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Nowling D, Crum KI, Joseph J. Sex differences in development of functional connections in the face processing network. J Neuroimaging 2024; 34:280-290. [PMID: 38169075 PMCID: PMC10939922 DOI: 10.1111/jon.13185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 12/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Understanding sex differences in typical development of the face processing network is important for elucidating disruptions during atypical development in sex-linked developmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder. Based on prior sex difference studies in other cognitive domains, this study examined whether females show increased integration of core and extended face regions with age for face viewing, while males would show increased segregation. METHODS This study used a cross-sectional design with typically developing children and adults (n = 133) and a functional MRI face localizer task. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis examined functional connectivity between canonical and extended face processing network regions with age, with greater segregation indexed by decreased core-extended region connectivity with age and greater integration indexed by increased core-extended region connectivity with age. RESULTS PPI analysis confirmed increased segregation for males-right fusiform face area (FFA) coupling to right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) opercular when viewing faces and left amygdala when viewing objects decreased with age. Females showed increased integration with age (increased coupling of the right FFA to right IFG opercular region and right occipital face area [OFA] to right IFG orbital when viewing faces and objects, respectively) and increased segregation (decreased coupling with age of the right OFA with IFG opercular region when viewing faces). CONCLUSIONS Development of core and extended face processing network connectivity follows sexually dimorphic paths. These differential changes mostly occur across childhood and adolescence, with males experiencing segregation and females both segregation and integration changes in connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duncan Nowling
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
| | - Kathleen I. Crum
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Jane Joseph
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
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2
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Ibrahim K, Iturmendi-Sabater I, Vasishth M, Barron DS, Guardavaccaro M, Funaro MC, Holmes A, McCarthy G, Eickhoff SB, Sukhodolsky DG. Neural circuit disruptions of eye gaze processing in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Schizophr Res 2024; 264:298-313. [PMID: 38215566 PMCID: PMC10922721 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impairment in social cognition, particularly eye gaze processing, is a shared feature common to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. However, it is unclear if a convergent neural mechanism also underlies gaze dysfunction in these conditions. The present study examined whether this shared eye gaze phenotype is reflected in a profile of convergent neurobiological dysfunction in ASD and schizophrenia. METHODS Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted on peak voxel coordinates across the whole brain to identify spatial convergence. Functional coactivation with regions emerging as significant was assessed using meta-analytic connectivity modeling. Functional decoding was also conducted. RESULTS Fifty-six experiments (n = 30 with schizophrenia and n = 26 with ASD) from 36 articles met inclusion criteria, which comprised 354 participants with ASD, 275 with schizophrenia and 613 healthy controls (1242 participants in total). In ASD, aberrant activation was found in the left amygdala relative to unaffected controls during gaze processing. In schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area. Across ASD and schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus during gaze processing. Functional decoding mapped the left amygdala to domains related to emotion processing and cognition, the right inferior frontal gyrus to cognition and perception, and the right fusiform gyrus to visual perception, spatial cognition, and emotion perception. These regions also showed meta-analytic connectivity to frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry. CONCLUSION Alterations in frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry emerged as neural markers of gaze impairments in ASD and schizophrenia. These findings have implications for advancing transdiagnostic biomarkers to inform targeted treatments for ASD and schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America.
| | | | - Maya Vasishth
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
| | - Daniel S Barron
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, United States of America; Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America
| | | | - Melissa C Funaro
- Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, United States of America
| | - Avram Holmes
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Gregory McCarthy
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Denis G Sukhodolsky
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
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3
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Jayashankar A, Bynum B, Butera C, Kilroy E, Harrison L, Aziz-Zadeh L. Connectivity differences between inferior frontal gyrus and mentalizing network in autism as compared to developmental coordination disorder and non-autistic youth. Cortex 2023; 167:115-131. [PMID: 37549452 PMCID: PMC10543516 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
Prior studies have compared neural connectivity during mentalizing tasks in autism (ASD) to non-autistic individuals and found reduced connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and mentalizing regions. However, given that the IFG is involved in motor processing, and about 80% of autistic individuals have motor-related difficulties, it is necessary to explore if these differences are specific to ASD or instead similar across other developmental motor disorders, such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Participants (29 ASD, 20 DCD, 31 typically developing [TD]; ages 8-17) completed a mentalizing task in the fMRI scanner, where they were asked to think about why someone was performing an action. Results indicated that the ASD group, as compared to both TD and DCD groups, showed significant functional connectivity differences when mentalizing about other's actions. The left IFG seed revealed ASD connectivity differences with the: bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), left insular cortex, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Connectivity differences using the right IFG seed revealed ASD differences in the: left insula, and right DLPFC. These results indicate that connectivity differences between the IFG, mentalizing regions, emotion and motor processing regions are specific to ASD and not a result of potentially co-occurring motor differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditya Jayashankar
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Brittany Bynum
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Christiana Butera
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Emily Kilroy
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Laura Harrison
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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4
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Carter Leno V, Pickard H, Cybulska L, Smith T, Munafo M, Penton‐Voak I, Simonoff E, Pickles A, Bedford R. Associations between emotion recognition and autistic and callous-unemotional traits: differential effects of cueing to the eyes. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2023; 64:787-796. [PMID: 36504330 PMCID: PMC10953425 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although autism and callous-unemotional (CU) traits are distinct conditions, both are associated with difficulties in emotion recognition. However, it is unknown whether the emotion recognition difficulties characteristic of autism and CU traits are driven by comparable underpinning mechanisms. METHODS We tested whether cueing to the eyes improved emotion recognition in relation to autistic and CU traits in a heterogeneous sample of children enhanced for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Participants were 171 (n = 75 male) children aged 10-16 years with and without a diagnosis of autism (n = 99 autistic), who completed assessments of emotion recognition with and without cueing to the eyes. Parents completed the assessment of autistic and CU traits. RESULTS Associations between autistic and CU traits and emotion recognition accuracy were dependent upon gaze cueing. CU traits were associated with an overall decrease in emotion recognition in the uncued condition, but better fear recognition when cued to the eyes. Conversely, autistic traits were associated with decreased emotion recognition in the cued condition only, and no interactions between autistic traits and emotion were found. CONCLUSIONS The differential effect of cueing to the eyes in autistic and CU traits suggests different mechanisms underpin emotion recognition abilities. Results suggest interventions designed to promote looking to the eyes may be beneficial for children with CU traits, but not for children with autistic characteristics. Future developmental studies of autism and CU characteristics are required to better understand how different pathways lead to overlapping socio-cognitive profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Carter Leno
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Hannah Pickard
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, BirkbeckUniversity of LondonLondonUK
| | - Liliana Cybulska
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Tim Smith
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, BirkbeckUniversity of LondonLondonUK
| | - Marcus Munafo
