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Reposted by Connor Keating

alicia-rybicki.bsky.social @alicia-rybicki.bsky.social · 2d

🚨 PhD Opportunity! 🚨

Come investigate the mechanistic role of dopamine in emotion processing with Prof Jennifer Cook - @thechbh.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social

MIBTP-funded PhD, using behavioural, computational and pharmacological approaches. Get in touch and please share!

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

Thus, unconscious rather than conscious attitudes may be more influential in guiding prosocial behaviour. These could be addressed – promoting greater acceptance of autistic people and reducing internalised stigma – to foster supportive relationships between & within neurotypes.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

For autistic participants, stronger implicit biases predicted lower motivation to put in effort for autistic peers. For non-autistic participants, implicit biases did not affect decisions, but predicted greater effort exerted for non-autistic compared to autistic peers.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

Implicit, but not explicit, biases held about autism played a role...

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

When looking at how much actual effort participants put in, non-autistic participants put in comparable effort for other autistic and non-autistic participants, whilst autistic participants put in more actual effort for their fellow autistic than non-autistic participants.

A bar chart showing that the non-autistic participants exerted more effort for themselves than for both other groups (with no differences between others of the same or others of a different neurotype). In contrast, the autistic participants exerted most effort for themselves, followed by autistic others, and then neurotypical others.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

When looking at choices, we saw a robust self-bias, with both groups choosing to put in more effort for themselves than others, and no differences between same and different neurotype others.

A bar graph showing that both the autistic and non-autistic participants chose to exert effort more for themselves than for both other groups.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

We asked autistic and non-autistic adults to squeeze a hand grip to earn credits for themselves, for others of the same neurotype, or for others of a different neurotype. They could choose to squeeze for credit or rest for no credit on every trial...

An image showing that participants completed trials where they could win a variable amount of credits for themselves, others of the same neurotype, or others of a different neurotype. Participants would choose whether or not to exert a given level of effort for the recipient, and then would have to put in that effort to win the reward.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 1d

Very happy to see this published! Registered report led by the fantastic Sophie Sowden-Carvalho (and with @thepsychologist.bsky.social & @brainapps.bsky.social) looking at effort-based prosocial decision-making in autistic and non-autistic adults. tinyurl.com/3upvukt2
See thread below for more info⭐️

Autistic and non-autistic prosocial decision-making: The impact of recipient neurotype

A body of research suggests cross-neurotype interpersonal interactions may be more challenging, and non-autistic individuals show less interest in int…

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · 4d

We are delighted that @connortkeating.bsky.social's Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia #CRAEwebinar is now available to watch on our YouTube Channel.

youtu.be/OqbcUW6qbLw

Webinar image for Connor Keating's Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia. Photo of Connor. UCL header. Dated 2nd Oct 2025

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · 12d

Coming very soon.
2nd Oct 4 pm BST

Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia with @connortkeating.bsky.social

Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia

Connor Keating considers whether emotion-processing differs between autistic and non-autistic adults after controlling for alexithymia.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · Jul 30

Our October #CRAEwebinar:
Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism, Alexithymia and Psychological Mechanisms.

@connortkeating.bsky.social will ask, do autistic & non-autistic adults process emotions differently once alexithymia is in the mix?
2nd Oct 4 pm BST

Sign up:
www.eventbrite.co.uk...

Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia

Connor Keating considers whether emotion-processing differs between autistic and non-autistic adults after controlling for alexithymia.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Bianca Schuster @biancaaschuster.bsky.social · May 14

Very happy to report that this study is now published in Molecular Autism: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Bianca Schuster @biancaaschuster.bsky.social · Dec 5

Social interactions cannot be assessed without (1) acknowledging the two-way process involved and (2) the cultural context the interactions are embedded in. We present new evidence for this, using stimuli like the one below, in our latest preprint: osf.io/xg7y4 🤝

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Catherine Crompton @cjcrompton.bsky.social · May 14

New paper alert!

Information transfer within and between autistic and non-autistic people is out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com

nature.com/articles/s41...

THREAD! 🧵⬇️

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · May 8

Thanks so much! ☺️☺️

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · May 8

Thank you!!

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · May 8

Thank you Jade! Hope everything is good with you ☺️☺️

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · May 8

I am incredibly honoured (and shocked) to receive the Best PhD Dissertation Award from INSAR! This work wouldn’t exist without amazing mentors, colleagues, lived experience experts and participants! Special thanks to Jennifer Cook for her incredible mentorship - I am so grateful for all the support!

Department of Experimental Psychology @oxexppsy.bsky.social · May 8

Congratulations to Connor Keating for winning the Dissertation Award from the International Society for Autism Research! A fantastic achievement👏 @connortkeating.bsky.social #INSAR2025

www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/connor-...

Connor Keating wins Dissertation Award from the International Society for Autism Research

The award will be given at INSAR's 2025 Annual Meeting, which is being held in Seattle this week.

www.psy.ox.ac.uk

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Apr 4

And huge thanks to all of the people who made this work possible - particularly Jennifer Cook, Sophie Sowden-Carvalho, and the lived experience experts in Birmingham Psychology Autism Research Team! ✨✨✨

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Apr 4

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to present my Frith Prize talk at the EPS meeting yesterday — it was such an honour and a delight! I had some fascinating questions and conversations that will definitely help shape my next projects. Huge thanks to @exppsychsoc.bsky.social for the fab conference!

An image of me presenting my talk. On the slide is a thank you to various people that helped make the work possible

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Dec 4

Thrilled that our article on knowledge, explicit stigma, and implicit biases towards autism across Hong Kong, the UK, and the US is now published #OpenAccess in @journalautism.bsky.social ⭐ Was so great working with
Yulin Cheng & Patrick Dwyer on this! 🧵1/6
doi.org/10.1177/1362...

Factors underlying differences in knowledge, explicit stigma and implicit biases towards autism across Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States - Yulin Cheng, Patrick Dwyer, Connor Tom Keat...

A growing literature suggests that there is cross-cultural variation in levels of autism-related stigma, which may partially be explained by differences in cult...

doi.org

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Reposted by Connor Keating

Bianca Schuster @biancaaschuster.bsky.social · Dec 5

Social interactions cannot be assessed without (1) acknowledging the two-way process involved and (2) the cultural context the interactions are embedded in. We present new evidence for this, using stimuli like the one below, in our latest preprint: osf.io/xg7y4 🤝

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Dec 4

Thanks so much to the autism consultancy groups in Hong Kong, the UK, and the US for your help with our study - we are really grateful for your input.

Reposts to thread really appreciated ❤️

Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Dec 4

Our findings underscore the crucial need to combat misconceptions about, and stigma towards autism, particularly in Hong Kong🧵6/6

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Dec 4

Knowledge and explicit stigma differed across countries, even after accounting for covariates: students in Hong Kong displayed less accurate knowledge, and higher explicit stigma towards autism, than those in the UK and US. Implicit biases did not differ across countries🧵5/6

Boxplots showing that (1) levels of autism-related knowledge was lower in Hong Kong than the UK and the US, and (2) levels of explicit stigma was higher in Hong Kong than the UK and the US, after accounting for covariates at p < .0001.

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Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · Dec 4

Implicit biases were directly predicted by age and explicit stigma. They were also indirectly predicted by vertical individualism (positively) and horizontal collectivism (negatively) via explicit stigma. Check out the paper for our speculations on the underlying mechanisms🧵4/6

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