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Grove R, Baillie A, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Hoekstra RA. Exploring the quantitative nature of empathy, systemising and autistic traits using factor mixture modelling. Br J Psychiatry 2015; 207:400-6. [PMID: 26382949 DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.155101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2014] [Accepted: 01/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism research has previously focused on either identifying a latent dimension or searching for subgroups. Research assessing the concurrently categorical and dimensional nature of autism is needed. AIMS To investigate the latent structure of autism and identify meaningful subgroups in a sample spanning the full spectrum of genetic vulnerability. METHOD Factor mixture models were applied to data on empathy, systemising and autistic traits from individuals on the autism spectrum, parents and general population controls. RESULTS A two-factor three-class model was identified, with two factors measuring empathy and systemising. Class one had high systemising and low empathy scores and primarily consisted of individuals with autism. Mainly comprising controls and parents, class three displayed high empathy scores and lower systemising scores, and class two showed balanced scores on both measures of systemising and empathy. CONCLUSIONS Autism is best understood as a dimensional construct, but meaningful subgroups can be identified based on empathy, systemising and autistic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Grove
- Rachel Grove, PhD, Andrew Baillie, PhD, Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Carrie Allison, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Rosa A. Hoekstra, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Andrew Baillie
- Rachel Grove, PhD, Andrew Baillie, PhD, Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Carrie Allison, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Rosa A. Hoekstra, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Carrie Allison
- Rachel Grove, PhD, Andrew Baillie, PhD, Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Carrie Allison, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Rosa A. Hoekstra, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Rachel Grove, PhD, Andrew Baillie, PhD, Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Carrie Allison, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Rosa A. Hoekstra, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Rosa A Hoekstra
- Rachel Grove, PhD, Andrew Baillie, PhD, Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Carrie Allison, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Rosa A. Hoekstra, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
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103
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Chikovani G, Babuadze L, Iashvili N, Gvalia T, Surguladze S. Empathy costs: Negative emotional bias in high empathisers. Psychiatry Res 2015; 229:340-6. [PMID: 26235473 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2015] [Revised: 05/21/2015] [Accepted: 07/01/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Excessive empathy has been associated with compassion fatigue in health professionals and caregivers. We investigated an effect of empathy on emotion processing in 137 healthy individuals of both sexes. We tested a hypothesis that high empathy may underlie increased sensitivity to negative emotion recognition which may interact with gender. Facial emotion stimuli comprised happy, angry, fearful, and sad faces presented at different intensities (mild and prototypical) and different durations (500ms and 2000ms). The parameters of emotion processing were represented by discrimination accuracy, response bias and reaction time. We found that higher empathy was associated with better recognition of all emotions. We also demonstrated that higher empathy was associated with response bias towards sad and fearful faces. The reaction time analysis revealed that higher empathy in females was associated with faster (compared with males) recognition of mildly sad faces of brief duration. We conclude that although empathic abilities were providing for advantages in recognition of all facial emotional expressions, the bias towards emotional negativity may potentially carry a risk for empathic distress.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Chikovani
- Ilia State University, Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
| | - Lasha Babuadze
- Ilia State University, Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
| | - Nino Iashvili
- Ilia State University, Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
| | - Tamar Gvalia
- Ilia State University, Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
| | - Simon Surguladze
- Ilia State University, Cholokashvili Avenue 3/5, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia; King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, PO Box 69, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8 AF, UK.