- School of Psychological ScienceUniversity of BristolBristolUK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology UnitUniversity of BristolBristolUK
- National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of BristolBristolUK
| | - Ian Penton‐Voak
- School of Psychological ScienceUniversity of BristolBristolUK
- National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of BristolBristolUK
| | - Emily Simonoff
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Andrew Pickles
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
| | - Rachael Bedford
- Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceKing's College LondonLondonUK
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of BathBathUK
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5
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Aydin Ü, Cañigueral R, Tye C, McLoughlin G. Face processing in young adults with autism and ADHD: An event related potentials study. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1080681. [PMID: 36998627 PMCID: PMC10043418 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1080681] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Atypicalities in perception and interpretation of faces and emotional facial expressions have been reported in both autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during childhood and adulthood. Investigation of face processing during young adulthood (18 to 25 years), a transition period to full-fledged adulthood, could provide important information on the adult outcomes of autism and ADHD. Methods In this study, we investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) related to visual face processing in autism, ADHD, and co-occurring autism and ADHD in a large sample of young adults (N = 566). The groups were based on the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in Adults 2.0 (DIVA-2) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2). We analyzed ERPs from two passive viewing tasks previously used in childhood investigations: (1) upright and inverted faces with direct or averted gaze; (2) faces expressing different emotions. Results Across both tasks, we consistently found lower amplitude and longer latency of N170 in participants with autism compared to those without. Longer P1 latencies and smaller P3 amplitudes in response to emotional expressions and longer P3 latencies for upright faces were also characteristic to the autistic group. Those with ADHD had longer N170 latencies, specific to the face-gaze task. Individuals with both autism and ADHD showed additional alterations in gaze modulation and a lack of the face inversion effect indexed by a delayed N170. Conclusion Alterations in N170 for autistic young adults is largely consistent with studies on autistic adults, and some studies in autistic children. These findings suggest that there are identifiable and measurable socio-functional atypicalities in young adults with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ümit Aydin
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Roser Cañigueral
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte Tye
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gráinne McLoughlin
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
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6
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Stuart N, Whitehouse A, Palermo R, Bothe E, Badcock N. Eye Gaze in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Neural Evidence for the Eye Avoidance Hypothesis. J Autism Dev Disord 2022; 53:1884-1905. [PMID: 35119604 PMCID: PMC10123036 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05443-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Reduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli. Of the reviewed studies, eight of eleven supported the eye avoidance hypothesis. These results suggest eye avoidance may be used to reduce amygdala-related hyperarousal among people on the autism spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Stuart
- University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
| | - Andrew Whitehouse
- Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children's Hospital, 15 Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Romina Palermo
- University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Ellen Bothe
- University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Nicholas Badcock
- University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
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7
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Kotila A, Tohka J, Kauppi JP, Gabbatore I, Mäkinen L, Hurtig TM, Ebeling HE, Korhonen V, Kiviniemi VJ, Loukusa S. Neural-level associations of non-verbal pragmatic comprehension in young Finnish autistic adults. Int J Circumpolar Health 2021; 80:1909333. [PMID: 34027832 PMCID: PMC8158210 DOI: 10.1080/22423982.2021.1909333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This video-based study examines the pragmatic non-verbal comprehension skills and corresponding neural-level findings in young Finnish autistic adults, and controls. Items from the Assessment Battery of Communication (ABaCo) were chosen to evaluate the comprehension of non-verbal communication. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging data was used to reveal the synchrony of brain activation across participants during the viewing of pragmatically complex scenes of ABaCo videos. The results showed a significant difference between the ISC maps of the autistic and control groups in tasks involving the comprehension of non-verbal communication, thereby revealing several brain regions where correlation of brain activity was greater within the control group. The results suggest a possible weaker modulation of brain states in response to the pragmatic non-verbal communicative situations in autistic participants. Although there was no difference between the groups in behavioural responses to ABaCo items, there was more variability in the accuracy of the responses in the autistic group. Furthermore, mean answering and reaction times correlated with the severity of autistic traits. The results indicate that even if young autistic adults may have learned to use compensatory resources in their communicative-pragmatic comprehension, pragmatic processing in naturalistic situations still requires additional effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aija Kotila
- Faculty of Humanities, Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Jussi Tohka
- A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Jukka-Pekka Kauppi
- Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Ilaria Gabbatore
- Faculty of Humanities, Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Leena Mäkinen
- Faculty of Humanities, Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Tuula M. Hurtig
- Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University of Oulu
| | - Hanna E. Ebeling
- Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa Korhonen
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center, Oulu University Hospital and Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa J. Kiviniemi
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center, Oulu University Hospital and Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Oulu Functional NeuroImaging-lab, Medical Research Center, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Soile Loukusa
- Faculty of Humanities, Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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8
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Costa C, Cristea IA, Dal Bò E, Melloni C, Gentili C. Brain activity during facial processing in autism spectrum disorder: an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2021; 62:1412-1424. [PMID: 33723876 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Though aberrant face processing is a hallmark of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), findings on accompanying brain activity are divergent. Therefore, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of studies examining brain activity during face processing. METHODS We searched PubMed and PsycINFO using combinations of terms as 'fMRI', 'Autism Spectrum Disorder', 'Face Perception'. Eligible studies reported on DSM-diagnosed ASD individuals, compared to controls (HC), using face stimuli presented in fMRI and reporting whole-brain analysis coordinates. We compared two approaches: 'convergence of differences' (primary analysis) using study-level coordinates from ASD vs. HC contrasts, and 'differences in convergence' (secondary) pooling coordinates within each group separately, and contrasting the resultant ALE maps. RESULTS Thirty-five studies (655 ASD and 668 HC) were included. Primary analysis identified a cluster in amygdala/parahippocampus where HC showed greater convergence of activation. Secondary analysis yielded no significant results. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that ASD dysfunction in face processing relies on structures involved in emotional processing rather than perception. We also demonstrate that the two ALE methodologies lead to divergent results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristiano Costa
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Ioana Alina Cristea
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.,IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Elisa Dal Bò
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Caterina Melloni
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Claudio Gentili
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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9
