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Day TC, Malik I, Boateng S, Hauschild KM, Lerner MD. Vocal Emotion Recognition in Autism: Behavioral Performance and Event-Related Potential (ERP) Response. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1235-1248. [PMID: 36694007 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05898-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Autistic youth display difficulties in emotion recognition, yet little research has examined behavioral and neural indices of vocal emotion recognition (VER). The current study examines behavioral and event-related potential (N100, P200, Late Positive Potential [LPP]) indices of VER in autistic and non-autistic youth. Participants (N = 164) completed an emotion recognition task, the Diagnostic Analyses of Nonverbal Accuracy (DANVA-2) which included VER, during EEG recording. The LPP amplitude was larger in response to high intensity VER, and social cognition predicted VER errors. Verbal IQ, not autism, was related to VER errors. An interaction between VER intensity and social communication impairments revealed these impairments were related to larger LPP amplitudes during low intensity VER. Taken together, differences in VER may be due to higher order cognitive processes, not basic, early perception (N100, P200), and verbal cognitive abilities may underlie behavioral, yet occlude neural, differences in VER processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talena C Day
- Psychology Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, Psychology B-354, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2500, USA
| | - Isha Malik
- Psychology Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, Psychology B-354, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2500, USA
| | - Sydney Boateng
- Psychology Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, Psychology B-354, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2500, USA
| | | | - Matthew D Lerner
- Psychology Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, Psychology B-354, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2500, USA.
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2
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Cary E, Pacheco D, Kaplan-Kahn E, McKernan E, Matsuba E, Prieve B, Russo N. Brain Signatures of Early and Late Neural Measures of Auditory Habituation and Discrimination in Autism and Their Relationship to Autistic Traits and Sensory Overresponsivity. J Autism Dev Disord 2024; 54:1344-1360. [PMID: 36626009 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05866-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Sensory differences are included in the DSM-5 criteria of autism for the first time, yet it is unclear how they relate to neural indicators of perception. We studied early brain signatures of perception and examined their relationship to sensory behaviors and autistic traits. Thirteen autistic children and 13 Typically Developing (TD) children matched on age and nonverbal IQ participated in a passive oddball task, during which P1 habituation and P1 and MMN discrimination were evoked by pure tones. Autistic children had less neural habituation than the TD comparison group, and the MMN, but not P1, mapped on to sensory overresponsivity. Findings highlight the significance of temporal and contextual factors in neural information processing as it relates to autistic traits and sensory behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Cary
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 430 Huntington Hall, 13244 2340, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Devon Pacheco
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Syracuse University, 621 Skytop Rd. Suite 1200, 13244, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Elizabeth Kaplan-Kahn
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 430 Huntington Hall, 13244 2340, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Elizabeth McKernan
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 430 Huntington Hall, 13244 2340, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Erin Matsuba
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 430 Huntington Hall, 13244 2340, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Beth Prieve
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Syracuse University, 621 Skytop Rd. Suite 1200, 13244, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Natalie Russo
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 430 Huntington Hall, 13244 2340, Syracuse, NY, USA.
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3
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Yu L, Huang D, Wang S, Zhang Y. Reduced Neural Specialization for Word-level Linguistic Prosody in Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:4351-4367. [PMID: 36038793 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05720-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
Children with autism often show atypical brain lateralization for speech and language processing, however, it is unclear what linguistic component contributes to this phenomenon. Here we measured event-related potential (ERP) responses in 21 school-age autistic children and 25 age-matched neurotypical (NT) peers during listening to word-level prosodic stimuli. We found that both groups displayed larger late negative response (LNR) amplitude to native prosody than to nonnative prosody; however, unlike the NT group exhibiting left-lateralized LNR distinction of prosodic phonology, the autism group showed no evidence of LNR lateralization. Moreover, in both groups, the LNR effects were only present for prosodic phonology but not for phoneme-free prosodic acoustics. These results extended the findings of inadequate neural specialization for language in autism to sub-lexical prosodic structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luodi Yu
- Center for Autism Research, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Wenyi Bldg, Guangzhou, China.
