Emotion Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emotion regulation refers to the processes by which individuals monitor, evaluate and modify their emotional reactions. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), challenges in these processes can manifest as heightened emotional reactivity, difficulties in deploying adaptive coping strategies and a predisposition to both internalising and externalising problems. Neurodevelopmental features such as sensory sensitivity, alexithymia and social communication differences contribute to this variability, while compensatory behaviours—often described as camouflaging—may mask underlying distress. Across the lifespan, disrupted connectivity between prefrontal control regions and limbic structures underpins many of these regulation difficulties. Early parent co‐regulation, peer interactions and targeted behavioural interventions can foster adaptive strategies, but heterogeneity in presentation demands personalised approaches. Improved understanding of the biosocial predictors of emotion dysregulation, alongside real‐world assessment techniques, has underscored the need for interventions that address both neural mechanisms and everyday coping to enhance quality of life.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that electroencephalography‐based brain–computer interfaces can reliably distinguish between distress and non‐distress neural states in individuals with ASD. By analysing event‐related potentials time‐locked to feedback in a gamified task, researchers achieved classification accuracies above 80%. This proof‐of‐concept work highlights the feasibility of real‐time monitoring of emotional arousal and lays the groundwork for adaptive neurofeedback interventions aimed at strengthening self‐regulatory capacities.

Emotion Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Emotion regulation (ER): The processes by which individuals influence the onset, intensity, duration and expression of their emotional experiences.

Emotion dysregulation (ED): Difficulties in monitoring, evaluating or modulating emotional responses, leading to maladaptive or extreme emotional states.

Alexithymia: A subclinical trait characterised by difficulty identifying and articulating one’s own emotions.

Camouflaging: Strategies used by autistic individuals to mask or compensate for autistic traits in social situations.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA): A method that captures individuals’ behaviours and experiences in real time and in their natural environments.

Brain–computer interface (BCI): A system that enables direct communication between neural signals and an external device, often used to decode or modulate brain activity.

References

1. The biosocial correlates and predictors of emotion dysregulation in autistic adults compared to borderline personality disorder and nonclinical controls. Molecular Autism (2023).
2. Cognitive emotion regulation difficulties increase affective reactivity to daily-life stress in autistic adolescents and young adults. Autism (2023).
3. Emotion Regulation and Parent Co-Regulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2017).
4. Emotion Control Predicts Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Boys With and Without an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2018).
5. Trial by trial EEG based BCI for distress versus non distress classification in individuals with ASD. Scientific Reports (2021).
6. Emotional dysregulation as a part of the autism spectrum continuum: a literature review from late childhood to adulthood. Frontiers in Psychiatry (2023).