Correlations between facial emotion recognition and cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder

Exploration of cognitive flexibility and emotion recognition in adolescents with eating disorders

OBJECTIVES

This study compared cognitive flexibility (CF) and emotion recognition (ER) in adolescents with eating disorders (ED) to a healthy group.

METHODS

Forty healthy individuals aged 12-18 years with no psychiatric diagnosis and 46 patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or binge eating disorder (BED) according to DSM-5 criteria participated. CF was assessed using the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS), Stroop Test, and Berg Card Sorting Test (BCST), while ER was evaluated using the test of perception of affect via nonverbal cues.

RESULTS

CFS scores were lower in the ED group compared to the control group. Neuropsychological test results indicated similar BCST perseverative error percentages among ED patients and controls. However, while the BED group demonstrated greater difficulties with inhibitory control, as shown in the Stroop Test, the BN and AN groups performed similarly to the control group. ER performance was similar across groups, although the AN subgroup exhibited heightened recognition of negative emotions, particularly disgust and fear.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights unique and shared neurocognitive patterns related to CF and ER profiles of ED patients. Despite self-reports of greater cognitive rigidity among ED patients, objective tests did not consistently confirm it. Notably, BED patients exhibited inhibitory control challenges, aligning with impulsive tendencies. ER abilities were similar to controls; however, the AN subgroup showed heightened sensitivity to certain negative emotions, such as disgust. These findings underscore the need for further research with larger, more balanced samples to explore how CF and ER vary across developmental stages and subtypes.

Understanding cognitive flexibility in emotional evaluation in autistic males and females: the social context matters

BACKGROUND

Autistic individuals often have difficulty flexibly adjusting their behavior. However, laboratory experiments have yielded inconsistent results, potentially due to various influencing factors, which need to be examined in detail. This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that the social content of stimuli could play a specific role in some of the flexibility challenges faced by autistic individuals. The second aim was to explore sex differences in this context.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 256 adult participants (124 with autism), matched on age, gender, and sex, who performed an emotional shifting task involving unpredictable shifts between positive and negative stimuli. Additionally, the task included both social and non-social conditions.

RESULTS

Our results revealed a larger switch cost in the social than in the non-social condition, and this was more pronounced in autistic than in non-autistic individuals. Furthermore, we observed that autistic females differed from autistic males in the non-social condition and from non-autistic females in the social condition.

LIMITATIONS

The online nature of the study reduced the control over participant conditions. In addition, further studies are needed to investigate whether these results apply to the broader autism spectrum.

CONCLUSIONS

Building on previous research demonstrating a greater switch cost in autistic than non-autistic individuals for socio-emotional stimuli, our study further extends these findings by highlighting that the social context, rather than the emotional nature of the stimuli alone, may play a significant role in the flexibility challenges faced by autistic individuals. Our findings also contribute to the literature on sex differences in autism.

Social Humanoid Robots for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of Modalities, Indications, and Pitfalls

Robot-assisted therapy (RAT) is a promising area of translational neuroscience for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). It has been widely demonstrated that this kind of advanced technological tool provides a reliable and efficient intervention for promoting social skills and communication in children with ASD. This type of treatment consists of a human-assisted social robot acting as an intervention mediator to increase competence and skills in children with ASD. Several social robots have been validated in the literature; however, an explicit technical comparison among devices has never been performed. For this reason, in this article, we provide an overview of the main commercial humanoid robots employed for ASD children with an emphasis on indications for use, pitfalls to be avoided, and recent advances. We conclude that, in the near future, a new generation of devices with high levels of mobility, availability, safety, and acceptability should be designed for improving the complex triadic interaction among teachers, children, and robots.

Neurophysiological and behavioral effects of multisession prefrontal tDCS and concurrent cognitive remediation training in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A double-blind, randomized controlled fNIRS study

BACKGROUND

The clinical effects and neurophysiological mechanisms of prefrontal tDCS and concurrent cognitive remediation training in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unclear.

OBJECTIVE

This two-armed, double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of tDCS combined with concurrent cognitive remediation training on adolescents and young adults with ASD.

METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to either active or sham tDCS groups and received 1.5 mA prefrontal tDCS with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex cathode placement and right supraorbital region anode placement for 20 min over two consecutive weeks. tDCS was delivered concurrently with a computerized cognitive remediation training program. Social functioning and its underlying cognitive processes, as well as prefrontal resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), were measured.

RESULTS

The results from 41 participants indicated that multisession prefrontal tDCS, compared to sham tDCS, significantly enhanced the social functioning of ASD individuals [F(1,39) = 4.75, p = .035, η_p² = 0.11]. This improvement was associated with enhanced emotion recognition [F(1,39) = 8.34, p = .006, η_p² = 0.18] and cognitive flexibility [F(1,39) = 4.91, p = .033, η_p² = 0.11]. Specifically, this tDCS protocol optimized information processing efficiency [F(1,39) = 4.43, p = .042, η_p² = 0.10], and the optimization showed a trend to be associated with enhanced rsFC in the right medial prefrontal cortex (ρ = 0.339, pFDR = .083).

CONCLUSION

Multisession tDCS with left dlPFC cathode placement and right supraorbital region anode placement paired with concurrent cognitive remediation training promoted social functioning in individuals with ASD. This appeared to be associated with the enhancement of the functional connectivity of the right medial PFC, a major hub for flexible social information processing, allowing these individuals to process information more efficiently in response to different social situations.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03814083).