Enhanced neural responses to rule violation in children with autism: a comparison to social exclusion

Exploring the impact of immersive virtual reality on depression knowledge and stigma reduction: a cross-over RCT fMRI study

The stigma of mental illness is a form of negative judgmental knowledge and is a barrier to individual seeking treatment. Contact-based educational interventions with first-person perspective (1PP) combined with immersive virtual reality (IVR) is promising as an anti-stigma intervention. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of 1PP anti-stigma IVR intervention compared to video in enhancing depression knowledge and reducing stigma, as well as to examine the corresponding depression knowledge brain activity change using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants engaged in a 1PP anti-stigma intervention using both IVR and conventional video, focusing on the daily life and recovery of a patient with mild depression. The change in depression knowledge, stigma-related behavioral, and brain activity using fMRI were measured at pre- and post-interventions. Depression knowledge improved for both interventions; however, only the IVR intervention reduced stigma. In the IVR intervention, depression knowledge score was positively associated with neural response in the right superior frontal gyrus activation, indicative of empathic concern. Conversely, the video intervention correlated with increased activity in the right anterior insula, suggesting a distress-related response. The findings demonstrate that the immersive nature of IVR can reduce stigma more effectively than video intervention. This effectiveness is underpinned by the change in depression knowledge on neural activity, with IVR fostering empathy-related behavioral responses. The results highlight the potential of IVR in enhancing empathic understanding and reducing stigma towards mental illness, emphasizing the need for further exploration into immersive technologies for mental health education.

Use of the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity to Assess Executive Function in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

IMPORTANCE

Youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have challenges with executive function (EF). However, there are few measures to objectively assess EF, such as time management and prioritization. The Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA) is a promising performance-based EF measure that has rarely been used with youths with ASD.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the performance of youths with ASD on the WCPA and the association of WCPA performance with caregiver-rated EF.

DESIGN

Observational and summary data obtained during a baseline evaluation for a research study.

SETTING

Middle school.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirty-nine adolescents with ASD and without an intellectual disability.

METHOD

Youth were administered the WCPA; caregivers completed EF ratings. Descriptive statistics characterized WCPA performance. Correlations between WCPA scores and age, IQ, and EF ratings were computed.

RESULTS

The majority of youth performed poorly on the WCPA and lacked insight into their poor performance. Many struggled to enter appointments. Appointment accuracy was <30%. The most common errors were location errors. Appointment accuracy and planning time were moderately associated with IQ but not with caregiver-rated EF or age.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Overall, the WCPA was cognitively demanding for youths with ASD without an intellectual disability. These results have implications for using evidence-based strategies to teach adolescents with ASD how to manage their time and plan and prioritize homework assignments, upcoming tests or quizzes, and extracurricular activities. Plain-Language Summary: Youths with autism spectrum disorder have significant problems with executive function, particularly organization, prioritization, time management, and planning. There are few objective, performance-based measures of executive function, especially those that can be used with autistic youths. To our knowledge, this study is the first to use the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA) with autistic adolescents who do not have an intellectual disability. The WCPA captured their deficits related to executive function and could be a useful tool for assessment and treatment planning.

Complementing or Congruent? Desired Characteristics in a Friend and Romantic Partner in Autistic versus Typically Developing Male Adolescents

Ideal friend and romantic partner characteristics related to self-perceived characteristics have been investigated in typically developing (TD) individuals, but not in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Considering the autistic symptoms and challenges, investigating these concepts in autistic individuals is relevant. Given the lack of consensus, identity-first ("autistic person") and person-first ("person with autism") language are mixed throughout, to cover all preferences. This study explored (1) the association between self-perceived characteristics and desires in a friend/romantic partner, as well as (2) compare two groups (ASD and TD) in their desires for a friend/romantic partner. Two matched groups (ASD and TD) of 38 male adolescents (age 14-19 years) reported on the desire for nine characteristics (i.e., funny, popular, nice, cool, smart, trustworthy, good looking, similar interests, and being rich) in a friend/partner, and to what extent they felt they themselves possessed seven characteristics (i.e., funny, popular, nice, cool, smart, trustworthy, and good looking). Results showed both groups sought a friend and partner similar to themselves on intrinsic characteristics (e.g., trustworthiness), but less similar on extrinsic and social status characteristics (e.g., being less cool and popular). Particularly intrinsic characteristics, more than extrinsic and social status characteristics, were valued in both partners and friends, regardless of group. No significant differences were found between groups concerning to what extent characteristics were desired. Overall, adolescents with ASD desire similar characteristics as TD adolescents in their potential romantic partners and friends. There is some indication that the match between self-perception and desired characteristics is different.

Overactivation of posterior insular, postcentral and temporal regions during preserved experience of envy in autism

Social emotions are critical to successfully navigate in a complex social world because they promote self-regulation of behaviour. Difficulties in social behaviour are at the core of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, social emotions and their neural correlates have been scarcely investigated in this population. In particular, the experience of envy has not been addressed in ASD despite involving neurocognitive processes crucially compromised in this condition. Here, we used an fMRI adapted version of a well-validated task to investigate the subjective experience of envy and its neural correlates in adults with ASD (n = 30) in comparison with neurotypical controls (n = 28). Results revealed that both groups reported similarly intense experience of envy in association with canonical activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, among other regions. However, in participants with ASD, the experience of envy was accompanied by overactivation of the posterior insula, the postcentral gyrus and the posterior superior temporal gyrus, regions subserving the processing of painful experiences and mentalizing. This pattern of results suggests that individuals with ASD may use compensatory strategies based on the embodied amplification of pain and additional mentalizing efforts to shape their subjective experience of envy. Results have relevant implications to better understand the heterogeneity of this condition and to develop new intervention targets.

Autistic traits heighten sensitivity to rejection-induced social pain

Autistic traits-subclinical forms of characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorders-are associated with poor social interactions and high risks for mental health disorders. We hypothesized that altered sensitivity to social rejection is an important contributor to psychological distress observed among individuals with high autistic traits. Experiment 1 adopted a social-judgment task and compared behavioral and neural activity in response to social rejection between participants exhibiting either high or low autistic traits (HAT and LAT, respectively). Rejection-induced hurt feelings, P3 amplitudes, and θ-oscillation magnitudes were greater in the HAT group than in the LAT group. Mediation analysis indicated that autistic traits heighten rejection-induced social pain through increasing frontal-midline θ-oscillations. Responses to nonsocial feedback in the age-judgment task were comparable, confirming that the between-group differences were specific to social negative feedback. Experiment 2 assessed the association between autistic traits, rejection sensitivity, and psychological distress among randomly recruited participants. Results showed that autistic traits affected depressive/anxious symptomatology partially through heightened rejection sensitivity. Therefore, autistic traits heighten sensitivity to rejection-induced social pain that leads to psychological distress. This finding will help facilitate the development of strategies for coping with social pain and improving mental health for individuals with high autistic traits.