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Ibrahim K, Soorya LV, Halpern DB, Gorenstein M, Siper PM, Wang AT. Social cognitive skills groups increase medial prefrontal cortex activity in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:2495-2511. [PMID: 34486810 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 07/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Few studies have examined the neural mechanisms of change following social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined the neural effects of social cognitive skills groups during functional MRI (fMRI) tasks of irony comprehension and eye gaze processing in school-aged children with ASD. Verbally fluent children (ages 8-11) were randomized to social cognitive skills groups or facilitated play comparison groups. Behavioral assessments and fMRI scans were obtained at baseline and endpoint (12 weeks). During fMRI, children completed two separate tasks to engage social cognition circuitry: comprehension of potentially ironic scenarios (n = 34) and viewing emotionally expressive faces with direct or averted gaze (n = 24). Whole-brain analyses were conducted to examine neural changes following treatment. Regression analyses were also conducted to explore the relationship between neural and behavioral changes. When comparing the two groups directly, the social cognitive skills group showed greater increases in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), implicated in theory of mind, relative to the comparison group for both irony comprehension and gaze processing tasks. Increased mPFC activity during the irony task was associated with improvement in social functioning on the Social Responsiveness Scale across both groups. Findings indicate that social cognitive skills interventions may increase activity in regions associated with social cognition and mentalizing abilities. LAY SUMMARY: Social skills groups are a common intervention for school-aged children with ASD. However, few studies have examined the neural response to social skills groups in school-aged children with ASD. Here, we report on a study evaluating neural outcomes from an empirically supported social cognitive skills training curriculum using fMRI. This study seeks to understand the effects of targeting emotion recognition and theory of mind on the brain circuitry involved in social cognition in verbally fluent children ages 8-11. Results indicate increased neural activity in the mPFC, a region considered to be a central hub of the "social brain," in children randomized to social cognitive skills groups relative to a comparison group that received a high-quality, child-directed play approach. In addition, increased activation in the mPFC during an irony comprehension task was associated with gains in social functioning across both groups from pre- to post-treatment. This is the first fMRI study of social skills treatment outcomes following a randomized trial with an active treatment condition in school-aged children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.,Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Latha V Soorya
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.,Rush Medical College, Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Danielle B Halpern
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - Michelle Gorenstein
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - Paige M Siper
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - A Ting Wang
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
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10
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Ammons CJ, Winslett ME, Kana RK. Neural responses to viewing human faces in autism spectrum disorder: A quantitative meta-analysis of two decades of research. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107694. [PMID: 33249169 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 11/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The human face communicates a wealth of socially relevant information such as person identity, emotion, and intention. A consistent behavioral finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is reduced attention to or difficulty drawing meaning from faces. However, neuroimaging research into the neural correlates of face processing differences in ASD has returned mixed results. While many studies find hypo-activation or hypo-connectivity of core and extended face network regions, others show hyper-activation, equal activation, or even activation shifted to object-selective fusiform gyrus (FG) regions in ASD during face processing. This study consolidates two decades of literature to reveal common and consistent patterns of brain activation when viewing human faces in ASD. It also addresses whether face processing in ASD is routinely shifted to object-centric regions of the FG. To do so, we conducted an extensive search of the neuroimaging literature according to PRISMA guidelines. Peak activation coordinates from a final set of 23 studies, yielding a sample of 713 participants (338 ASD), were included for quantitative meta-analysis using Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE). ASD within-group results across studies revealed a single activation cluster in the left FG, which presented laterally to the mid-fusiform sulcus (MFS). Typically developing groups displayed common activations across core and extended face network regions. Exploratory analysis of between group findings from the literature did not yield significant results. Overall, our results suggest that individuals with ASD consistently activate at least one typical face network region, the left FG, when processing faces and this activation is not routinely shifted to object-centric areas of the FG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla J Ammons
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Department of Neuropsychology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, USA; Emory University School of Medicine, USA.
| | | | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Department of Psychology and the Center for Innovative Research in Autism, University of Alabama, USA.
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11
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Chan MMY, Han YMY. Differential mirror neuron system (MNS) activation during action observation with and without social-emotional components in autism: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Mol Autism 2020; 11:72. [PMID: 32993782 PMCID: PMC7523366 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-020-00374-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Impaired imitation has been found to be an important factor contributing to social communication deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It has been hypothesized that the neural correlate of imitation, the mirror neuron system (MNS), is dysfunctional in ASD, resulting in imitation impairment as one of the key behavioral manifestations in ASD. Previous MNS studies produced inconsistent results, leaving the debate of whether “broken” mirror neurons in ASD are unresolved. Methods This meta-analysis aimed to explore the differences in MNS activation patterns between typically developing (TD) and ASD individuals when they observe biological motions with or without social-emotional components. Effect size signed differential mapping (ES-SDM) was adopted to synthesize the available fMRI data. Results ES-SDM analysis revealed hyperactivation in the right inferior frontal gyrus and left supplementary motor area in ASD during observation of biological motions. Subgroup analysis of experiments involving the observation of stimuli with or without emotional component revealed hyperactivation in the left inferior parietal lobule and left supplementary motor during action observation without emotional components, whereas hyperactivation of the right inferior frontal gyrus was found during action observation with emotional components in ASD. Subgroup analyses of age showed hyperactivation of the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus in ASD adolescents, while hyperactivation in the right inferior frontal gyrus was noted in ASD adults. Meta-regression within ASD individuals indicated that the right cerebellum crus I activation increased with age, while the left inferior temporal gyrus activation decreased with age. Limitations This meta-analysis is limited in its generalization of the findings to individuals with ASD by the restricted age range, heterogeneous study sample, and the large within-group variation in MNS activation patterns during object observation. Furthermore, we only included action observation studies which might limit the generalization of our results to the imitation deficits in ASD. In addition, the relatively small sample size for individual studies might also potentially overestimate the effect sizes. Conclusion The MNS is impaired in ASD. The abnormal activation patterns were found to be modulated by the nature of stimuli and age, which might explain the contradictory results from earlier studies on the “broken mirror neuron” debate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melody M Y Chan
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Yvonne M Y Han
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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12
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Wieckowski AT, White SW. Attention Modification to Attenuate Facial Emotion Recognition Deficits in Children with Autism: A Pilot Study. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 50:30-41. [PMID: 31520245 PMCID: PMC11034769 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04223-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Diminished attending to faces may contribute to the impairments in emotion recognition and expression in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of an attention modification intervention designed to attenuate deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER). During the 10-session experimental treatment, children (n = 8) with ASD watched dynamic videos of people expressing different emotions with the facial features highlighted to guide children's attention. Children and their parents generally rated the treatment as acceptable and helpful. Although FER improvement was not apparent on task-based measures, parents reported slight improvements and decreased socioemotional problems following treatment. Results suggest that further research on visual attention retraining for ASD, within an experimental therapeutic program, may be promising.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Susan W White
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
