Development of task for measuring implicit attitudes and intervension program fostering positive attitude toward people with developmental disorder

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13221
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09060:Special needs education-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Yokota Susumu 九州大学, 基幹教育院, 准教授 (70734797)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 自閉スペクトラム症 / 潜在的態度 / 機能的磁気共鳴画像法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to develop tasks to measure implicit attitudes toward people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and an intervention program to foster positive change in implicit attitudes. A novel task was developed based on the Implicit association test to measure implicit attitudes toward ASD and physical disabilities. The result revealed that implicit attitudes toward physical disability were significantly more negative than those toward ASD. Using fMRI, we also found that brain activity in brain regions that related to attitude can significantly predict the extent of individual implicit attitude. In testing the effectiveness of an intervention program aimed at fostering positive changes in implicit attitudes. Preliminary analyses revealed that explicit attitude toward disorders of subjects in intervention group have positively changed through the intervention.

Free Research Field

発達障害学・認知神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまでASDへの態度に関する先行研究においては、顕在的態度、潜在的態度自体について報告されているが、他の障害と比較したことは本研究の独創的な点である。また、潜在的態度測定課題の妥当性については、これまで顕在的態度指標などとの相関から検討されてきたが、本研究においては生理指標である脳機能データから予測できることを明らかにしたという点は、学術的意義があると考えられる。さらに、社会的意義として、介入プログラムにおける介入効果が明らかになったことは、高等教育における発達障害学生支援の発展に寄与することができると考えられる。