Alteration of Effective Connectivity in the Default Mode Network of Autism After an Intervention

Neuroimaging has revealed numerous atypical functional connectivity of default mode network (DMN) dedicated to social communications (SC) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet their nature and directionality remain unclear. Here, preschoolers with autism received physical intervention from a 12-week mini-basketball training program (12W-MBTP). Therefore, the directionality and nature of regional interactions within the DMN after the intervention are evaluated while assessing the impact of an intervention on SC. Based on the results of independent component analysis (ICA), we applied spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) for participants aged 3–6 years (experimental group, N = 17, control group, N = 14) to characterize the longitudinal changes following intervention in intrinsic and extrinsic effective connectivity (EC) between core regions of the DMN. Then, we analyzed the correlation between the changes in EC and SRS-2 scores to establish symptom-based validation. We found that after the 12W-MBTP intervention, the SRS-2 score of preschoolers with ASD in the experimental group was decreased. Concurrently, the inhibitory directional connections were observed between the core regions of the DMN, including increased self-inhibition in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and the changes of EC in mPFC were significantly correlated with change in the social responsiveness scale-2 (SRS-2) score. These new findings shed light on DMN as a potential intervention target, as the inhibitory information transmission between its core regions may play a positive role in improving SC behavior in preschoolers with ASD, which may be a reliable neuroimaging biomarker for future studies.

Clinical Trial Registration: This study registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900024973) on August 05, 2019.

Hippocampal contributions to social and cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by hallmark impairments in social functioning. Nevertheless, nonsocial cognition, including hippocampus-dependent spatial reasoning and episodic memory, is also commonly impaired in ASD. ASD symptoms typically emerge between 12 and 24 months of age, a time window associated with critical developmental events in the hippocampus. Despite this temporal overlap and evidence of hippocampal structural abnormalities in ASD individuals, relatively few human studies have focused on hippocampal function in ASD. Herein, we review the existing evidence for the involvement of the hippocampus in ASD and highlight the hippocampus as a promising area of interest for future research in ASD.

Autistic children's language imitation shows reduced sensitivity to ostracism

In dialogue, speakers tend to imitate, or align with, a partner's language choices. Higher levels of alignment facilitate communication and can be elicited by affiliation goals. Since autistic children have interaction and communication impairments, we investigated whether a failure to display affiliative language imitation contributes to their conversational difficulties. We measured autistic children's lexical alignment with a partner, following an ostracism manipulation which induces affiliative motivation in typical adults and children. While autistic children demonstrated lexical alignment, we observed no affiliative influence on ostracised children's tendency to align, relative to controls. Our results suggest that increased language imitation-a potentially valuable form of social adaptation-is unavailable to autistic children, which may reflect their impaired affective understanding.

Approach and Avoidance Behavior in Female Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Objectives

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is portrayed by unstable relationships, fears of abandonment and heightened sensitivity to social rejection. Research has shown that these characteristics may lead to inappropriate social behavior including altered approach-avoidance behavior. However, it has remained unclear how social exclusion may affect approach-avoidance behavior in patients with BPD.

Design

We assessed social approach-avoidance behavior and the impact of social exclusion in a sample of 38 patients with BPD and 40 healthy control participants.

Methods

We used an explicit joystick-based approach-avoidance task (AAT) after playing a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball), which simulates the exclusion of the participant by two other players. In the AAT, participants were required to push or pull emotional stimuli, more specifically happy and angry facial expressions, with either direct or averted gaze direction.

Results

Patients with BPD approached happy stimuli less and showed overall less differential approach-avoidance behavior toward individuals expressing positive or negative facial emotions compared to healthy participants, who showed more approach behavior for happy compared to angry facial expressions. Moreover, borderline symptom severity correlated inversely with the AAT score for happy facial expressions and positively with subjective unpleasantness during social exclusion as well as rejection sensitivity. However, social exclusion did not influence approach-avoidance tendencies.

Conclusion

Patients with BPD showed altered approach-avoidance behavior, which might affect social interactions in the patient’s everyday lives and may therefore impede social interaction.

The vicious circle of social exclusion and psychopathology: a systematic review of experimental ostracism research in psychiatric disorders

Social exclusion (ostracism) is a major psychosocial factor contributing to the development and persistence of psychiatric disorders and is also related to their social stigma. However, its specific role in different disorders is not evident, and comprehensive social psychology research on ostracism has rather focused on healthy individuals and less on psychiatric patients. Here, we systematically review experimental studies investigating psychological and physiological reactions to ostracism in different responses of psychiatric disorders. Moreover, we propose a theoretical model of the interplay between psychiatric symptoms and ostracism. A systematic MEDLINE and PsycINFO search was conducted including 52 relevant studies in various disorders (some of which evaluated more than one disorder): borderline personality disorder (21 studies); major depressive disorder (11 studies); anxiety (7 studies); autism spectrum disorder (6 studies); schizophrenia (6 studies); substance use disorders (4 studies); and eating disorders (2 studies). Psychological and physiological effects of ostracism were assessed with various experimental paradigms: e.g., virtual real-time interactions (Cyberball), social feedback and imagined scenarios. We critically review the main results of these studies and propose the overall concept of a vicious cycle where psychiatric symptoms increase the chance of being ostracized, and ostracism consolidates or even aggravates psychopathology. However, the specificity and stability of reactions to ostracism, their neurobiological underpinnings, determinants, and moderators (e.g., attachment style, childhood trauma, and rejection sensitivity) remain elusive.

A Pilot Study of Cardiovascular Reactivity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In preparation for a larger case-control study of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety, we conducted a pilot study using a noninvasive electrocardiographic device to measure cardiovascular reactivity in 10 children (age range 9-14) with ASD. The 45-minute procedure included 6 conditions: baseline rest, an interview about school, interim rest, an unfair computerized ball-toss game followed by a fair version of the game, and a final rest. Data were successfully collected for 95% of all conditions. Omnibus Skillings-Mack tests suggested that heart rate variability variables including mean heart rate, mean RR interval, and root mean square of successive differences showed statistically significant variation across conditions. The procedure appears feasible and may be an informative biomarker of anxiety in ASD.

Should Autism Spectrum Conditions Be Characterised in a More Positive Way in Our Modern World?