- Center for Youth Development and Intervention, The University of Alabama, 200 Hackberry Lane, 101 McMillan Bldg., Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
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13
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Patriquin MA, DeRamus T, Libero LE, Laird A, Kana RK. Neuroanatomical and neurofunctional markers of social cognition in autism spectrum disorder. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 37:3957-3978. [PMID: 27329401 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2015] [Revised: 05/04/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a hallmark feature of its diagnosis, may underlie specific neural signatures that can aid in differentiating between those with and without ASD. To assess common and consistent patterns of differences in brain responses underlying social cognition in ASD, this study applied an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to results from 50 neuroimaging studies of social cognition in children and adults with ASD. In addition, the group ALE clusters of activation obtained from this was used as a social brain mask to perform surface-based cortical morphometry (SBM) in an empirical structural MRI dataset collected from 55 ASD and 60 typically developing (TD) control participants. Overall, the ALE meta-analysis revealed consistent differences in activation in the posterior superior temporal sulcus at the temporoparietal junction, middle frontal gyrus, fusiform face area (FFA), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), amygdala, insula, and cingulate cortex between ASD and TD individuals. SBM analysis showed alterations in the thickness, volume, and surface area in individuals with ASD in STS, insula, and FFA. Increased cortical thickness was found in individuals with ASD, the IFG. The results of this study provide functional and anatomical bases of social cognition abnormalities in ASD by identifying common signatures from a large pool of neuroimaging studies. These findings provide new insights into the quest for a neuroimaging-based marker for ASD. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3957-3978, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle A Patriquin
- The Menninger Clinic, Houston, Texas.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama
| | - Thomas DeRamus
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
| | - Lauren E Libero
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
| | - Angela Laird
- Department of Physics, Florida International University, Birmingham, Florida
| | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
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14
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Insulin-Like Growth Factor II Targets the mTOR Pathway to Reverse Autism-Like Phenotypes in Mice. J Neurosci 2017; 38:1015-1029. [PMID: 29217683 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2010-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2017] [Revised: 10/18/2017] [Accepted: 11/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability characterized by impairments in social interaction and repetitive behavior, and is also associated with cognitive deficits. There is no current treatment that can ameliorate most of the ASD symptomatology; thus, identifying novel therapies is urgently needed. We used male BTBR T+Itpr3tf /J (BTBR) mice, a model that reproduces most of the core behavioral phenotypes of ASD, to test the effects of systemic administration of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), a polypeptide that crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts as a cognitive enhancer. We show that systemic IGF-II treatments reverse the typical defects in social interaction, cognitive/executive functions, and repetitive behaviors reflective of ASD-like phenotypes. In BTBR mice, IGF-II, via IGF-II receptor, but not via IGF-I receptor, reverses the abnormal levels of the AMPK-mTOR-S6K pathway and of active translation at synapses. Thus, IGF-II may represent a novel potential therapy for ASD.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Currently, there is no effective treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability affecting a high number of children. Using a mouse model that expresses most of the key core as well as associated behavioral deficits of ASD, that are, social, cognitive, and repetitive behaviors, we report that a systemic administration of the polypeptide insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) reverses all these deficits. The effects of IGF-II occur via IGF-II receptors, and not IGF-I receptors, and target both basal and learning-dependent molecular abnormalities found in several ASD mice models, including those of identified genetic mutations. We suggest that IGF-II represents a potential novel therapeutic target for ASD.
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15
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Atypical Processing of Gaze Cues and Faces Explains Comorbidity between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). J Autism Dev Disord 2017; 47:1496-1509. [PMID: 28255758 PMCID: PMC5385202 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3078-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the neurobiological basis of comorbidity between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We compared children with ASD, ADHD or ADHD+ASD and typically developing controls (CTRL) on behavioural and electrophysiological correlates of gaze cue and face processing. We measured effects of ASD, ADHD and their interaction on the EDAN, an ERP marker of orienting visual attention towards a spatially cued location and the N170, a right-hemisphere lateralised ERP linked to face processing. We identified atypical gaze cue and face processing in children with ASD and ADHD+ASD compared with the ADHD and CTRL groups. The findings indicate a neurobiological basis for the presence of comorbid ASD symptoms in ADHD. Further research using larger samples is needed.
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16
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Liu T, Liu X, Yi L, Zhu C, Markey PS, Pelowski M. Assessing autism at its social and developmental roots: A review of Autism Spectrum Disorder studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Neuroimage 2017; 185:955-967. [PMID: 28966083 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.09.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2017] [Revised: 08/16/2017] [Accepted: 09/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
We review a relatively new method for studying the developing brain in children and infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Despite advances in behavioral screening and brain imaging, due to paradigms that do not easily allow for testing of awake, very young, and socially-engaged children-i.e., the social and the baby brain-the biological underpinnings of this disorder remain a mystery. We introduce an approach based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which offers a noninvasive imaging technique for studying functional activations by measuring changes in the brain's hemodynamic properties. This further enables measurement of brain activation in upright, interactive settings, while maintaining general equivalence to fMRI findings. We review the existing studies that have used fNIRS for ASD, discussing their promise, limitations, and their technical aspects, gearing this study to the researcher who may be new to this technique and highlighting potential targets for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Liu
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Xingchen Liu
- College of Education and Psychology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China
| | - Li Yi
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Chaozhe Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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17
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Oberwelland E, Schilbach L, Barisic I, Krall SC, Vogeley K, Fink GR, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Konrad K, Schulte-Rüther M. Young adolescents with autism show abnormal joint attention network: A gaze contingent fMRI study. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2017; 14:112-121. [PMID: 28180069 PMCID: PMC5279905 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2016] [Revised: 12/22/2016] [Accepted: 01/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral research has revealed deficits in the development of joint attention (JA) as one of the earliest signs of autism. While the neural basis of JA has been studied predominantly in adults, we recently demonstrated a protracted development of the brain networks supporting JA in typically developing children and adolescents. The present eye-tracking/fMRI study now extends these findings to adolescents with autism. Our results show that in adolescents with autism JA is subserved by abnormal activation patterns in brain areas related to social cognition abnormalities which are at the core of ASD including the STS and TPJ, despite behavioral maturation with no behavioral differences. Furthermore, in the autism group we observed increased neural activity in a network of social and emotional processing areas during interactions with their mother. Moreover, data indicated that less severely affected individuals with autism showed higher frontal activation associated with self-initiated interactions. Taken together, this study provides first-time data of JA in children/adolescents with autism incorporating the interactive character of JA, its reciprocity and motivational aspects. The observed functional differences in adolescents ASD suggest that persistent developmental differences in the neural processes underlying JA contribute to social interaction difficulties in ASD. Gaze-contingent fMRI task to study joint attention in a developmental sample with autism JA in the autism group elicited abnormal activation in social cognition related areas. The interaction partner's familiarity modulated brain activity in the autism group. In the autism group frontal activation is related to the severity of communication deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Oberwelland