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) , Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Dan Huang
- Guangzhou Rehabilitation & Research Center for Children with ASD, Guangzhou Cana School, Guangzhou, China
| | - Suiping Wang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) , Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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4
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Shan J, Gu Y, Zhang J, Hu X, Wu H, Yuan T, Zhao D. A scoping review of physiological biomarkers in autism. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1269880. [PMID: 37746140 PMCID: PMC10512710 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1269880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by pervasive deficits in social interaction, communication impairments, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors. This complex disorder is a significant public health concern due to its escalating incidence and detrimental impact on quality of life. Currently, extensive investigations are underway to identify prospective susceptibility or predictive biomarkers, employing a physiological biomarker-based framework. However, knowledge regarding physiological biomarkers in relation to Autism is sparse. We performed a scoping review to explore putative changes in physiological activities associated with behaviors in individuals with Autism. We identified studies published between January 2000 and June 2023 from online databases, and searched keywords included electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electrodermal activity markers (EDA), eye-tracking markers. We specifically detected social-related symptoms such as impaired social communication in ASD patients. Our results indicated that the EEG/ERP N170 signal has undergone the most rigorous testing as a potential biomarker, showing promise in identifying subgroups within ASD and displaying potential as an indicator of treatment response. By gathering current data from various physiological biomarkers, we can obtain a comprehensive understanding of the physiological profiles of individuals with ASD, offering potential for subgrouping and targeted intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiatong Shan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Brain Health Institute, National Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Department of Arts and Sciences, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Yunhao Gu
- Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jie Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Neurology, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaoqing Hu
- Department of Psychology, The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- HKU, Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and Department of Psychology, Macau, China
| | - Tifei Yuan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Brain Health Institute, National Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Di Zhao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Brain Health Institute, National Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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5
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Polver S, Háden GP, Bulf H, Winkler I, Tóth B. Early maturation of sound duration processing in the infant's brain. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10287. [PMID: 37355709 PMCID: PMC10290631 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36794-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to process sound duration is crucial already at a very early age for laying the foundation for the main functions of auditory perception, such as object perception and music and language acquisition. With the availability of age-appropriate structural anatomical templates, we can reconstruct EEG source activity with much-improved reliability. The current study capitalized on this possibility by reconstructing the sources of event-related potential (ERP) waveforms sensitive to sound duration in 4- and 9-month-old infants. Infants were presented with short (200 ms) and long (300 ms) sounds equiprobable delivered in random order. Two temporally separate ERP waveforms were found to be modulated by sound duration. Generators of these waveforms were mainly located in the primary and secondary auditory areas and other language-related regions. The results show marked developmental changes between 4 and 9 months, partly reflected by scalp-recorded ERPs, but appearing in the underlying generators in a far more nuanced way. The results also confirm the feasibility of the application of anatomical templates in developmental populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Polver
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Gábor P Háden
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Telecommunications and Media Informatics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Hermann Bulf
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Brigitta Tóth
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
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6
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Key AP, D'Ambrose Slaboch K. Speech Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Integrative Review of Auditory Neurophysiology Findings. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:4192-4212. [PMID: 34570613 PMCID: PMC9132155 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2020] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Investigations into the nature of communication disorders in autistic individuals increasingly evaluate neural responses to speech stimuli. This integrative review aimed to consolidate the available data related to speech and language processing across levels of stimulus complexity (from single speech sounds to sentences) and to relate it to the current theories of autism. Method An electronic database search identified peer-reviewed articles using event-related potentials or magnetoencephalography to investigate auditory processing from single speech sounds to sentences in autistic children and adults varying in language and cognitive abilities. Results Atypical neural responses in autistic persons became more prominent with increasing stimulus and task complexity. Compared with their typically developing peers, autistic individuals demonstrated mostly intact sensory responses to single speech sounds, diminished spontaneous attentional orienting to spoken stimuli, specific difficulties with categorical speech sound discrimination, and reduced processing of semantic content. Atypical neural responses were more often observed in younger autistic participants and in those with concomitant language disorders. Conclusions The observed differences in neural responses to speech stimuli suggest that communication difficulties in autistic individuals are more consistent with the reduced social interest than the auditory dysfunction explanation. Current limitations and future directions for research are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra P. Key
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
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7
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Rotschafer SE. Auditory Discrimination in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:651209. [PMID: 34211363 PMCID: PMC8239241 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.651209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasingly common with 1 in 59 children in the United States currently meeting the diagnostic criteria. Altered sensory processing is typical in ASD, with auditory sensitivities being especially common; in particular, people with ASD frequently show heightened sensitivity to environmental sounds and a poor ability to tolerate loud sounds. These sensitivities may contribute to impairments in language comprehension and to a worsened ability to distinguish relevant sounds from background noise. Event-related potential tests have found that individuals with ASD show altered cortical activity to both simple and speech-like sounds, which likely contribute to the observed processing impairments. Our goal in this review is to provide a description of ASD-related changes to the auditory system and how those changes contribute to the impairments seen in sound discrimination, sound-in-noise performance, and language processing. In particular, we emphasize how differences in the degree of cortical activation and in temporal processing may contribute to errors in sound discrimination.
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8
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Leung JH, Purdy SC, Corballis PM. Improving Emotion Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Computer-Based Training and Hearing Amplification. Brain Sci 2021; 11:469. [PMID: 33917776 PMCID: PMC8068114 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11040469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social communication, often involving emotional elements of language. This may stem from underlying auditory processing difficulties, especially when incoming speech is nuanced or complex. This study explored the effects of auditory training on social perception abilities of children with ASD. The training combined use of a remote-microphone hearing system and computerized emotion perception training. At baseline, children with ASD had poorer social communication scores and delayed mismatch negativity (MMN) compared to typically developing children. Behavioral results, measured pre- and post-intervention, revealed increased social perception scores in children with ASD to the extent that they outperformed their typically developing peers post-intervention. Electrophysiology results revealed changes in neural responses to emotional speech stimuli. Post-intervention, mismatch responses of children with ASD more closely resembled their neurotypical peers, with shorter MMN latencies, a significantly heightened P2 wave, and greater differentiation of emotional stimuli, consistent with their improved behavioral results. This study sets the foundation for further investigation into connections between auditory processing difficulties and social perception and communication for individuals with ASD, and provides a promising indication that combining amplified hearing and computer-based targeted social perception training using emotional speech stimuli may have neuro-rehabilitative benefits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan H. Leung
- School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; (S.C.P.); (P.M.C.)