In a special issue that focuses on complex presentations related to Autism, we ask the question in this editorial whether an Autism Spectrum Condition without complexity is a disorder, or whether it represents human diversity? Much research into Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) over the years has focused on comparisons between neuro-typical people and people with Autism Spectrum Conditions. These comparisons have tended to draw attention to ‘deficits’ in cognitive abilities and descriptions of behaviours that are characterised as unwanted. Not surprisingly, this is reflected in the classification systems from the World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association. Public opinion about ASC may be influenced by presentations in the media of those with ASC who also have intellectual disability. Given that diagnostic systems are intended to help us better understand conditions in order to seek improved outcomes, we propose a more constructive approach to descriptions that uses more positive language, and balances descriptions of deficits with research finding of strengths and differences. We propose that this will be more helpful to individuals on the Autism Spectrum, both in terms of individual self-view, but also in terms of how society views Autism Spectrum Conditions more positively. Commentary has also been made on guidance that has been adjusted for people with ASC in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Elevated Thresholds for Light Touch in Children With Autism Reflect More Conservative Perceptual Decision-Making Rather Than a Sensory Deficit

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often behaviorally hyper-reactive to light touch, but it is unclear to what degree this arises from a fundamental sensory difference vs. higher order systems for attention or emotion processing. Thus far, experimental findings for light touch detection are mixed, and few previous studies have independently considered sensitivity (the ability to discriminate signal from noise) and decision criterion (the overall response bias or tendency to answer “yes” or “no” in a detection task). We tested a large sample of children, adolescents, and adults with ASD (n = 88) and with neurotypical (NT) development (n = 59) using von Frey filaments to derive light touch thresholds at the palm. We calculated signal detection metrics for sensitivity (A_z) and response criterion (c) from hit and false alarm rates. Both metrics exhibited significant group differences, such that the ASD group was less sensitive, but had a much more conservative response criterion. We used a best subset model selection procedure in three separate ordinal regressions for the whole group, adults, and children/adolescents. In all selected models, c was by far the most significant predictor of threshold, supplanting effects of diagnostic group that were significant in the baseline models. In contrast, Az was not a significant predictor of threshold in any of the models. Mean values of c were similar for adults with and without autism and for children/adolescents with ASD, but lower (more liberal) in neurotypical children/adolescents. This suggests that children with ASD exhibit a conservatism in their perceptual decision-making that differs from their NT peers but resembles that of adults. Across the sample, the value of c was significantly and positively correlated with age and with autism symptoms (SRS-2 total score), in addition to thresholds. The results of this study suggest that, rather than a sensory difference in detection of light touch, there is a difference in response bias such that children with ASD are more conservative/likely to report “no” if unsure, than their young NT peers. Future work should consider the implications of conservative response criterion in ASD for commonly used forced-choice psychophysical paradigms.

Performance and Material-Dependent Holistic Representation of Unconscious Thought: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Psychological research has demonstrated that humans can think unconsciously. Unconscious thought (UT) refers to cognitive or affective decision-related processes that occur beyond conscious awareness. UT processes are considered more effective in complex decision-making than conscious thought (CT). In addition, holistic representation plays a key role in UT and consists of a multimodal, value-related cognitive process. While the neural correlates of UT have recently been investigated, the holistic representation hypothesis of UT has not been confirmed. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to further evaluate this hypothesis by utilizing two UT tasks (person and consumer-product evaluations) in conjunction with an improved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experimental protocol. Participants evaluated four alternatives with 12 attributes each. In the UT condition, once the decision information had been presented, the participants completed a 1-back task for 120 s and evaluated each alternative, as well as an independent 1-back task in the absence of any decision information. We then performed regression analysis of the UT performance in both tasks. Our results revealed a positive correlation between performance in the UT task and the use of the anterior part of the precuneus/paracentral lobule in the person evaluation task and between performance and the posterior part of the precuneus, postcentral gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and superior parietal lobule in the consumer-product evaluation task. The involvement of the precuneus area in both tasks was indicative of a multimodal, value-related process and is consistent with the features of holistic representation, supporting a central role for holistic representation in UT. Furthermore, the involvement of different precuneus subregions in the two UT tasks may reflect the task dependency of the key representation critical for advantageous UT.

Are you laughing at me? Neural correlates of social intent attribution to auditory and visual laughter

Laughter is a multifaceted signal, which can convey social acceptance facilitating social bonding as well as social rejection inflicting social pain. In the current study, we addressed the neural correlates of social intent attribution to auditory or visual laughter within an fMRI study to identify brain areas showing linear increases of activation with social intent ratings. Negative social intent attributions were associated with activation increases within the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex (mPFC/ACC). Interestingly, negative social intent attributions of auditory laughter were represented more rostral than visual laughter within this area. Our findings corroborate the role of the mPFC/ACC as key node for processing “social pain” with distinct modality‐specific subregions. Other brain areas that showed an increase of activation included bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and right superior/middle temporal gyrus (STG/MTG) for visually presented laughter and bilateral STG for auditory presented laughter with no overlap across modalities. Similarly, positive social intent attributions were linked to hemodynamic responses within the right inferior parietal lobe and right middle frontal gyrus, but there was no overlap of activity for visual and auditory laughter. Our findings demonstrate that social intent attribution to auditory and visual laughter is located in neighboring, but spatially distinct neural structures.

One-Month Stability of Cyberball Post-Exclusion Ostracism Distress in Adolescents

We examined one-month reliability, internal consistency, and validity of ostracism distress (Need Threat Scale) to simulated social exclusion during Cyberball. Thirty adolescents (13-18 yrs.) completed the Cyberball task, ostracism distress ratings, and measures of related clinical symptoms, repeated over one month. Need Threat Scale ratings of ostracism distress showed adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency at both occasions. Construct validity was demonstrated via relationships with closely related constructs of anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation, and weaker associations with more distal constructs of state paranoia and subclinical psychosis-like experiences. While ratings of ostracism distress and anxiety were significantly attenuated at retest, most participants continued to experience post-Cyberball ostracism distress at one-month follow-up, which indicates that the social exclusion induction of Cyberball persisted despite participants' familiarity with the paradigm. Overall, results suggest that the primary construct of ostracism distress is preserved over repeated administration of Cyberball, with reliability sufficient for usage in longitudinal research. These findings have important implications for translating this laboratory simulation of social distress into developmental and clinical intervention studies.