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany
| | - L Schilbach
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - I Barisic
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S C Krall
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany
| | - K Vogeley
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany
| | - G R Fink
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Cologne, Germany
| | - B Herpertz-Dahlmann
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany
| | - K Konrad
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany
| | - M Schulte-Rüther
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany
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18
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Two hypotheses, gaze aversion and gaze indifference, are commonly cited to explain a diagnostic hallmark of autism: reduced attention to others' eyes. The two posit different areas of atypical brain function, different pathogenic models of disability, and different possible treatments. Evidence for and against each hypothesis is mixed but has thus far focused on older children and adults. The authors evaluated both mechanistic hypotheses in two sets of experiments at the time of initial diagnosis. METHOD Eye-tracking data were collected in 86 2-year-olds: 26 with autism, tested at initial diagnosis; 38 matched typically developing children; and 22 matched developmentally delayed children. In two experiments, the authors measured response to direct and implicit cueing to look at the eyes. RESULTS When directly cued to look at the eyes, 2-year-olds with autism did not look away faster than did typically developing children; their latency varied neither categorically nor dimensionally by degree of eye cueing. Moreover, direct cueing had a stronger sustained effect on their amount of eye-looking than on that of typically developing children. When presented with implicit social cues for eye-looking, 2-year-olds with autism neither shifted their gaze away nor more subtly averted their gaze to peripheral locations. CONCLUSIONS The results falsify the gaze aversion hypothesis; instead, at the time of initial diagnosis, diminished eye-looking in autism is consistent with passive insensitivity to the social signals in others' eyes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M. Moriuchi
- Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA,Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA
| | - Ami Klin
- Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA,Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA,Division of Autism & Related Disabilities, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA,Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA
| | - Warren Jones
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA,Division of Autism & Related Disabilities, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA,Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30022, USA
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19
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Christensen J, Yoshie M, Di Costa S, Haggard P. Emotional valence, sense of agency and responsibility: A study using intentional binding. Conscious Cogn 2016; 43:1-10. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2015] [Revised: 01/31/2016] [Accepted: 02/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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20
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van Boxtel JJA, Dapretto M, Lu H. Intact recognition, but attenuated adaptation, for biological motion in youth with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2016; 9:1103-1113. [PMID: 26808343 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2015] [Revised: 10/21/2015] [Accepted: 11/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Given the ecological importance of biological motion and its relevance to social cognition, considerable effort has been devoted over the past decade to studying biological motion perception in autism. However, previous studies have asked observers to detect or recognize briefly presented human actions placed in isolation, without spatial or temporal context. Research on typical populations has shown the influence of temporal context in biological motion perception: prolonged exposure to one action gives rise to an aftereffect that biases perception of a subsequently displayed action. Whether people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show such adaptation effects for biological motion stimuli remains unknown. To address this question, this study examined how well youth with ASD recognize ambiguous actions and adapt to recently-observed actions. Compared to typically-developing (TD) controls, youth with ASD showed no differences in perceptual boundaries between actions categories, indicating intact ability in recognizing actions. However, children with ASD showed weakened adaptation to biological motion. It is unlikely that the reduced action adaptability in autism was due to delayed developmental trajectory, as older children with ASD showed weaker adaptation to actions than younger children with ASD. Our results further suggest that high-level (i.e., action) processing weakens with age for children with ASD, but this change may be accompanied by a potentially compensatory mechanism based on more involvement of low-level (i.e., motion) processing. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1103-1113. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeroen J A van Boxtel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
| | - Mirella Dapretto
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
| | - Hongjing Lu
- Department of Psychology and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles.,Department of Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles
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21
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Dubey I, Ropar D, Hamilton AFDC. Measuring the value of social engagement in adults with and without autism. Mol Autism 2015; 6:35. [PMID: 26097674 PMCID: PMC4473830 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-015-0031-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2014] [Accepted: 06/01/2015] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Differences in social communication are commonly reported in autism spectrum condition (ASC). A recent theory attributes this to a reduced motivation to engage with others, that is, deficits in social motivation. However, there are currently few simple, direct, behavioural ways to test this claim. This study uses a new behavioural measure of social motivation to test if preferences for direct gaze and face stimuli are linked to autistic traits or an ASC diagnosis. Our novel choose-a-movie (CAM) paradigm measures the effort participants invest to see particular stimuli. This aspect of social motivation is also known as social seeking. METHODS In experiment 1, 80 typical adults completed the CAM task and a measure of autistic traits. In experiment 2, 30 adults with ASC and 24 age/IQ-matched typical adults completed the CAM paradigm. RESULTS The results from study one showed that typical adults prefer social stimuli over non-social, but this preference is weaker in those with higher levels of autistic traits. In study two, adults with ASC showed a significant reduction in their preference for direct gaze but little difference in their preference for faces without direct gaze. CONCLUSIONS These data show that social motivation can be measured in a simple, direct, behavioural paradigm. Furthermore, adults with ASC prefer direct gaze less than typical adults but may not avoid faces without direct gaze. This data advance our understanding of how social motivation may differ between those with and without autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indu Dubey
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
| | - Danielle Ropar
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
| | - Antonia F de C Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR UK
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22
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Nuske HJ, Vivanti G, Dissanayake C. No Evidence of Emotional Dysregulation or Aversion to Mutual Gaze in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Pupillometry Study. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45:3433-45. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2479-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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23
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Nomi JS, Uddin LQ. Face processing in autism spectrum disorders: From brain regions to brain networks. Neuropsychologia 2015; 71:201-16. [PMID: 25829246 PMCID: PMC4506751 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.03.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2014] [Revised: 02/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/27/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by reduced attention to social stimuli including the human face. This hypo-responsiveness to stimuli that are engaging to typically developing individuals may result from dysfunctioning motivation, reward, and attention systems in the brain. Here we review an emerging neuroimaging literature that emphasizes a shift from focusing on hypo-activation of isolated brain regions such as the fusiform gyrus, amygdala, and superior temporal sulcus in ASD to a more holistic approach to understanding face perception as a process supported by distributed cortical and subcortical brain networks. We summarize evidence for atypical activation patterns within brain networks that may contribute to social deficits characteristic of the disorder. We conclude by pointing to gaps in the literature and future directions that will continue to shed light on aspects of face processing in autism that are still under-examined. In particular, we highlight the need for more developmental studies and studies examining ecologically valid and naturalistic social stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason S Nomi
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States.
