimitation behaviour. The present... Read More about The social modulation of imitation fidelity in school-age children.

Can Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Infer What Happened to Someone From Their Emotional Response? (2013)
Journal Article
Cassidy, S., Ropar, D., Mitchell, P., & Chapman, P. (2014). Can Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Infer What Happened to Someone From Their Emotional Response?. Autism Research, 7(1), 112-123. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1351

Can adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) infer what happened to someone from their emotional response? Millikan has argued that in everyday life, others' emotions are most commonly used to work out the antecedents of behavior, an ability terme... Read More about Can Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Infer What Happened to Someone From Their Emotional Response?.

Children with autism do not overimitate (2013)
Journal Article
Marsh, L., Pearson, A., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. (2013). Children with autism do not overimitate. Current Biology, 23(7), R266-R268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.036

Copying the behaviour of others is important for forming social bonds with other people and for learning about the world [1]. After seeing an actor demonstrate actions on a novel object, typically developing (TD) children faithfully copy both necessa... Read More about Children with autism do not overimitate.