Acting on observed social exclusion and pro-social behaviour in autism spectrum disorder

Humans are commonly motivated towards cooperation and prosociality. In this study, we examined this motivational predisposition in autistic individuals. Using an adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm, we investigated subsequent pro-social behaviour after witnessing social exclusion. Participants witnessed and played a series of Cyberball games, rated their affective state and valued emotional faces with respect to their approachability. Results showed that participants from both groups were aware of the social exclusion. However, while neurotypically developing participants engaged in pro-social behaviour in reaction to the exclusion, autistic participants showed less alterations, in terms of either behaviour or affective state. The current findings suggest a distinct motivational drive and processing of social reward stimuli in autism, which may result in behavioural responses divergent from typical development when engaging in the social world.

Neural and cognitive correlates of stigma and social rejection in individuals with Serious Mental Illness (SMI): A systematic review of the literature

Stigma and self-stigma are major issues for people with Serious Mental Illness (SMI). This review's aims were to determine the cognitive and neural processes underlying the effects of stigma and social rejection in people with SMI. A stepwise systematic literature review (PRISMA) was conducted by searching PubMed, Medline and Web of Science using the following keywords: "cyberball" OR "stereotype threat" OR "implicit association test" AND "mental illness". The articles included met the following criteria: (a) reporting on social rejection, stigma or self-stigma (b) diagnosis of SMI (c) available data on the underlying mechanisms. Our search on July 31th 2018 found in 955 articles on PubMed and 3,362 on Web of Science. Hypersensitivity to acute social rejection was found and associated with more self-related negative emotions and more dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. People with SMI under-performed in cognitive tasks when confronted with stigma. Stigma resistance was described with its neural correlates. Psychiatric symptoms, duration of illness and baseline non-specific distress influenced the response to acute social rejection or stigma. The samples, methods, and reported outcomes were heterogeneous and difficult to compare. Future studies should investigate the associations between self-stigma and responses to acute and chronic social rejection.

Interest of neuroimaging of social exclusion in suicide

With one million deaths worldwide, suicide is a major health issue. The frequency of life events preceding suicidal act is high and raises the question of their role in suicidal process. At biological level, dysfunctional neural processing of social exclusion may participate in suicidal risk through an increased perception of social adversity in vulnerable subjects. The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss neuroimaging findings related to social exclusion and loneliness, and to open new perspectives to investigate sensitivity to social stress in suicide.

Alterations in hub organization in the white matter structural network in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: A 2-year follow-up study

Little is currently known about the longitudinal developmental patterns of hubs in the whole-brain white matter (WM) structural networks among toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and deterministic tractography to map the WM structural networks in 37 ASD toddlers and 27 age-, gender- and developmental quotient-matched controls with developmental delay (DD) toddlers aged 2-3 years old at baseline (Time 1) and at 2-year follow-up (Time 2). Furthermore, graph-theoretical methods were applied to investigate alterations in the network hubs in these patients at the two time points. The results showed that after 2 years, 17 hubs were identified in the ASD subjects compared to the controls, including 13 hubs that had not changed from baseline and 4 hubs that were newly identified. In addition, alterations in the properties of the hubs of the right middle frontal gyrus, right insula, left median cingulate gyri, and bilateral precuneus were significantly correlated with alterations in the behavioral data for ASD patients. These results indicated that at the stage of 2-5 years of age, ASD children showed distributions of network hubs that were relatively stable, with minor differences. Abnormal developmental patterns in the five areas mentioned above in ASD may contribute to abnormalities in the social and nonsocial characteristics of this disorder. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1218-1228. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: This work studied the longitudinal developmental patterns of hubs in the whole-brain white matter (WM) structural network among toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The findings of this study could have implications for understanding how the abnormalities in hub organization in ASD account for behavioral deficits in patients and may provide potential biomarkers for disease diagnosis and the subsequent monitoring of progression and treatment effects for patients with ASD.

Trouble du spectre de l’autisme : une agentivité morale objective, rigoriste et émotionnelle

Le trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA) désigne un ensemble de troubles neurodéveloppementaux caractérisé par des difficultés de communication et d’interactions sociales, ainsi que des comportements, intérêts et activités restreints et répétitifs (1). Concernant les interactions sociales, les personnes autistes auraient notamment des difficultés d’empathie, souvent considérées comme altérant leurs capacités morales. Ainsi, plusieurs études en psychologie et en neuroscience tentent de détecter des processus empathiques défaillants à l’origine d’altérations de leur compréhension de la moralité (2-4). Les problèmes sociaux des personnes autistes se manifestent aussi par des difficultés dans leur vie affective qui concernent leurs propres états émotionnels (5-9). Je suggère que les particularités morales des personnes autistes sont issues de leurs particularités d’accès émotionnel, soit la façon dont elles se rapportent à leurs propres émotions, et non pas de déficits d’empathie. Je montrerai que ces particularités ne les empêchent en aucun cas de faire partie de la communauté morale. Les personnes autistes peuvent être de rigoureux agents moraux, c’est-à-dire qu’elles présentent une certaine intransigeance et inflexibilité morale. Ces particularités seront expliquées. À la lumière des théories sur les processus duaux, je montrerai comment leurs particularités socio-émotionnelles et morales sont toutes deux sous-tendues par une surutilisation de processus de type 2, soit une surutilisation de raisonnements cognitifs délibérés et basés sur des règles, plutôt que des processus automatiques, de type 1. L’objectif principal de cette étude sera donc de mettre en évidence les particularités qui permettent aux personnes autistes d’être des agents moraux certes inflexibles, mais néanmoins émotionnellement investis dans les situations à caractère moral.

Ostracism and physiological arousal following traumatic brain injury

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

RESEARCH DESIGN

A within-subject, counterbalanced design was used. The two conditions, inclusion and ostracism, were examined across two groups (between subjects).

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

A group of 21 adults with TBI and 17 matched controls participated in the Cyberball paradigm. This task is a computerised task that exposes participants to a game of catch and throw. In the inclusion condition they are included fairly in the game, while in the ostracism condition they are excluded from the game following the first few throws. Skin conductance levels (SCLs) were measured throughout the game as a proxy for social stress.

MAIN OUTCOMES

Results showed that people with TBI were cognitively aware of when they are being ostracised, but that their self-reported emotional experience to social exclusion was different to that of the control group. Differences in SCLs between groups and between conditions did not reach significance nor did they correlate with behavioural responses.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of dissociation between psychological and physiological responses and the implications for motivating behaviours associated with re-inclusion.

Dull to Social Acceptance Rather than Sensitivity to Social Ostracism in Interpersonal Interaction for Depression: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence from Cyberball Tasks

Objectives: Impairments in interpersonal relationships in depression present as irritability, pessimism, and withdrawal, and play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder. However, we know little about the neurological causes of this impaired interpersonal function. This study used the event-related brain potential (ERP) version of the Cyberball paradigm to investigate the emotions and neural activities in depressive patients during social inclusion and exclusion simultaneously to explore neuropsychological mechanisms.