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9
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He JL, Wodka E, Tommerdahl M, Edden RAE, Mikkelsen M, Mostofsky SH, Puts NAJ. Disorder-specific alterations of tactile sensitivity in neurodevelopmental disorders. Commun Biol 2021; 4:97. [PMID: 33483581 PMCID: PMC7822903 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01592-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Alterations of tactile processing have long been identified in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the extent to which these alterations are disorder-specific, rather than disorder-general, and how they relate to the core symptoms of each disorder, remains unclear. We measured and compared tactile detection, discrimination, and order judgment thresholds between a large sample of children with ASD, ADHD, ASD + ADHD combined and typically developing controls. The pattern of results suggested that while difficulties with tactile detection and order judgement were more common in children with ADHD, difficulties with tactile discrimination were more common in children with ASD. Interestingly, in our subsequent correlation analyses between tactile perception and disorder-specific clinical symptoms, tactile detection and order judgment correlated exclusively with the core symptoms of ADHD, while tactile discrimination correlated exclusively with the symptoms of ASD. When taken together, these results suggest that disorder-specific alterations of lower-level sensory processes exist and are specifically related to higher-level clinical symptoms of each disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason L He
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, SE5 8AB, UK
| | - Ericka Wodka
- Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Mark Tommerdahl
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
| | - Richard A E Edden
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Mark Mikkelsen
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Stewart H Mostofsky
- Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Nicolaas A J Puts
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
- F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, SE5 8AB, UK.
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Knight EJ, Oakes L, Hyman SL, Freedman EG, Foxe JJ. Individuals With Autism Have No Detectable Deficit in Neural Markers of Prediction Error When Presented With Auditory Rhythms of Varied Temporal Complexity. Autism Res 2020; 13:2058-2072. [PMID: 32881408 PMCID: PMC9073708 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
The brain's ability to encode temporal patterns and predict upcoming events is critical for speech perception and other aspects of social communication. Deficits in predictive coding may contribute to difficulties with social communication and overreliance on repetitive predictable environments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using a mismatch negativity (MMN) task involving rhythmic tone sequences of varying complexity, we tested the hypotheses that (1) individuals with ASD have reduced MMN response to auditory stimuli that deviate in presentation timing from expected patterns, particularly as pattern complexity increases and (2) amplitude of MMN signal is inversely correlated with level of impairment in social communication and repetitive behaviors. Electroencephalography was acquired as individuals (age 6-21 years) listened to repeated five-rhythm tones that varied in the Shannon entropy of the rhythm across three conditions (zero, medium-1 bit, and high-2 bit entropy). The majority of the tones conformed to the established rhythm (standard tones); occasionally the fourth tone was temporally shifted relative to its expected time of occurrence (deviant tones). Social communication and repetitive behaviors were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale and Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised. Both neurotypical controls (n = 19) and individuals with ASD (n = 21) show stepwise decreases in MMN as a function of increasing entropy. Contrary to the result forecasted by a predictive coding hypothesis, individuals with ASD do not differ from controls in these neural mechanisms of prediction error to auditory rhythms of varied temporal complexity, and there is no relationship between these signals and social communication or repetitive behavior measures. LAY SUMMARY: We tested the idea that the brain's ability to use previous experience to influence processing of sounds is weaker in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than in neurotypical individuals. We found no difference between individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls in brain wave responses to sounds that occurred earlier than expected in either simple or complex rhythms. There was also no relationship between these brain waves and social communication or repetitive behavior scores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily J. Knight
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
- Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Leona Oakes
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
- Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Susan L. Hyman
- Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Edward G. Freedman
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - John J. Foxe
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
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Atypical EEG Responses to Nonverbal Emotionally Charged Stimuli in Children with ASD. Behav Neurol 2020; 2020:2807946. [PMID: 33082881 PMCID: PMC7556070 DOI: 10.1155/2020/2807946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This study focused on auditory emotional perception in children with low-functioning autism and investigated the children's response to emotionally charged nonverbal sounds which regularly induced emotional response in typically developing (TD) peers. An EEG was conducted, and emotional reactions were assessed using analog scales and images of presented sounds with additional images during the presentation of emotional stimuli. The results showed that EEG and emotional responses to the fearful sounds were similar in TD children and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Both groups of children showed an increase in peak alpha frequency and power of alpha2-band and a decrease in low-frequency bands. Sounds of crying and laughter induced an atypical EEG response in children with ASD, with no change in alpha-band's power and frequency observed in them; this was contrary to the observation in TD children. The decrease in the fractal dimension detected in children with ASD only for sounds of crying and laughter correlated with the accuracy of assessment of these stimuli.