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104
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Rosenblau G, Kliemann D, Heekeren HR, Dziobek I. Approximating implicit and explicit mentalizing with two naturalistic video-based tasks in typical development and autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45:953-65. [PMID: 25267068 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2249-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been proposed to show greater impairments in implicit than explicit mentalizing. To test this proposition, we developed two comparable naturalistic tasks for a performance-based approximation of implicit and explicit mentalizing in 28 individuals with ASD and 23 matched typically developed (TD) participants. Although both tasks were sensitive to the social impairments of individuals with ASD, implicit mentalizing was not more dysfunctional than explicit mentalizing. In TD participants, performance on the tasks did not correlate with each other, whereas in individuals with ASD they were highly correlated. These findings suggest that implicit and explicit mentalizing processes are separable in typical development. In contrast, in individuals with ASD implicit and explicit mentalizing processes are similarly impaired and closely linked suggesting a lack of developmental specification of these processes in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Rosenblau
- Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotion', Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195, Berlin, Germany,
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105
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Moseley R, Ypma R, Holt R, Floris D, Chura L, Spencer M, Baron-Cohen S, Suckling J, Bullmore E, Rubinov M. Whole-brain functional hypoconnectivity as an endophenotype of autism in adolescents. Neuroimage Clin 2015; 9:140-52. [PMID: 26413477 PMCID: PMC4556734 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2015] [Revised: 07/30/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Endophenotypes are heritable and quantifiable markers that may assist in the identification of the complex genetic underpinnings of psychiatric conditions. Here we examined global hypoconnectivity as an endophenotype of autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). We studied well-matched groups of adolescent males with autism, genetically-related siblings of individuals with autism, and typically-developing control participants. We parcellated the brain into 258 regions and used complex-network analysis to detect a robust hypoconnectivity endophenotype in our participant group. We observed that whole-brain functional connectivity was highest in controls, intermediate in siblings, and lowest in ASC, in task and rest conditions. We identified additional, local endophenotype effects in specific networks including the visual processing and default mode networks. Our analyses are the first to show that whole-brain functional hypoconnectivity is an endophenotype of autism in adolescence, and may thus underlie the heritable similarities seen in adolescents with ASC and their relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- R.L. Moseley
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - R.J.F. Ypma
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- University of Cambridge, Hughes Hall, Cambridge, UK
| | - R.J. Holt
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - D. Floris
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - L.R. Chura
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - M.D. Spencer
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - S. Baron-Cohen
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service (CLASS) Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough National Health Service Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | - J. Suckling
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough National Health Service Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | - E. Bullmore
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough National Health Service Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
- ImmunoPsychiatry, Alternative Discovery & Development, GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, UK
| | - M. Rubinov
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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106
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The impact of parent-child interaction on brain structures: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. J Neurosci 2015; 35:2233-45. [PMID: 25653378 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0598-14.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a vast amount of evidence from psychological studies that the amount of parent-child interaction affects the development of children's verbal skills and knowledge. However, despite the vast amount of literature, brain structural development associated with the amount of parent-child interaction has never been investigated. In the present human study, we used voxel-based morphometry to measure regional gray matter density (rGMD) and examined cross-sectional correlations between the amount of time spent with parents and rGMD among 127 boys and 135 girls. We also assessed correlations between the amount of time spent with parents and longitudinal changes that occurred a few years later among 106 boys and 102 girls. After correcting for confounding factors, we found negative effects of spending time with parents on rGMD in areas in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) via cross-sectional analyses as well as in the contingent areas of the right STG. We also confirmed positive effects of spending time with parents on the Verbal Comprehension score in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. rGMD in partly overlapping or contingent areas of the right STG was negatively correlated with age and the Verbal Comprehension score in cross-sectional analyses. Subsequent analyses revealed verbal parent-child interactions have similar effects on Verbal Comprehension scores and rGMD in the right STG in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. These findings indicate that parent-child interactions affect the right STG, which may be associated with verbal skills.
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107
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Evers K, Steyaert J, Noens I, Wagemans J. Reduced Recognition of Dynamic Facial Emotional Expressions and Emotion-Specific Response Bias in Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45:1774-84. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2337-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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108
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Allen-Walker L, Beaton AA. Empathy and perception of emotion in eyes from the FEEST/Ekman and Friesen faces. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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109
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Xin F, Lei X. Competition between frontoparietal control and default networks supports social working memory and empathy. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2015; 10:1144-52. [PMID: 25556209 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2013] [Accepted: 12/24/2014] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
An extensive body of literature has indicated that there is increased activity in the frontoparietal control network (FPC) and decreased activity in the default mode network (DMN) during working memory (WM) tasks. The FPC and DMN operate in a competitive relationship during tasks requiring externally directed attention. However, the association between this FPC-DMN competition and performance in social WM tasks has rarely been reported in previous studies. To investigate this question, we measured FPC-DMN connectivity during resting state and two emotional face recognition WM tasks using the 2-back paradigm. Thirty-four individuals were instructed to perform the tasks based on either the expression [emotion (EMO)] or the identity (ID) of the same set of face stimuli. Consistent with previous studies, an increased anti-correlation between the FPC and DMN was observed during both tasks relative to the resting state. Specifically, this anti-correlation during the EMO task was stronger than during the ID task, as the former has a higher social load. Intriguingly, individual differences in self-reported empathy were significantly correlated with the FPC-DMN anti-correlation in the EMO task. These results indicate that the top-down signals from the FPC suppress the DMN to support social WM and empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Xin
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China and Sleep and NeuroImaging Center, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xu Lei
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China and Sleep and NeuroImaging Center, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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110
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Chmielewski WX, Beste C. Action control processes in autism spectrum disorder – Insights from a neurobiological and neuroanatomical perspective. Prog Neurobiol 2015; 124:49-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2014.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2014] [Revised: 11/03/2014] [Accepted: 11/06/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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111
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Chen CH, Lee IJ, Lin LY. Augmented reality-based self-facial modeling to promote the emotional expression and social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2015; 36C:396-403. [PMID: 25462499 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2014] [Revised: 10/02/2014] [Accepted: 10/10/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by a reduced ability to understand the emotions of other people; this ability involves recognizing facial expressions. This study assessed the possibility of enabling three adolescents with ASD to become aware of facial expressions observed in situations in a school setting simulated using augmented reality (AR) technology. The AR system provided three-dimensional (3-D) animations of six basic facial expressions overlaid on participant faces to facilitate practicing emotional judgments and social skills. Based on the multiple baseline design across subjects, the data indicated that AR intervention can improve the appropriate recognition and response to facial emotional expressions seen in the situational task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chien-Hsu Chen
- Ergonomics and Interaction Design Lab, Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1 University Road, Tainan, Taiwan.