Methods: Electrophysiological data were recorded when 27 depressed patients and 23 healthy controls (HCs) performed a virtual ball tossing game (Cyberball) during which the participants believed they were playing with two other co-players over the internet. The Cyberball paradigm included two other conditions; inclusion during which participants received the ball with the same probability as the other players to experience a feeling of acceptance, and exclusion during which the participants experienced a feeling of ostracism when the other two players threw the ball with each other. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used as a baseline and after each block during the Cyberball to assess positive and negative effects. In addition, a brief Need-Threat Scale (NTS) was used to assess the fulfillment of basic needs of subjects after each block and 10 min after ostracism. Moreover, the relationship between the ERP data of depression and clinical symptoms was analyzed.

Results: Exclusion compared to inclusion Cyberball caused a decrease in positive affect and an increase in negative affect. The group differences were only found in the positive affect. Moreover, patients reported a lower level of basic needs than did HCs after social inclusion, but a similar level of basic needs after social exclusion. At the electrophysiological level, patients showed decreased P3 amplitudes compared to HCs in social inclusion, and P3 amplitudes were borderline negatively correlated with their scores of anhedonia symptoms.

Limitations: A limitation of our study was that the subjects' criteria were different.

Conclusions: The behavioral and electrophysiological results indicated that the interpersonal problems in depressive patients were mainly due to deficits in processing the pleasurable social stimuli rather than aversive social cues.

Neural correlates of social exclusion across ages: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional MRI studies

Given the recent surge in functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion, the current study employed activation likelihood estimation (ALE) based meta-analyses to identify brain regions that have consistently been implicated across different experimental paradigms used to investigate exclusion. We also examined the neural correlates underlying Cyberball, the most commonly used paradigm to study exclusion, as well as differences in exclusion-related activation between developing (7-18 years of age, from pre-adolescence up to late adolescence) and emerging adult (broadly defined as undergraduates, including late adolescence and young adulthood) samples. Results revealed involvement of the bilateral medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, right precuneus and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex across the different paradigms used to examine social exclusion; similar activation patterns were identified when restricting the analysis to Cyberball studies. Investigations into age-related effects revealed that ventrolateral prefrontal activations identified in the full sample were driven by (i.e. present in) developmental samples, while medial prefrontal activations were driven by emerging adult samples. In addition, the right ventral striatum was implicated in exclusion, but only in developmental samples. Subtraction analysis revealed significantly greater activation likelihood in striatal and ventrolateral prefrontal clusters in the developmental samples as compared to emerging adults, though the opposite contrast failed to identify any significant regions. Findings integrate the knowledge accrued from functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion to date, highlighting involvement of lateral prefrontal regions implicated in regulation and midline structures involved in social cognitive and self-evaluative processes across experimental paradigms and ages, as well as limbic structures in developing samples specifically.

Peer victimization in adolescence: The nature, progression, and consequences of being bullied within a developmental context

Since Dan Olweus's seminal work on bullying in the 1970's (Olweus, 1978), there has been a concerted effort by investigators to identify the confluence of factors that contribute to peer victimization and its role in psychosocial development. Although the cause and consequences of peer victimization may include underlying, age-invariant processes, the manifestation of these factors is, in part, driven by the developmental stage being studied. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of peer victimization requires an explicit developmental perspective. This paper examines how peer victimization in adolescence is unique from other developmental periods. Changes in the nature of peer victimization, associated risk factors, the contexts in which victimization is experienced, and the psychosocial outcomes affected are addressed. A primary focus is how maturational processes and interpersonal contexts characteristic of adolescence contribute to changes in victimization, with the objective of informing future research directions and the development of effective interventions.

Development of the anxiety scale for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASC-ASD)

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high levels of anxiety. A widely used measure for typically developing children is the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). However, such anxiety measures may require adaptation to accommodate characteristics of those with ASD. An adapted version of the RCADS was created based on empirical evidence of anxiety phenomenology in ASD, which included additional items related to sensory anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and phobias. Content validity was refined during focus groups with parents. Polychoric factor analysis was undertaken on data from 170 children with ASD, aged 8-16, and their parents. This process resulted in the creation of a new 24 item scale (self and parent report) each with four subscales: Performance Anxiety, Uncertainty, Anxious Arousal, and Separation Anxiety, with evidence of good reliability and validity. The freely available Anxiety Scale for Children - ASD, Parent and Child versions (ASC-ASD) has promising psychometric properties including good internal consistency, validity, and 1 month test-retest reliability. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1205-1215. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Resting-state functional connectivity predicts longitudinal change in autistic traits and adaptive functioning in autism

Although typically identified in early childhood, the social communication symptoms and adaptive behavior deficits that are characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) persist throughout the lifespan. Despite this persistence, even individuals without cooccurring intellectual disability show substantial heterogeneity in outcomes. Previous studies have found various behavioral assessments [such as intelligence quotient (IQ), early language ability, and baseline autistic traits and adaptive behavior scores] to be predictive of outcome, but most of the variance in functioning remains unexplained by such factors. In this study, we investigated to what extent functional brain connectivity measures obtained from resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) could predict the variance left unexplained by age and behavior (follow-up latency and baseline autistic traits and adaptive behavior scores) in two measures of outcome--adaptive behaviors and autistic traits at least 1 y postscan (mean follow-up latency = 2 y, 10 mo). We found that connectivity involving the so-called salience network (SN), default-mode network (DMN), and frontoparietal task control network (FPTCN) was highly predictive of future autistic traits and the change in autistic traits and adaptive behavior over the same time period. Furthermore, functional connectivity involving the SN, which is predominantly composed of the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate, predicted reliable improvement in adaptive behaviors with 100% sensitivity and 70.59% precision. From rs-fcMRI data, our study successfully predicted heterogeneity in outcomes for individuals with ASD that was unaccounted for by simple behavioral metrics and provides unique evidence for networks underlying long-term symptom abatement.