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12
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Niego A, Benítez-Burraco A. Autism and Williams syndrome: truly mirror conditions in the socio-cognitive domain? INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2020; 68:399-415. [PMID: 35937179 PMCID: PMC9351567 DOI: 10.1080/20473869.2020.1817717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Williams Syndrome (WS) are frequently characterized as mirror conditions in the socio-cognitive domain, with ASD entailing restrictive social interests and with WS exhibiting hypersociability. In this review paper, we examine in detail the strong points and deficits of people with ASD or WS in the socio-cognitive domain and show that both conditions also share some common features. Moreover, we explore the neurobiological basis of the social profile of ASD and WS and found a similar mixture of common affected areas and condition-specific impaired regions. We discuss these findings under the hypothesis of a continuum of the socio-cognitive abilities in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Niego
- Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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13
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Correlations between facial emotion recognition and cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder. ADVANCES IN AUTISM 2020. [DOI: 10.1108/aia-02-2019-0005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
Various studies have examined the role of executive functions in autism, but there is a lack of research in the current literature on cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether cognitive flexibility deficits could be related to facial emotion recognition deficits in ASD.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 20 children with ASD and 20 typically developing children, matched for intelligence quotient and gender, were examined both in facial emotion recognition tasks and in cognitive flexibility tasks through the dimensional change card sorting task.
Findings
Despite cognitive flexibility not being a core deficit in ASD, impaired cognitive flexibility is evident in the present research. Results show that cognitive flexibility is related to facial emotion recognition and support the hypothesis of an executive specific deficit in children with autism.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limit is the use of just one cognitive test to measure cognitive flexibility and facial recognition. This could be important to be taken into account in the new research. By increasing the number of common variables assessing cognitive flexibility, this will allow for a better comparison between studies to characterize impairment in cognitive flexibility in ASD.
Practical implications
Investigating impairment in cognitive flexibility may help to plan training intervention based on the induction of flexibility.
Social implications
If the authors implement cognitive flexibility people with ASD can have also an effect on their social behavior and overcome the typical and repetitive behaviors that are the hallmark of ASD.
Originality/value
The originality is to relate cognitive flexibility deficits to facial emotion.
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14
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Chen TC, Hsieh MH, Lin YT, Chan PYS, Cheng CH. Mismatch negativity to different deviant changes in autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis. Clin Neurophysiol 2020; 131:766-777. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.10.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2019] [Revised: 08/29/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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15
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Ford TC, Abu-Akel A, Crewther DP. The association of excitation and inhibition signaling with the relative symptom expression of autism and psychosis-proneness: Implications for psychopharmacology. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2019; 88:235-242. [PMID: 30075170 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2018] [Revised: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/29/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The underlying mechanisms of autism and schizophrenia are poorly understood, partly due to a lack of dimension-specific research. Aberrant excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission are implicated in both conditions, particularly in social dysfunction. This study investigates the extent to which the degree of autistic tendency and psychosis-proneness exclusively and interactively predict excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter concentrations in the superior temporal cortex (STC). In 38 adults (18 male, 18-40 years), we obtained autistic tendencies (Autism-Spectrum Quotient [AQ]) and psychosis-proneness scores (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire [PP]); magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) quantified glutamate and GABA+ concentrations from the STC. Results demonstrated a negative AQ/PP interaction with glutamate concentration for the left STC voxel, where PP increased with glutamate for average AQ, while AQ decreased with glutamate for average-high PP. There was a negative AQ/PP interaction with glutamate/GABA+ ratio for the right STC, AQ increasing with glutamate/GABA+ for low-average PP, while PP decreased with glutamate/GABA+ for high AQ. Consistent with animal studies, we also reveal that overall reduced glutamate/GABA+ ratio might be precipitated by increased right hemisphere GABA+ concentrations. These findings illustrate the importance of considering the concurrent effects of autism and psychosis dimensions on understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms implicated in either condition, and can advance psychopharmacological research into better treatment options for patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talitha C Ford
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Ahmad Abu-Akel
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - David P Crewther
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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16
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Brooks PJ, Gaggi NL, Ploog BO. Generalization of content and emotional prosody across speakers varying in gender in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2018; 83:57-68. [PMID: 30142574 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2018.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2018] [Revised: 08/06/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
AIMS We employed a discrimination-choice procedure, embedded in a custom-made videogame, to evaluate whether youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including nonverbal individuals, distinguish sentences on the basis of emotional tone-of-voice and generalize linguistic information across speaker gender. METHODS AND PROCEDURES Thirteen youth with ASD (7-21 years) and 13 age-matched typical controls heard pairs of pre-recorded sentences varying in lexical content and prosody (e.g., enthusiastic "Dave rode a bike'' vs. grouchy "Mark held a key''). After training to select a target sentence, participants heard test probes comprising re-combinations of the content and prosodic features of the sentences. Interspersed generalization trials used a voice opposite in gender to the voice used in training. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Youth with ASD were less accurate than controls in discriminating sentences based on emotional tone-of-voice. Nonverbal and verbal youth did not differ in this regard. The ASD group showed only slight decrements in generalizing to the opposite-gender voice. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The finding of intact generalization of linguistic information across male/female speakers contrasts with the widely held view that autism is characterized by deficits in generalization. This suggests the need to test generalization under varying task demands to identify limits on performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia J Brooks
- College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, CUNY, United States.