| | - I-Jui Lee
- Ergonomics and Interaction Design Lab, Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1 University Road, Tainan, Taiwan.
| | - Ling-Yi Lin
- Department of Occupational Therapy, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1 University Road, Tainan, Taiwan.
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112
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Weiß S, Winkelmann A, Duschek S. Recognition of facially expressed emotions in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Behav Med 2014; 39:146-54. [PMID: 24236812 DOI: 10.1080/08964289.2013.818932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The study investigated the ability to identify facially expressed emotions in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and its association with clinical parameters. Thirty-five FMS patients and 35 healthy controls accomplished a face recognition task. Additionally, pain severity, alexithymia, depression, anxiety, psychiatric co-morbidity and medication use were assessed. The patients displayed reduced task performance in terms of more misclassifications of emotional expressions than controls. Pain severity, alexithymia, depression and anxiety were inversely related to recognition performance, with pain severity accounting for the largest portion of test score variance. Psychiatric co-morbidity and medication had no impact on performance. The study documented impaired emotion recognition in FMS, which may contribute to the interpersonal difficulties and reduced social functioning related to this condition. As potential mechanisms mediating the occurrence of the deficits, altered affective processing due to interoceptive impairment as well as interference of central nervous nociceptive activity with cognitive and emotional processing are discussed.
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113
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Mazza M, Pino MC, Mariano M, Tempesta D, Ferrara M, De Berardis D, Masedu F, Valenti M. Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:791. [PMID: 25339889 PMCID: PMC4187579 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2014] [Accepted: 09/17/2014] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The broad construct of empathy incorporates both cognitive and affective dimensions. Recent evidence suggests that the subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) show a significant impairment in empathic ability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cognitive and affective components of empathy in adolescents with ASD compared to controls. Fifteen adolescents with ASD and 15 controls underwent paper and pencil measures and a computerized Multifaceted Empathy Test. All measures were divided into mentalizing and experience sharing abilities. Adolescents with ASD compared to controls showed deficits in all mentalizing measures: they were incapable of interpreting and understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. Instead, in the sharing experience measures, the adolescents with ASD were able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they express emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do so when the emotional valence is negative. These results were confirmed by the computerized task. In conclusion, our results suggest that adolescents with ASD show a difficulty in cognitive empathy, whereas the deficit in affective empathy is specific for the negative emotional valence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Mazza
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Maria C Pino
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Melania Mariano
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Daniela Tempesta
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Michele Ferrara
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Domenico De Berardis
- Psychiatric Service of Diagnosis and Treatment, Department of Mental Health, G. Mazzini Hospital Teramo, Italy
| | - Francesco Masedu
- Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, Section of Clinical Epidemiology and Environmental Medicine University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Marco Valenti
- Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, Section of Clinical Epidemiology and Environmental Medicine University of L'Aquila L'Aquila, Italy ; Reference Regional Centre for Autism, Abruzzo Region Health System L'Aquila, Italy
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114
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Grove R, Baillie A, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Hoekstra RA. The latent structure of cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals with autism, first-degree relatives and typical individuals. Mol Autism 2014; 5:42. [PMID: 25101164 PMCID: PMC4123248 DOI: 10.1186/2040-2392-5-42] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Empathy is a vital component for social understanding involving the ability to recognise emotion (cognitive empathy) and provide an appropriate affective response (emotional empathy). Autism spectrum conditions have been described as disorders of empathy. First-degree relatives may show some mild traits of the autism spectrum, the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Whether both cognitive and emotional empathy, rather than cognitive empathy alone, are impaired in autism and the BAP is still under debate. Moreover the association between various aspects of empathy is unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship between different components of empathy across individuals with varying levels of genetic vulnerability to autism. METHODS Factor analyses utilising questionnaire and performance-based task data were implemented among individuals with autism, parents of a child with autism and controls. The relationship between performance-based tasks and behavioural measures of empathy was also explored. RESULTS A four-factor model including cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, social skills and a performance-based factor fitted the data best irrespective of genetic vulnerability. Individuals with autism displayed impairment on all four factors, with parents showing intermediate difficulties. Performance-based measures of empathy were related in almost equal magnitude to cognitive and emotional empathy latent factors and the social skills factor. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests individuals with autism have difficulties with multiple facets of empathy, while parents show intermediate impairments, providing evidence for a quantitative BAP. Impaired scores on performance-based measures of empathy, often thought to be pure measures of cognitive empathy, were also related to much wider empathy difficulties than impairments in cognitive empathy alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Grove