Unexpected Acceptance? Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder Manifest their Social Expectancy in ERPs During Social Feedback Processing

Previous studies on social anxiety have demonstrated negative-expectancy bias in social contexts. In this study, we used a paradigm that employed self-relevant positive or negative social feedback, in order to test whether this negative expectancy manifests in event-related potentials (ERPs) during social evaluation among socially anxious individuals. Behavioral data revealed that individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) showed more negative expectancy of peer acceptance both in the experiment and in daily life than did the healthy control participants. Regarding ERP results, we found a overally larger P2 for positive social feedback and also a group main effect, such that the P2 was smaller in SAD group. SAD participants demonstrated a larger feedback-related negativity (FRN) to positive feedback than to negative feedback. In addition, SAD participants showed a more positive ΔFRN (ΔFRN = negative – positive). Furthermore, acceptance expectancy in daily life correlated negatively with ΔFRN amplitude, while the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (IAS) score correlated positively with the ΔFRN amplitude. Finally, the acceptance expectancy in daily life fully mediated the relationship between the IAS and ΔFRN. These results indicated that both groups could differentiate between positive and negative social feedback in the early stage of social feedback processing (reflected on the P2). However, the SAD group exhibited a larger FRN to positive social feedback than to negative social feedback, demonstrating their dysfunction in the late stage of social feedback processing. In our opinion, such dysfunction is due to their greater negative social feedback expectancy.

A computer-generated animated face stimulus set for psychophysiological research

Human faces are fundamentally dynamic, but experimental investigations of face perception have traditionally relied on static images of faces. Although naturalistic videos of actors have been used with success in some contexts, much research in neuroscience and psychophysics demands carefully controlled stimuli. In this article, we describe a novel set of computer-generated, dynamic face stimuli. These grayscale faces are tightly controlled for low- and high-level visual properties. All faces are standardized in terms of size, luminance, location, and the size of facial features. Each face begins with a neutral pose and transitions to an expression over the course of 30 frames. Altogether, 222 stimuli were created, spanning three different categories of movement: (1) an affective movement (fearful face), (2) a neutral movement (close-lipped, puffed cheeks with open eyes), and (3) a biologically impossible movement (upward dislocation of eyes and mouth). To determine whether early brain responses sensitive to low-level visual features differed between the expressions, we measured the occipital P100 event-related potential, which is known to reflect differences in early stages of visual processing, and the N170, which reflects structural encoding of faces. We found no differences between the faces at the P100, indicating that different face categories were well matched on low-level image properties. This database provides researchers with a well-controlled set of dynamic faces, controlled for low-level image characteristics, that are applicable to a range of research questions in social perception.

Default mode network segregation and social deficits in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from non-medicated children

Functional pathology of the default mode network is posited to be central to social-cognitive impairment in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Altered functional connectivity of the default mode network's midline core may be a potential endophenotype for social deficits in ASD. Generalizability from prior studies is limited by inclusion of medicated participants and by methods favoring restricted examination of network function. This study measured resting-state functional connectivity in 22 8–13 year-old non-medicated children with ASD and 22 typically developing controls using seed-based and network segregation functional connectivity methods. Relative to controls the ASD group showed both under- and over-functional connectivity within default mode and non-default mode regions, respectively. ASD symptoms correlated negatively with the connection strength of the default mode midline core—medial prefrontal cortex–posterior cingulate cortex. Network segregation analysis with the participation coefficient showed a higher area under the curve for the ASD group. Our findings demonstrate that the default mode network in ASD shows a pattern of poor segregation with both functional connectivity metrics. This study confirms the potential for the functional connection of the midline core as an endophenotype for social deficits. Poor segregation of the default mode network is consistent with an excitation/inhibition imbalance model of ASD.

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The DMN is a potential endophenotype for social deficits in ASD.

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This study used resting state functional MRI to probe the default mode network.

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MPFC–PCC connection was reduced in strength in ASD and correlated with ASD severity.

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Graph theory analysis showed that DMN had greater cross-network connectivity in ASD.

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Findings support DMN as an ASD endophenotype and align with a GABA theory of ASD.

Trait-level temporal lobe hypoactivation to social exclusion in unaffected siblings of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

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Brain responses to social exclusion were measured in ASD unaffected siblings.

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Unaffected siblings show trait atypical activation in posterior temporal lobe.

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Biological vulnerability moderates relationship between IQ and brain responses.

Social exclusion elicits powerful feelings of negative affect associated with rejection. Additionally, experiencing social exclusion reliably recruits neural circuitry associated with emotion processing. Recent work has demonstrated abnormal neural responses to social exclusion in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unknown to what extent these abnormalities are due to atypical social experiences versus genetic predispositions to atypical neural processing. To address this question, the current study investigated brain responses to social exclusion compared to a baseline condition of fair play in unaffected siblings of youth with ASD using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We identified common deviations between unaffected siblings and ASD probands that might represent trait-level abnormalities in processing Social Exclusion vs. Fair Play, specifically in the right anterior temporoparietal junction extending into posterior superior temporal sulcus. Thus, hypoactivation to Social Exclusion vs. Fair Play in this region may represent a shared genetic vulnerability to developing autism. In addition, we present evidence supporting the idea that one's status as an unaffected sibling moderates the relationship between IQ and neural activation to Social Exclusion vs. Fair Play in anterior cingulate cortex. These results are discussed in the context of previous literature on neural endophenotypes of autism.

Intrapersonal and interpersonal processes of social exclusion

People have a fundamental need to belong with others. Social exclusion impairs this need and has various effects on cognition, affect, and the behavior of excluded individuals. We have previously reported that activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) could be a neurocognitive index of social exclusion (Kawamoto et al., 2012). In this article, we provide an integrative framework for understanding occurrences during and after social exclusion, by reviewing neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and behavioral studies of dACC and rVLPFC, within the framework of intrapersonal and interpersonal processes of social exclusion. As a result, we have indicated directions for future studies to further clarify the phenomenon of social exclusion from the following perspectives: (1) constructional elements of social exclusion, (2) detection sensitivity and interpretation bias in social exclusion, (3) development of new methods to assess the reactivity to social exclusion, and (4) sources of social exclusion.

A meta-analysis of the anterior cingulate contribution to social pain

Many functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have explored the neural correlates of social pain that results from social threat, exclusion, rejection, loss or negative evaluation. Although activations have consistently been reported within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), it remains unclear which ACC subdivision is particularly involved. To provide a quantitative estimation of the specific involvement of ACC subdivisions in social pain, we conducted a voxel-based meta-analysis. The literature search identified 46 articles that included 940 subjects, the majority of which used the cyberball task. Significant likelihoods of activation were found in both the ventral and dorsal ACC for both social pain elicitation and self-reported distress during social pain. Self-reported distress involved more specifically the subgenual and pregenual ACC than social pain-related contrasts. The cyberball task involved the anterior midcingulate cortex to a lesser extent than other experimental tasks. During social pain, children exhibited subgenual activations to a greater extent than adults. Finally, the ventro-dorsal gradient of ACC activations in cyberball studies was related to the length of exclusion phases. The present meta-analysis contributes to a better understanding of the role of ACC subdivisions in social pain, and it could be of particular importance for guiding future studies of social pain and its neural underpinnings.