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States; Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, United States.
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24
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Klin A, Shultz S, Jones W. Social visual engagement in infants and toddlers with autism: early developmental transitions and a model of pathogenesis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2015; 50:189-203. [PMID: 25445180 PMCID: PMC4355308 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2014] [Revised: 10/01/2014] [Accepted: 10/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Efforts to determine and understand the causes of autism are currently hampered by a large disconnect between recent molecular genetics findings that are associated with the condition and the core behavioral symptoms that define the condition. In this perspective piece, we propose a systems biology framework to bridge that gap between genes and symptoms. The framework focuses on basic mechanisms of socialization that are highly-conserved in evolution and are early-emerging in development. By conceiving of these basic mechanisms of socialization as quantitative endophenotypes, we hope to connect genes and behavior in autism through integrative studies of neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and epigenetic changes. These changes both lead to and are led by the accomplishment of specific social adaptive tasks in a typical infant's life. However, based on recent research that indicates that infants later diagnosed with autism fail to accomplish at least some of these tasks, we suggest that a narrow developmental period, spanning critical transitions from reflexive, subcortically-controlled visual behavior to interactional, cortically-controlled and social visual behavior be prioritized for future study. Mapping epigenetic, neural, and behavioral changes that both drive and are driven by these early transitions may shed a bright light on the pathogenesis of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ami Klin
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta & Emory University School of Medicine, 1920 Briarcliff Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States.
| | - Sarah Shultz
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta & Emory University School of Medicine, 1920 Briarcliff Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States
| | - Warren Jones
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta & Emory University School of Medicine, 1920 Briarcliff Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States
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25
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Klin A, Klaiman C, Jones W. Reducing age of autism diagnosis: developmental social neuroscience meets public health challenge. Rev Neurol 2015; 60 Suppl 1:S3-11. [PMID: 25726820 PMCID: PMC4399764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (autism) is a highly prevalent and heterogeneous family of neurodevelopmental disorders of genetic origins with potentially devastating implications for child, family, health and educational systems. Despite advances in paper-and-pencil screening and in standardization of diagnostic procedures, diagnosis of autism in the US still hovers around the ages of four or five years, later still in disadvantaged communities, and several years after the age of two to three years when the condition can be reliably diagnosed by expert clinicians. As early detection and treatment are two of the most important factors optimizing outcome, and given that diagnosis is typically a necessary condition for families to have access to early treatment, reducing age of diagnosis has become one of the greatest priorities of the field. Recent advances in developmental social neuroscience promise the advent of cost-effective and community-viable, performance-based procedures, and suggest a complementary method for promoting universal screening and much greater access to the diagnosis process. Small but critical studies have already reported on experiments that differentiate groups of children at risk for autism from controls, and at least one study so far could predict diagnostic classification and level of disability on the basis of a brief experiment. Although the road to translating such procedures into effective devices for screening and diagnosis is still a long one, and premature claims should be avoided, this effort could be critical in addressing this worldwide public health challenge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ami Klin
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine. Atlanta, Georgia, EE.UU
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26
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Hernandez LM, Rudie JD, Green SA, Bookheimer S, Dapretto M. Neural signatures of autism spectrum disorders: insights into brain network dynamics. Neuropsychopharmacology 2015; 40:171-89. [PMID: 25011468 PMCID: PMC4262896 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2014.172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2014] [Revised: 07/02/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Neuroimaging investigations of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have advanced our understanding of atypical brain function and structure, and have recently converged on a model of altered network-level connectivity. Traditional task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volume-based structural MRI studies have identified widespread atypicalities in brain regions involved in social behavior and other core ASD-related behavioral deficits. More recent advances in MR-neuroimaging methods allow for quantification of brain connectivity using diffusion tensor imaging, functional connectivity, and graph theoretic methods. These newer techniques have moved the field toward a systems-level understanding of ASD etiology, integrating functional and structural measures across distal brain regions. Neuroimaging findings in ASD as a whole have been mixed and at times contradictory, likely due to the vast genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity characteristic of the disorder. Future longitudinal studies of brain development will be crucial to yield insights into mechanisms of disease etiology in ASD sub-populations. Advances in neuroimaging methods and large-scale collaborations will also allow for an integrated approach linking neuroimaging, genetics, and phenotypic data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanna M Hernandez
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jeffrey D Rudie
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Shulamite A Green
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Susan Bookheimer
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Mirella Dapretto
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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27
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Abstract
Social communication relies on the integration of auditory and visual information, which are present in faces and vocalizations. Evidence suggests that the integration of information from multiple sources enhances perception compared with the processing of a unimodal stimulus. Our previous studies demonstrated that single neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) of the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) respond to and integrate conspecific vocalizations and their accompanying facial gestures. We were therefore interested in how VLPFC neurons respond differentially to matching (congruent) and mismatching (incongruent) faces and vocalizations. We recorded VLPFC neurons during the presentation of movies with congruent or incongruent species-specific facial gestures and vocalizations as well as their unimodal components. Recordings showed that while many VLPFC units are multisensory and respond to faces, vocalizations, or their combination, a subset of neurons showed a significant change in neuronal activity in response to incongruent versus congruent vocalization movies. Among these neurons, we typically observed incongruent suppression during the early stimulus period and incongruent enhancement during the late stimulus period. Incongruent-responsive VLPFC neurons were both bimodal and nonlinear multisensory, fostering their ability to respond to changes in either modality of a face-vocalization stimulus. These results demonstrate that ventral prefrontal neurons respond to changes in either modality of an audiovisual stimulus, which is important in identity processing and for the integration of multisensory communication information.