| | - Naomi L Gaggi
- College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, CUNY, United States
| | - Bertram O Ploog
- College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, CUNY, United States
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17
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Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Hiraishi H, Hasegawa C, Hirosawa T, Takahashi T, Munesue T, Kosaka H, Hiagashida H, Minabe Y. Longitudinal changes in the mismatch field evoked by an empathic voice reflect changes in the empathy quotient in autism spectrum disorder. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2018; 281:117-122. [PMID: 30292077 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Revised: 04/26/2018] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental conditions with impairments in social communication and interaction. Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person's inner life, and it is an essential process in social cognition, which is deficient in ASD. The mismatch field (MMF) has been used as a neurophysiological marker for the automatic detection of changes in auditory stimuli. In the present study, we focused on long-term changes in MMF evoked by an empathic voice and changes in the empathy quotient (EQ) in ASD during an 8-week clinical trial using oxytocin (OT). Ten males with ASD without intellectual disability participated in this pilot study. The results demonstrated a significant positive correlation between the change in the MMF amplitude in the auditory cortex (i.e., right banks of the superior sulcus) and the change in the EQ score during the 8-week clinical trial, whereas no significant change was observed in the MMF amplitude or EQ score after the administration period of OT. Although we cannot conclude that the observed relationships were caused by OT's effect or by natural changes, our results suggest that MMF evoked by social voice can be a state-dependent marker of empathic abilities in male adults with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuko Yoshimura
- Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Mitsuru Kikuchi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Hirotoshi Hiraishi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Chiaki Hasegawa
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Tetsu Hirosawa
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
| | | | - Toshio Munesue
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Hirotaka Kosaka
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan
| | - Haruhiro Hiagashida
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Yoshio Minabe
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-8640, Japan; Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
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18
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Waddington F, Hartman C, de Bruijn Y, Lappenschaar M, Oerlemans A, Buitelaar J, Franke B, Rommelse N. An emotion recognition subtyping approach to studying the heterogeneity and comorbidity of autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Neurodev Disord 2018; 10:31. [PMID: 30442088 PMCID: PMC6238263 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-018-9249-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Emotion recognition dysfunction has been reported in both autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This suggests that emotion recognition is a cross-disorder trait that may be utilised to understand the heterogeneous psychopathology of ASD and ADHD. We aimed to identify emotion recognition subtypes and to examine their relation with quantitative and diagnostic measures of ASD and ADHD to gain further insight into disorder comorbidity and heterogeneity. Methods Factor mixture modelling was used on speed and accuracy measures of auditory and visual emotion recognition tasks. These were administered to children and adolescents with ASD (N = 89), comorbid ASD + ADHD (N = 64), their unaffected siblings (N = 122), ADHD (N = 111), their unaffected siblings (N = 69), and controls (N = 220). Identified classes were compared on diagnostic and quantitative symptom measures. Results A four-class solution was revealed, with the following emotion recognition abilities: (1) average visual, impulsive auditory; (2) average-strong visual and auditory; (3) impulsive/imprecise visual, average auditory; (4) weak visual and auditory. The weakest performing class (4) contained the highest percentage of patients (66.07%) and the lowest percentage controls (10.09%), scoring the highest on ASD/ADHD measures. The best performing class (2) demonstrated the opposite: 48.98% patients, 15.26% controls with relatively low scores on ASD/ADHD measures. Conclusions Subgroups of youths can be identified that differ both in quantitative and qualitative aspects of emotion recognition abilities. Weak emotion recognition abilities across sensory domains are linked to an increased risk for ASD as well as ADHD, although emotion recognition impairments alone are neither necessary nor sufficient parts of these disorders. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s11689-018-9249-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Waddington
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Catharina Hartman
- Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yvette de Bruijn
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn Lappenschaar
- Department of Geriatrics, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Anoek Oerlemans
- Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Buitelaar
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Barbara Franke
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Nanda Rommelse
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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19
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Charpentier J, Kovarski K, Houy-Durand E, Malvy J, Saby A, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Latinus M, Gomot M. Emotional prosodic change detection in autism Spectrum disorder: an electrophysiological investigation in children and adults. J Neurodev Disord 2018; 10:28. [PMID: 30227832 PMCID: PMC6145332 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-018-9246-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2017] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by atypical behaviors in social environments and in reaction to changing events. While this dyad of symptoms is at the core of the pathology along with atypical sensory behaviors, most studies have investigated only one dimension. A focus on the sameness dimension has shown that intolerance to change is related to an atypical pre-attentional detection of irregularity. In the present study, we addressed the same process in response to emotional change in order to evaluate the interplay between alterations of change detection and socio-emotional processing in children and adults with autism. Methods Brain responses to neutral and emotional prosodic deviancies (mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a, reflecting change detection and orientation of attention toward change, respectively) were