A Two-Hit Model of Autism: Adolescence as the Second Hit

Adolescence brings dramatic changes in behavior and neural organization. Unfortunately, for some 30% of individuals with autism, there is marked decline in adaptive functioning during adolescence. We propose a two-hit model of autism. First, early perturbations in neural development function as a "first hit" that sets up a neural system that is "built to fail" in the face of a second hit. Second, the confluence of pubertal hormones, neural reorganization, and increasing social demands during adolescence provides the "second hit" that interferes with the ability to transition into adult social roles and levels of adaptive functioning. In support of this model, we review evidence about adolescent-specific neural and behavioral development in autism. We conclude with predictions and recommendations for empirical investigation about several domains in which developmental trajectories for individuals with autism may be uniquely deterred in adolescence.

Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders using regional and interregional morphological features

This article describes a novel approach to identify autism spectrum disorder (ASD) utilizing regional and interregional morphological patterns extracted from structural magnetic resonance images. Two types of features are extracted to characterize the morphological patterns: (1) Regional features, which includes the cortical thickness, volumes of cortical gray matter, and cortical-associated white matter regions, and several subcortical structures extracted from different regions-of-interest (ROIs); (2) Interregional features, which convey the morphological change pattern between pairs of ROIs. We demonstrate that the integration of regional and interregional features via multi-kernel learning technique can significantly improve the classification performance of ASD, compared with using either regional or interregional features alone. Specifically, the proposed framework achieves an accuracy of 96.27% and an area of 0.9952 under the receiver operating characteristic curve, indicating excellent diagnostic power and generalizability. The best performance is achieved when both feature types are weighted approximately equal, indicating complementary between these two feature types. Regions that contributed the most to classification are in line with those reported in the previous studies, particularly the subcortical structures that are highly associated with human emotional modulation and memory formation. The autistic brains demonstrate a significant rightward asymmetry pattern particularly in the auditory language areas. These findings are in agreement with the fact that ASD is a behavioral- and language-related neurodevelopmental disorder. By concurrent consideration of both regional and interregional features, the current work presents an effective means for better characterization of neurobiological underpinnings of ASD that facilitates its identification from typically developing children.

Cerebral lateralization of pro- and anti-social tendencies

Mounting evidence suggest that the right-hemisphere (RH) has a relative advantage, over the left-hemisphere (LH), in mediating social intelligence - identifying social stimuli, understanding the intentions of other people, awareness of the dynamics in social relationships, and successful handling of social interactions. Furthermore, a review and synthesis of the literature suggest that pro-social attitudes and behaviors are associated with physiological activity in the RH, whereas unsocial and anti-social tendencies are mediated primarily by the LH. This hemispheric asymmetry is rooted in several neurobiological and functional differences between the two hemispheres. (I) Positive social interactions often require inhibiting one's immediate desires and considering the perspectives and needs of others. Given that self-control is mediated by the RH, pro-social emotions and behaviors are, therefore, inherently associated with the RH as it subserves the brain's self-restraint mechanisms. (II) The RH mediates experiences of vulnerability. It registers the relative clumsiness and motor weakness of the left limbs, and it is involved, more than the LH, in processing threats and mediating fear. Emotional states of vulnerability trigger the need for affiliation and sociality, therefore the RH has a greater role in mediating pro-social attitudes and behaviors. (III) The RH mediates a holistic mode of representing the world. Holistic perception emphasizes similarities rather than differences, takes a long-term perspective, is associated with divergent thinking and seeing other points-of-view, and it mediates a personal mode of relating to people. All these features of holistic perception facilitate a more empathetic attitude toward others and pro-social behaviors.

Abnormal cingulum bundle development in autism: a probabilistic tractography study

There is now considerable evidence that white matter abnormalities play a role in the neurobiology of autism. Little research has been directed, however, at understanding (a) typical white matter development in autism and how this relates to neurocognitive impairments observed in the disorder. In this study we used probabilistic tractography to identify the cingulum bundle in 21 adolescents and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. We investigated group differences in the relationships between age and fractional anisotropy, a putative measure of white matter integrity, within the cingulum bundle. Moreover, in a preliminary investigation, we examined the relationship between cingulum fractional anisotropy and executive functioning using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The ASD participants demonstrated significantly lower fractional anisotropy within the cingulum bundle compared to the typically developing volunteers. There was a significant group-by-age interaction such that the ASD group did not show the typical age-associated increases in fractional anisotropy observed among healthy individuals. Moreover, lower fractional anisotropy within the cingulum bundle was associated with worse BRIEF behavioral regulation index scores in the ASD group. The current findings implicate a dysregulation in cingulum bundle white matter development occurring in late adolescence and early adulthood in ASD, and suggest that greater disturbances in this trajectory are associated with executive dysfunction in ASD.

Childhood emotional maltreatment severity is associated with dorsal medial prefrontal cortex responsivity to social exclusion in young adults

Children who have experienced chronic parental rejection and exclusion during childhood, as is the case in childhood emotional maltreatment, may become especially sensitive to social exclusion. This study investigated the neural and emotional responses to social exclusion (with the Cyberball task) in young adults reporting childhood emotional maltreatment. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain responses and self-reported distress to social exclusion in 46 young adult patients and healthy controls (mean age = 19.2±2.16) reporting low to extreme childhood emotional maltreatment. Consistent with prior studies, social exclusion was associated with activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, severity of childhood emotional maltreatment was positively associated with increased dorsal medial prefrontal cortex responsivity to social exclusion. The dorsal medial prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in self-and other-referential processing, suggesting that the more individuals have been rejected and maltreated in childhood, the more self- and other- processing is elicited by social exclusion in adulthood. Negative self-referential thinking, in itself, enhances cognitive vulnerability for the development of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, our findings may underlie the emotional and behavioural difficulties that have been reported in adults reporting childhood emotional maltreatment.

Autism and epistemology IV: Does autism need a theory of mind?

In their article, "Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind'?," Baron-Cohen et al. [1985] proposed a novel paradigm to explain social impairment in children diagnosed as autistic (AD). Much research has been undertaken since their article went to print. The purpose of this commentary is to gauge whether Theory of Mind (ToM)-or lack thereof-is a valid model for explaining abnormal social behavior in children with AD. ToM is defined as "the ability to impute mental states to oneself and to others" and "the ability to make inferences about what other people believe to be the case." The source for their model was provided by an article published earlier by Premack and Woodruff, "Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?" Later research in chimpanzees did not support a ToM in primates. From the outset, ToM as a neurocognitive model of autism has had many shortcomings-methodological, logical, and empirical. Other ToM assumptions, for example, its universality in all children in all cultures and socioeconomic conditions, are not supported by data. The age at which a ToM emerges, or events that presage a ToM, are too often not corroborated. Recent studies of mirror neurons, their location and interconnections in brain, their relationship to social behavior and language, and the effect of lesions there on speech, language and social behavior, strongly suggests that a neurobiological as opposed to neurocognitive model of autism is a more parsimonious explanation for the social and behavioral phenotypes observed in autism.

