Autistic and non-autistic people have similar perceptions of musical emotions but use different cognitive processing

Theory and research on autistic people’s perceived emotions in music is mixed. Results on this topic vary based on the methods used, are heavily reliant on basic emotions and categorical methods, and rarely applied to adults. Here we use a novel audio-based method to test autistic people’s perception of emotions in music. Specifically, we administered an audio-based test where adult participants listened to 10 pieces of Western music and rated each on 27 different emotions. In Study 1, we included a sample of 128 people (64 autistic adults matched by sex, age, and musical training with 64 non-autistic adults). Results showed no significant differences between autistic and non-autistic people on mean ratings of any of the 27 perceived emotions, nor on three broad perceptual dimensions outlining Arousal, Valence, and Depth (AVD). However, for both groups, there were small correlations between perception of emotions in music ratings and individual differences in empathizing (E) and systemizing (S). In Study 2, we included a sample of 3,372 non-autistic people who completed the same measures as in Study 1. Results showed differences in Depth perception across empathizing-systemizing (E-S) cognitive types. Together, the results show that autistic people do not differ in their ability to perceive emotions in music, compared to non-autistic people, but that there may be differences in the underlying mechanisms involved in music perception based on E-S cognitive types. We discuss how that the ability of autistic people to perceive emotions from music may stem from the predictable nature of music, and autistic people’s ability to accurately recognize rules in music. This hypothesis needs to be tested in future research.