recorded in children and adults with autism and in controls. Comparison of neutral and emotional conditions allowed distinguishing between general deviancy and emotional deviancy effects. Moreover, brain responses to the same neutral and emotional stimuli were recorded when they were not deviants to evaluate the sensory processing of these vocal stimuli. Results In controls, change detection was modulated by prosody: in children, this was characterized by a lateralization of emotional MMN to the right hemisphere, and in adults, by an earlier MMN for emotional deviancy than for neutral deviancy. In ASD, an overall atypical change detection was observed with an earlier MMN and a larger P3a compared to controls suggesting an unusual pre-attentional orientation toward any changes in the auditory environment. Moreover, in children with autism, deviancy detection depicted reduced MMN amplitude. In addition in children with autism, contrary to adults with autism, no modulation of the MMN by prosody was present and sensory processing of both neutral and emotional vocal stimuli appeared atypical. Conclusions Overall, change detection remains altered in people with autism. However, differences between children and adults with ASD evidence a trend toward normalization of vocal processing and of the automatic detection of emotion deviancy with age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - K Kovarski
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - E Houy-Durand
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - J Malvy
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - A Saby
- Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - F Bonnet-Brilhault
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - M Latinus
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - M Gomot
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.
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20
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Lindström R, Lepistö-Paisley T, Makkonen T, Reinvall O, Nieminen-von Wendt T, Alén R, Kujala T. Atypical perceptual and neural processing of emotional prosodic changes in children with autism spectrum disorders. Clin Neurophysiol 2018; 129:2411-2420. [PMID: 30278390 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.08.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 07/20/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The present study explored the processing of emotional speech prosody in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) but without marked language impairments (children with ASD [no LI]). METHODS The mismatch negativity (MMN)/the late discriminative negativity (LDN), reflecting pre-attentive auditory discrimination processes, and the P3a, indexing involuntary orienting to attention-catching changes, were recorded to natural word stimuli uttered with different emotional connotations (neutral, sad, scornful and commanding). Perceptual prosody discrimination was addressed with a behavioral sound-discrimination test. RESULTS Overall, children with ASD (no LI) were slower in behaviorally discriminating prosodic features of speech stimuli than typically developed control children. Further, smaller standard-stimulus event related potentials (ERPs) and MMN/LDNs were found in children with ASD (no LI) than in controls. In addition, the amplitude of the P3a was diminished and differentially distributed on the scalp in children with ASD (no LI) than in control children. CONCLUSIONS Processing of words and changes in emotional speech prosody is impaired at various levels of information processing in school-aged children with ASD (no LI). SIGNIFICANCE The results suggest that low-level speech sound discrimination and orienting deficits might contribute to emotional speech prosody processing impairments observed in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Lindström
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - T Lepistö-Paisley
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Department of Pediatric Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - T Makkonen
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - O Reinvall
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Department of Pediatric Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - T Nieminen-von Wendt
- Neuropsychiatric Rehabilitation and Medical Centre NeuroMental, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R Alén
- Department of Child Neurology, Central Finland Central Hospital, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - T Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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21
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Paris M, Mahajan Y, Kim J, Meade T. Emotional speech processing deficits in bipolar disorder: The role of mismatch negativity and P3a. J Affect Disord 2018; 234:261-269. [PMID: 29550743 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2017] [Revised: 01/20/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2018] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Deficits in emotional prosody processing have been observed in bipolar disorder (BD). While recent neural studies have explored impaired processing of facial expressions, little is known about deficits in emotional speech processing, or the specific stages of processing at which they occur. This study examined if pre-attentive detection and attention to emotional speech is impaired in BD, relative to healthy individuals. METHODS The EEG data was collected from 14 individuals with BD and 14 healthy control (HC) participants while the auditory stimuli was presented via a passive three-stimulus oddball sequence which included emotionally (neutral, happy, sad) spoken syllables and acoustically matched nonvocal tones. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were evaluated in terms of Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and P3a (event-related potentials signals). RESULTS Individuals with BD showed normal MMN amplitude, but significantly delayed MMN latency and reduced P3a amplitude in response to the emotional syllables compared to HC. LIMITATIONS Small sample size, lack of control of psychopharmacological intervention and no inclusion of an affective prosody-labelling task. CONCLUSIONS The finding that changes in emotional speech prosody in the pre-attentive stages of processing (MMN) were unimpaired in individuals with BD; while automatic orientation towards emotionally salient speech (P3a) was reduced compared to HC, suggests that vocal emotional cues may not be recognised as salient by individuals with BD, resulting in fewer attentional resources allocation to further processing. This may lead to poorer integration of auditory emotional cues and other sensory information and negatively impact interpersonal and psychosocial functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morgwn Paris
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Yatin Mahajan
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Jeesun Kim
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Tanya Meade
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Australia.