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, 2109 Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Andrew Baillie
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, 2109 Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Carrie Allison
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
- CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | - Rosa A Hoekstra
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
- Faculty of Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
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115
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Wilson CE, Happé F, Wheelwright SJ, Ecker C, Lombardo MV, Johnston P, Daly E, Murphy CM, Spain D, Lai MC, Chakrabarti B, Sauter DA, Baron-Cohen S, Murphy DGM. The neuropsychology of male adults with high-functioning autism or asperger syndrome. Autism Res 2014; 7:568-81. [PMID: 24903974 PMCID: PMC4489335 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2014] [Accepted: 05/01/2014] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources—including clinical history. Autism Res2014, 7: 568–581. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Ellie Wilson
- Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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116
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Fava L, Strauss K. Response to Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for autism—An umbrella approach to issues critical to treatment individualization. Int J Dev Neurosci 2014; 39:49-58. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2014] [Revised: 05/16/2014] [Accepted: 05/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Fava
- Association for Treatment and Research in Autism and Related Conditions “Umbrella”RomeItaly
| | - Kristin Strauss
- Association for Treatment and Research in Autism and Related Conditions “Umbrella”RomeItaly
- Department of Health and PreventionErnst‐Moritz‐Arndt UniversityGreifswaldGermany
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117
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Preti A, Melis M, Siddi S, Vellante M, Doneddu G, Fadda R. Oxytocin and autism: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 2014; 24:54-68. [PMID: 24679173 DOI: 10.1089/cap.2013.0040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Little is known about the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This is a systematic review of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of oxytocin interventions in autism, made from January 1990 to September 2013. METHOD A search of computerized databases was supplemented by manual search in the bibliographies of key publications. The methodological quality of the studies included in the review was evaluated independently by two researchers, according to a set of formal criteria. Discrepancies in scoring were resolved through discussion. RESULTS The review yielded seven RCTs, including 101 subjects with ASD (males=95) and 8 males with Fragile X syndrome. The main categories of target symptoms tested in the studies were repetitive behaviors, eye gaze, and emotion recognition. The studies had a medium to high risk of bias. Most studies had small samples (median=15). All the studies but one reported statistically significant between-group differences on at least one outcome variable. Most findings were characterized by medium effect size. Only one study had evidence that the improvement in emotion recognition was maintained after 6 weeks of treatment with intranasal oxytocin. Overall, oxytocin was well tolerated and side effects, when present, were generally rated as mild; however, restlessness, increased irritability, and increased energy occurred more often under oxytocin. CONCLUSIONS RCTs of oxytocin interventions in autism yielded potentially promising findings in measures of emotion recognition and eye gaze, which are impaired early in the course of the ASD condition and might disrupt social skills learning in developing children. There is a need for larger, more methodologically rigorous RCTs in this area. Future studies should be better powered to estimate outcomes with medium to low effect size, and should try to enroll female participants, who were rarely considered in previous studies. Risk of bias should be minimized. Human long-term administration studies are necessary before clinical recommendations can be made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Preti
- 1 Dipartimento di Pedagogia, Psicologia, Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Cagliari , Cagliari, Italy
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Eapen V, Črnčec R, Walter A. Exploring Links between Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Clinical Predictors of Response to Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:567. [PMID: 24062668 PMCID: PMC3769633 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2013] [Accepted: 08/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is amongst the most familial of psychiatric disorders. Twin and family studies have demonstrated a monozygotic concordance rate of 70-90%, dizygotic concordance of around 10%, and more than a 20-fold increase in risk for first-degree relatives. Despite major advances in the genetics of autism, the relationship between different aspects of the behavioral and cognitive phenotype and their underlying genetic liability is still unclear. This is complicated by the heterogeneity of autism, which exists at both genetic and phenotypic levels. Given this heterogeneity, one method to find homogeneous entities and link these with specific genotypes would be to pursue endophenotypes. Evidence from neuroimaging, eye tracking, and electrophysiology studies supports the hypothesis that, building on genetic vulnerability, ASD emerges from a developmental cascade in which a deficit in attention to social stimuli leads to impaired interactions with primary