Salience network-based classification and prediction of symptom severity in children with autism

IMPORTANCE

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 88 children and is characterized by a complex phenotype, including social, communicative, and sensorimotor deficits. Autism spectrum disorder has been linked with atypical connectivity across multiple brain systems, yet the nature of these differences in young children with the disorder is not well understood.

OBJECTIVES

To examine connectivity of large-scale brain networks and determine whether specific networks can distinguish children with ASD from typically developing (TD) children and predict symptom severity in children with ASD.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

Case-control study performed at Stanford University School of Medicine of 20 children 7 to 12 years old with ASD and 20 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched TD children.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Between-group differences in intrinsic functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks, performance of a classifier built to discriminate children with ASD from TD children based on specific brain networks, and correlations between brain networks and core symptoms of ASD.

RESULTS

We observed stronger functional connectivity within several large-scale brain networks in children with ASD compared with TD children. This hyperconnectivity in ASD encompassed salience, default mode, frontotemporal, motor, and visual networks. This hyperconnectivity result was replicated in an independent cohort obtained from publicly available databases. Using maps of each individual's salience network, children with ASD could be discriminated from TD children with a classification accuracy of 78%, with 75% sensitivity and 80% specificity. The salience network showed the highest classification accuracy among all networks examined, and the blood oxygen-level dependent signal in this network predicted restricted and repetitive behavior scores. The classifier discriminated ASD from TD in the independent sample with 83% accuracy, 67% sensitivity, and 100% specificity.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Salience network hyperconnectivity may be a distinguishing feature in children with ASD. Quantification of brain network connectivity is a step toward developing biomarkers for objectively identifying children with ASD.

Comparison of white matter integrity between autism spectrum disorder subjects and typically developing individuals: a meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging tractography studies

BACKGROUND

Aberrant brain connectivity, especially with long-distance underconnectivity, has been recognized as a candidate pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders. However, a number of diffusion tensor imaging studies investigating people with autism spectrum disorders have yielded inconsistent results.

METHODS

To test the long-distance underconnectivity hypothesis, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging studies in subjects with autism spectrum disorder. Diffusion tensor imaging studies comparing individuals with autism spectrum disorders with typically developing individuals were searched using MEDLINE, Web of Science and EMBASE from 1980 through 1 August 2012. Standardized mean differences were calculated as an effect size of the tracts.

RESULTS

A comprehensive literature search identified 25 relevant diffusion tensor imaging studies comparing autism spectrum disorders and typical development with regions-of-interest methods. Among these, 14 studies examining regions of interest with suprathreshold sample sizes were included in the meta-analysis. A random-effects model demonstrated significant fractional anisotropy reductions in the corpus callosum (P = 0.023, n = 387 (autism spectrum disorders/typically developing individuals: 208/179)), left uncinate fasciculus (P = 0.011, n = 242 (117/125)), and left superior longitudinal fasciculus (P = 0.016, n = 182 (96/86)), and significant increases of mean diffusivity in the corpus callosum (P = 0.006, n = 254 (129/125)) and superior longitudinal fasciculus bilaterally (P = 0.031 and 0.011, left and right, respectively, n = 109 (51/58)), in subjects with autism spectrum disorders compared with typically developing individuals with no significant publication bias.

CONCLUSION

The current meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging studies in subjects with autism spectrum disorders emphasizes important roles of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, and corpus callosum in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders and supports the long-distance underconnectivity hypothesis.

Rule learning in autism: the role of reward type and social context

Learning abstract rules is central to social and cognitive development. Across two experiments, we used Delayed Non-Matching to Sample tasks to characterize the longitudinal development and nature of rule-learning impairments in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Results showed that children with ASD consistently experienced more difficulty learning an abstract rule from a discrete physical reward than children with DD. Rule learning was facilitated by the provision of more concrete reinforcement, suggesting an underlying difficulty in forming conceptual connections. Learning abstract rules about social stimuli remained challenging through late childhood, indicating the importance of testing executive functions in both social and non-social contexts.

Disrupted regulation of social exclusion in alcohol-dependence: an fMRI study

Alcohol-dependence is associated with cognitive and biological alterations, and also with interpersonal impairments. Although overwhelming in clinical settings and involved in relapse, these social impairments have received little attention from researchers. Particularly, brain alterations related to social exclusion have not been explored in alcohol-dependence. Our primary purpose was to determine the neural correlates of social exclusion feelings in this population. In all, 44 participants (22 abstinent alcohol-dependent patients and 22 paired controls) played a virtual game ('cyberball') during fMRI recording. They were first included by other players, then excluded, and finally re-included. Brain areas involved in social exclusion were identified and the functional connectivity between these areas was explored using psycho-physiological interactions (PPI). Results showed that while both groups presented dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activations during social exclusion, alcohol-dependent participants exhibited increased insula and reduced frontal activations (in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) as compared with controls. Alcohol-dependence was also associated with persistent dACC and parahippocampal gyrus activations in re-inclusion. PPI analyses showed reduced frontocingulate connectivity during social exclusion in alcohol-dependence. Alcohol-dependence is thus linked with increased activation in areas eliciting social exclusion feelings (dACC-insula), and with impaired ability to inhibit these feelings (indexed by reduced frontal activations). Altered frontal regulation thus appears implied in the interpersonal alterations observed in alcohol-dependence, which seem reinforced by impaired frontocingulate connectivity. This first exploration of the neural correlates of interpersonal problems in alcohol-dependence could initiate the development of a social neuroscience of addictive states.

Differential brain responses to social exclusion by one's own versus opposite-gender peers

Human peer relations provide tangible benefits, including food and protection, as well as emotional benefits. While social exclusion poses a threat to all of these benefits, the psychological threat is particularly susceptible to modulation by the relation of the excluders to the excluded person. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the effects of manipulating the gender relation of participants to their excluders during an interactive ball-toss game. Ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation was higher during exclusion by same-gender peers, while right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation negatively correlated with self-reported distress in other-gender exclusion. Results imply that exclusion by one's own gender is fundamentally different from exclusion by the opposite gender, and suggest a regulatory role for ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in response to out-group exclusion. Individual differences in implicit gender attitudes modulated neural responses to exclusion. The importance of these findings to investigations of social cognition is discussed.