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22
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Hudac CM, DesChamps TD, Arnett AB, Cairney BE, Ma R, Webb SJ, Bernier RA. Early enhanced processing and delayed habituation to deviance sounds in autism spectrum disorder. Brain Cogn 2018; 123:110-119. [PMID: 29550506 PMCID: PMC5893357 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2017] [Revised: 02/10/2018] [Accepted: 03/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties processing and encoding sensory information in daily life. Cognitive response to environmental change in control individuals is naturally dynamic, meaning it habituates or reduces over time as one becomes accustomed to the deviance. The origin of atypical response to deviance in ASD may relate to differences in this dynamic habituation. The current study of 133 children and young adults with and without ASD examined classic electrophysiological responses (MMN and P3a), as well as temporal patterns of habituation (i.e., N1 and P3a change over time) in response to a passive auditory oddball task. Individuals with ASD showed an overall heightened sensitivity to change as exhibited by greater P3a amplitude to novel sounds. Moreover, youth with ASD showed dynamic ERP differences, including slower attenuation of the N1 response to infrequent tones and the P3a response to novel sounds. Dynamic ERP responses were related to parent ratings of auditory sensory-seeking behaviors, but not general cognition. As the first large-scale study to characterize temporal dynamics of auditory ERPs in ASD, our results provide compelling evidence that heightened response to auditory deviance in ASD is largely driven by early sensitivity and prolonged processing of auditory deviance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin M Hudac
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
| | - Trent D DesChamps
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Anne B Arnett
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Brianna E Cairney
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Ruqian Ma
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Sara Jane Webb
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Disabilities, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 2001 8th Ave #400, Seattle, WA 98121, USA
| | - Raphael A Bernier
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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23
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Brain mechanisms involved in angry prosody change detection in school-age children and adults, revealed by electrophysiology. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 18:748-763. [DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-0602-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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24
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Schwartz S, Shinn-Cunningham B, Tager-Flusberg H. Meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature characterizing auditory mismatch negativity in individuals with autism. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2018; 87:106-117. [PMID: 29408312 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2017] [Revised: 01/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
A number of past studies have used mismatch negativity (MMN) to identify auditory processing deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our meta-analysis compared MMN responses for individuals with ASD and typically developing controls (TD). We analyzed 67 experiments across 22 publications that employed passive, auditory-based MMN paradigms with ASD and TD participants. Most studies lacked design characteristics that would lead to an accurate description of the MMN. Variability between experiments measuring MMN amplitude was smaller when limited to studies that counterbalanced stimuli. Reduced MMN amplitude was found among young children with ASD compared to controls and in experiments that used nonspeech sounds. Still, few studies included adolescents or those with below-average verbal IQ. Most studies suffered from small sample sizes, and aggregating these data did not reveal significant group differences. This analysis points to a need for research focused specifically on understudied ASD samples using carefully designed MMN experiments. Study of individual differences in MMN may provide further insights into distinct subgroups within the heterogeneous ASD population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Schwartz
- Graduate Program for Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
| | | | - Helen Tager-Flusberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
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25
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Exploring the neural correlates of lexical stress perception in english among Chinese-English bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder: An ERP study. Neurosci Lett 2018; 666:158-164. [PMID: 29248615 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.12.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 12/05/2017] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies found that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were less sensitive to the variations of lexical stress in their native language than typically developing controls. However, no study has been conducted to explore the perception of lexical stress in the second language among individuals with ASD. Using ERPs (event-related potentials) measurement with an oddball paradigm, the current study examined and compared the neural responses by Chinese-English bilingual children with ASD and typically developing controls in the processing of English lexical stress. The results showed that when compared with typically developing controls, children with ASD manifested reduced MMN (mismatch negativity) amplitude at the left temporal-parietal and parietal sites, indicating that they were less sensitive to lexical stress. However, a more negative MMN response was found for ASD group than for typically developing group at the right central-parietal, temporal-parietal, and temporal sites. In addition, the right hemisphere was more activated than the left hemisphere for ASD group, which might be derived from the reversed asymmetry of brain activation for individuals with ASD when processing language-related stimuli.