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28
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White SW, Mazefsky CA, Dichter GS, Chiu PH, Richey JA, Ollendick TH. Social-cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation impairments: understanding anxiety in autism spectrum disorder. Int J Dev Neurosci 2014; 39:22-36. [PMID: 24951837 PMCID: PMC4180783 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2014.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 130] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2014] [Revised: 05/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/29/2014] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Anxiety is one of the most common clinical problems among children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet we know little about its etiology in the context of ASD. We posit that emotion regulation (ER) impairments are a risk factor for anxiety in ASD. Specifically, we propose that one reason why anxiety disorders are so frequently comorbid with ASD is because ER impairments are ubiquitous to ASD, stemming from socio-cognitive, physiological, and neurological processes related to impaired cognitive control, regulatory processes, and arousal. In this review, we offer a developmental model of how ER impairments may arise in ASD, and when (moderating influences) and how (meditational mechanisms) they result in anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan W White
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, United States.
| | - Carla A Mazefsky
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States
| | - Gabriel S Dichter
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, United States; Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, United States
| | - Pearl H Chiu
- Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, United States
| | - John A Richey
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, United States
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29
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Quattrocki E, Friston K. Autism, oxytocin and interoception. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2014; 47:410-30. [PMID: 25277283 PMCID: PMC4726659 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 229] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Revised: 07/23/2014] [Accepted: 09/20/2014] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by profound social and verbal communication deficits, stereotypical motor behaviors, restricted interests, and cognitive abnormalities. Autism affects approximately 1% of children in developing countries. Given this prevalence, identifying risk factors and therapeutic interventions are pressing objectives—objectives that rest on neurobiologically grounded and psychologically informed theories about the underlying pathophysiology. In this article, we review the evidence that autism could result from a dysfunctional oxytocin system early in life. As a mediator of successful procreation, not only in the reproductive system, but also in the brain, oxytocin plays a crucial role in sculpting socio-sexual behavior. Formulated within a (Bayesian) predictive coding framework, we propose that oxytocin encodes the saliency or precision of interoceptive signals and enables the neuronal plasticity necessary for acquiring a generative model of the emotional and social 'self.' An aberrant oxytocin system in infancy could therefore help explain the marked deficits in language and social communication—as well as the sensory, autonomic, motor, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities—seen in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Quattrocki
- The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
| | - Karl Friston
- The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
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30
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Lajiness-O’Neill R, Richard AE, Moran JE, Olszewski A, Pawluk L, Jacobson D, Mansour A, Vogt K, Erdodi LA, Moore AM, Bowyer SM. Neural synchrony examined with magnetoencephalography (MEG) during eye gaze processing in autism spectrum disorders: preliminary findings. J Neurodev Disord 2014; 6:15. [PMID: 24976870 PMCID: PMC4072845 DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-6-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2013] [Accepted: 06/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gaze processing deficits are a seminal, early, and enduring behavioral deficit in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, a comprehensive characterization of the neural processes mediating abnormal gaze processing in ASD has yet to be conducted. METHODS This study investigated whole-brain patterns of neural synchrony during passive viewing of direct and averted eye gaze in ASD adolescents and young adults (M Age = 16.6) compared to neurotypicals (NT) (M Age = 17.5) while undergoing magnetoencephalography. Coherence between each pair of 54 brain regions within each of three frequency bands (low frequency (0 to 15 Hz), beta (15 to 30 Hz), and low gamma (30 to 45 Hz)) was calculated. RESULTS Significantly higher coherence and synchronization in posterior brain regions (temporo-parietal-occipital) across all frequencies was evident in ASD, particularly within the low 0 to 15 Hz frequency range. Higher coherence in fronto-temporo-parietal regions was noted in NT. A significantly higher number of low frequency cross-hemispheric synchronous connections and a near absence of right intra-hemispheric coherence in the beta frequency band were noted in ASD. Significantly higher low frequency coherent activity in bilateral temporo-parieto-occipital cortical regions and higher gamma band coherence in right temporo-parieto-occipital brain regions during averted gaze was related to more severe symptomology as reported on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). CONCLUSIONS The preliminary results suggest a pattern of aberrant connectivity that includes higher low frequency synchronization in posterior cortical regions, lack of long-range right hemispheric beta and gamma coherence, and decreased coherence in fronto-temporo-parietal regions necessary for orienting to shifts in eye gaze in ASD; a critical behavior essential for social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renée Lajiness-O’Neill
- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Neuropsychology Section, University of Michigan Health Systems, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, USA
| | | | | | - Amy Olszewski
- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Lesley Pawluk
- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
- Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, USA
| | | | | | - Kelly Vogt
- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
| | - Laszlo A Erdodi
- Dartmouth, Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | | | - Susan M Bowyer
- Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, USA
- Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
- Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
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31
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Zürcher NR, Rogier O, Boshyan J, Hippolyte L, Russo B, Gillberg N, Helles A, Ruest T, Lemonnier E, Gillberg C, Hadjikhani N. Perception of social cues of danger in autism spectrum disorders. PLoS One 2013; 8:e81206. [PMID: 24324679 PMCID: PMC3852523 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2013] [Accepted: 10/20/2013] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Intuitive grasping of the meaning of subtle social cues is particularly affected in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Despite their relevance in social communication, the effect of averted gaze in fearful faces in conveying a signal of environmental threat has not been investigated using real face stimuli in adults with ASD. Here, using functional MRI, we show that briefly presented fearful faces with averted gaze, previously shown to be a strong communicative signal of environmental danger, produce different patterns of brain activation than fearful faces with direct gaze in a group of 26 normally intelligent adults with ASD compared with 26 matched controls. While implicit cue of threat produces brain activation in attention, emotion processing and mental state attribution networks in controls, this effect is absent in individuals with ASD. Instead, individuals with ASD show activation in the subcortical face-processing system in response to direct eye contact. An effect of differences in looking behavior was excluded in a separate eye tracking experiment. Our data suggest that individuals with ASD are more sensitive to direct eye contact than to social signals of danger conveyed by averted fearful gaze.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole R. Zürcher
- Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | | | - Jasmine Boshyan
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | | | - Britt Russo
- Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nanna Gillberg
- Gillberg Centrum, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Adam Helles
- Gillberg Centrum, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | - Eric Lemonnier
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences, Université de Brest, Brest, France
| | | | - Nouchine Hadjikhani
- Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Gillberg Centrum, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- * E-mail:
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32
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Silverman JL, Oliver CF, Karras MN, Gastrell PT, Crawley JN. AMPAKINE enhancement of social interaction in the BTBR mouse model of autism. Neuropharmacology 2013; 64:268-82. [PMID: 22801296 PMCID: PMC3445667 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2012.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2012] [Revised: 07/05/2012] [Accepted: 07/06/2012] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which the first diagnostic symptom is unusual reciprocal social interactions. Approximately half of the children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder also have intellectual impairments. General cognitive abilities may be fundamental to many aspects of social cognition. Cognitive enhancers could conceivably be of significant benefit to children and adults with autism. AMPAKINE compounds are a novel class of pharmacological agents that act as positive modulators of AMPA receptors to enhance excitatory glutamatergic neurotransmission. This class of compounds was reported to improve learning and memory in several rodent and non-human primate tasks, and to normalize respiratory abnormalities in a mouse model of Rett syndrome. Here we evaluate the actions of AMPA compounds in adult male and female BTBR mice, a well characterized mouse model of autism. Acute treatment with CX1837 and CX1739 reversed the deficit in sociability in BTBR mice on the most sensitive parameter, time spent sniffing a novel mouse as compared to time spent sniffing a novel object. The less sensitive parameter, time in the chamber containing the novel mouse versus time in the chamber containing the novel object, was not rescued by CX1837 or CX1739 treatment. Preliminary data with CX546, in which β-cyclodextrin was the vehicle, revealed behavioral effects of the acute intraperitoneal and oral administration of vehicle alone. To circumvent the artifacts introduced by the vehicle administration, we employed a novel treatment regimen using pellets of peanut butter for drug delivery. Absence of vehicle treatment effects when CX1837 and CX1739 were given in the peanut butter pellets, to multiple cohorts of BTBR and B6 control mice, confirmed that the pharmacologically-induced improvements in sociability in BTBR were not confounded by the administration procedures. The highest dose of CX1837 improved the cognitive deficit in novel object recognition in BTBR. No drug effects were detected on the high levels of repetitive self-grooming in BTBR. In open field tests, CX1837 and CX1739 did not induce hyperactivity or sedation in either strain. It is interesting to speculate that the ability of CX1837 and CX1739 to restore aspects of sociability in BTBR mice could utilize synaptic mechanisms regulating social cognition, suggesting a potential pharmacological target for interventions to treat symptoms of autism. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Autistic Disorder/drug therapy
- Autistic Disorder/physiopathology
- Behavior, Animal/drug effects
- Cognition Disorders/etiology
- Cognition Disorders/prevention & control
- Dioxoles/administration & dosage
- Dioxoles/adverse effects
- Dioxoles/therapeutic use
- Disease Models, Animal
- Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
- Drugs, Investigational/administration & dosage
- Drugs, Investigational/adverse effects
- Drugs, Investigational/therapeutic use
- Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists/administration & dosage
- Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists/adverse effects
- Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists/therapeutic use
- Female
- Male
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Mice, Inbred Strains
- Molecular Targeted Therapy
- Nootropic Agents/administration & dosage
- Nootropic Agents/adverse effects
- Nootropic Agents/therapeutic use
- Piperidines/administration & dosage
- Piperidines/adverse effects
- Piperidines/therapeutic use
- Random Allocation
- Receptors, AMPA/agonists
- Recognition, Psychology/drug effects
- Social Behavior
- Social Behavior Disorders/etiology
- Social Behavior Disorders/prevention & control
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Affiliation(s)
- J L Silverman
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-3730, USA.
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33
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Gaigg SB. The Interplay between Emotion and Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Developmental Theory. Front Integr Neurosci 2012; 6:113. [PMID: 23316143 PMCID: PMC3540960 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2012] [Accepted: 11/11/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is clinically defined by abnormalities in reciprocal social and communicative behaviors and an inflexible adherence to routinised patterns of thought and behavior. Laboratory studies repeatedly demonstrate that autistic individuals experience difficulties in recognizing and understanding the emotional expressions of others and naturalistic observations show that they use such expressions infrequently and inappropriately to regulate social exchanges. Dominant theories attribute this facet of the ASD phenotype to abnormalities in a social brain network that mediates social-motivational and social-cognitive processes such as face processing, mental state understanding, and empathy. Such theories imply that only emotion related processes relevant to social cognition are compromised in ASD but accumulating evidence suggests that the disorder may be characterized by more widespread anomalies in the domain of emotions. In this review I summarize the relevant literature and argue that the social-emotional characteristics of ASD may be better understood in terms of a disruption in the domain-general interplay between emotion and cognition. More specifically I will suggest that ASD is the developmental consequence of early emerging anomalies in how emotional responses to the environment modulate a wide range of cognitive processes including those that are relevant to navigating the social world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian B. Gaigg
- Department of Psychology, Autism Research Group, City University LondonLondon, UK
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34
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Sepeta L, Tsuchiya N, Davies MS, Sigman M, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M. Abnormal social reward processing in autism as indexed by pupillary responses to happy faces. J Neurodev Disord 2012; 4:17. [PMID: 22958650 PMCID: PMC3461481 DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-4-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2012] [Accepted: 06/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) typically show impaired eye contact during social interactions. From a young age, they look less at faces than typically developing (TD) children and tend to avoid direct gaze. However, the reason for this behavior remains controversial; ASD children might avoid eye contact because they perceive the eyes as aversive or because they do not find social engagement through mutual gaze rewarding. Methods We monitored pupillary diameter as a measure of autonomic response in children with ASD (n = 20, mean age = 12.4) and TD controls (n = 18, mean age = 13.7) while they looked at faces displaying different emotions. Each face displayed happy, fearful, angry or neutral emotions with the gaze either directed to or averted from the subjects. Results Overall, children with ASD and TD controls showed similar pupillary responses; however, they differed significantly in their sensitivity to gaze direction for happy faces. Specifically, pupillary diameter increased among TD children when viewing happy faces with direct gaze as compared to those with averted gaze, whereas children with ASD did not show such sensitivity to gaze direction. We found no group differences in fixation that could explain the differential pupillary responses. There was no effect of gaze direction on pupil diameter for negative affect or neutral faces among either the TD or ASD group. Conclusions We interpret the increased pupillary diameter to happy faces with direct gaze in TD children to reflect the intrinsic reward value of a smiling face looking directly at an individual. The lack of this effect in children with ASD is consistent with the hypothesis that individuals with ASD may have reduced sensitivity to the reward value of social stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leigh Sepeta
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.,Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20010, USA
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.,School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria , 3800, Australia.,Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Mari S Davies
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.,Department of Neurology, Child and Adolescent Assessment Division, Sports Concussion Institute Health Services Research group, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Marian Sigman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Susan Y Bookheimer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Mirella Dapretto
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
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