caregivers. This results in abnormal development of the neurocircuitry responsible for social cognition, which in turn adversely affects later behavioral and functional domains dependent on these early processes, such as language development. Such a model begets a heterogeneous clinical phenotype, and is also supported by studies demonstrating better clinical outcomes with earlier treatment. Treatment response following intensive early behavioral intervention in ASD is also distinctly variable; however, relatively little is known about specific elements of the clinical phenotype that may predict response to current behavioral treatments. This paper overviews the literature regarding genotypes, phenotypes, and predictors of response to behavioral intervention in ASD and presents suggestions for future research to explore linkages between these that would enable better identification of, and increased treatment efficacy for, ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valsamma Eapen
- Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry South West Sydney, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool, NSW, Australia
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Rudi Črnčec
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Amelia Walter
- Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry South West Sydney, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool, NSW, Australia
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Rhodes G, Jeffery L, Taylor L, Ewing L. Autistic traits are linked to reduced adaptive coding of face identity and selectively poorer face recognition in men but not women. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:2702-8. [PMID: 23994355 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2013] [Revised: 08/16/2013] [Accepted: 08/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Our ability to discriminate and recognize thousands of faces despite their similarity as visual patterns relies on adaptive, norm-based, coding mechanisms that are continuously updated by experience. Reduced adaptive coding of face identity has been proposed as a neurocognitive endophenotype for autism, because it is found in autism and in relatives of individuals with autism. Autistic traits can also extend continuously into the general population, raising the possibility that reduced adaptive coding of face identity may be more generally associated with autistic traits. In the present study, we investigated whether adaptive coding of face identity decreases as autistic traits increase in an undergraduate population. Adaptive coding was measured using face identity aftereffects, and autistic traits were measured using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and its subscales. We also measured face and car recognition ability to determine whether autistic traits are selectively related to face recognition difficulties. We found that men who scored higher on levels of autistic traits related to social interaction had reduced adaptive coding of face identity. This result is consistent with the idea that atypical adaptive face-coding mechanisms are an endophenotype for autism. Autistic traits were also linked with face-selective recognition difficulties in men. However, there were some unexpected sex differences. In women, autistic traits were linked positively, rather than negatively, with adaptive coding of identity, and were unrelated to face-selective recognition difficulties. These sex differences indicate that autistic traits can have different neurocognitive correlates in men and women and raise the intriguing possibility that endophenotypes of autism can differ in males and females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Rhodes
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
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Kliemann D, Rosenblau G, Bölte S, Heekeren HR, Dziobek I. Face puzzle-two new video-based tasks for measuring explicit and implicit aspects of facial emotion recognition. Front Psychol 2013; 4:376. [PMID: 23805122 PMCID: PMC3693509 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2012] [Accepted: 06/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognizing others' emotional states is crucial for effective social interaction. While most facial emotion recognition tasks use explicit prompts that trigger consciously controlled processing, emotional faces are almost exclusively processed implicitly in real life. Recent attempts in social cognition suggest a dual process perspective, whereby explicit and implicit processes largely operate independently. However, due to differences in methodology the direct comparison of implicit and explicit social cognition has remained a challenge. Here, we introduce a new tool to comparably measure implicit and explicit processing aspects comprising basic and complex emotions in facial expressions. We developed two video-based tasks with similar answer formats to assess performance in respective facial emotion recognition processes: Face Puzzle, implicit and explicit. To assess the tasks' sensitivity to atypical social cognition and to infer interrelationship patterns between explicit and implicit processes in typical and atypical development, we included healthy adults (NT, n = 24) and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 24). Item analyses yielded good reliability of the new tasks. Group-specific results indicated sensitivity to subtle social impairments in high-functioning ASD. Correlation analyses with established implicit and explicit socio-cognitive measures were further in favor of the tasks' external validity. Between group comparisons provide first hints of differential relations between implicit and explicit aspects of facial emotion recognition processes in healthy compared to ASD participants. In addition, an increased magnitude of between group differences in the implicit task was found for a speed-accuracy composite measure. The new Face Puzzle tool thus provides two new tasks to separately assess explicit and implicit social functioning, for instance, to measure subtle impairments as well as potential improvements due to social cognitive interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorit Kliemann
- Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany ; Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany
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