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26
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Thye MD, Bednarz HM, Herringshaw AJ, Sartin EB, Kana RK. The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018; 29:151-167. [PMID: 28545994 PMCID: PMC6987885 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 224] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2016] [Revised: 02/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/18/2017] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Altered sensory processing has been an important feature of the clinical descriptions of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is evidence that sensory dysregulation arises early in the progression of ASD and impacts social functioning. This paper reviews behavioral and neurobiological evidence that describes how sensory deficits across multiple modalities (vision, hearing, touch, olfaction, gustation, and multisensory integration) could impact social functions in ASD. Theoretical models of ASD and their implications for the relationship between sensory and social functioning are discussed. Furthermore, neural differences in anatomy, function, and connectivity of different regions underlying sensory and social processing are also discussed. We conclude that there are multiple mechanisms through which early sensory dysregulation in ASD could cascade into social deficits across development. Future research is needed to clarify these mechanisms, and specific focus should be given to distinguish between deficits in primary sensory processing and altered top-down attentional and cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa D Thye
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States
| | - Haley M Bednarz
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States
| | - Abbey J Herringshaw
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States
| | - Emma B Sartin
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States
| | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States.
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Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Hayashi N, Hiraishi H, Hasegawa C, Takahashi T, Oi M, Remijn GB, Ikeda T, Saito DN, Kumazaki H, Minabe Y. Altered human voice processing in the frontal cortex and a developmental language delay in 3- to 5-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17116. [PMID: 29215027 PMCID: PMC5719344 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17058-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The inferior frontal and superior temporal areas in the left hemisphere are crucial for human language processing. In the present study, we investigated the magnetic mismatch field (MMF) evoked by voice stimuli in 3- to 5-year-old typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using child-customized magnetoencephalography (MEG). The children with ASD exhibited significantly decreased activation in the left superior temporal gyrus compared with the TD children for the MMF amplitude. If we classified the children with ASD according to the presence of a speech onset delay (ASD - SOD and ASD - NoSOD, respectively) and compared them with the TD children, both ASD groups exhibited decreased activation in the left superior temporal gyrus compared with the TD children. In contrast, the ASD - SOD group exhibited increased activity in the left frontal cortex (i.e., pars orbitalis) compared with the other groups. For all children with ASD, there was a significant negative correlation between the MMF amplitude in the left pars orbitalis and language performance. This investigation is the first to show a significant difference in two distinct MMF regions in ASD – SOD children compared with TD children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuko Yoshimura
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Mitsuru Kikuchi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Norio Hayashi
- Gunma Prefectural College of Health Science, Maebashi, 371-0052, Japan
| | - Hirotoshi Hiraishi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Chiaki Hasegawa
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Tetsuya Takahashi
- Health Administration Center, University of Fukui, Fukui, 910-1193, Japan
| | - Manabu Oi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Gerard B Remijn
- International Education Center, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 815-8540, Japan
| | - Takashi Ikeda
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Daisuke N Saito
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Hirokazu Kumazaki
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
| | - Yoshio Minabe
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan
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Uhlén I, Engström E, Kallioinen P, Nakeva von Mentzer C, Lyxell B, Sahlén B, Lindgren M, Ors M. Using a multi-feature paradigm to measure mismatch responses to minimal sound contrasts in children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Scand J Psychol 2017; 58:409-421. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/02/2017] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Inger Uhlén
- Department of Hearing and Balance; Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet (CLINTEC); Stockholm Sweden
| | - Elisabet Engström
- Department of Hearing and Balance; Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet (CLINTEC); Stockholm Sweden
| | | | - Cecilia Nakeva von Mentzer
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning; Swedish Institute for Disability Research; Linköping University; Linköping Sweden
| | - Björn Lyxell
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning; Swedish Institute for Disability Research; Linköping University; Linköping Sweden
| | - Birgitta Sahlén
- Linneaus Centre; Cognition, Communication & Learning, Lund University; Lund Sweden
- Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology; Lund University; Skåne University Hospital; Lund Sweden
| | - Magnus Lindgren
- Linneaus Centre; Cognition, Communication & Learning, Lund University; Lund Sweden
- Department of Psychology; Lund University; Lund Sweden
| | - Marianne Ors
- Linneaus Centre; Cognition, Communication & Learning, Lund University; Lund Sweden
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology; Lund University; Skåne University Hospital; Lund Sweden
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Abstract
Asperger syndrome (AS) is a subtype of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characterized by major problems in social and nonverbal communication, together with limited and repetitive forms of behavior and interests. The linguistic and cognitive development in AS is preserved which help us to differentiate it from other subtypes of ASD. However, significant effects of AS on cognitive abilities and brain functions still need to be researched. Although a clear cut pathology for Asperger has not been identified yet, recent studies have largely focused on brain imaging techniques to investigate AS. In this regard, we carried out a systematic review on behavioral, cognitive, and neural markers (specifically using MRI and fMRI) studies on AS. In this paper, behavior, motor skills and language capabilities of individuals with Asperger are compared to those in healthy controls. In addition, common findings across MRI and fMRI based studies associated with behavior and cognitive disabilities are highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farnaz Faridi
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Reza Khosrowabadi
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
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Sinclair D, Oranje B, Razak KA, Siegel SJ, Schmid S. Sensory processing in autism spectrum disorders and Fragile X syndrome-From the clinic to animal models. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 76:235-253. [PMID: 27235081 PMCID: PMC5465967 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2015] [Revised: 04/08/2016] [Accepted: 05/23/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Brains are constantly flooded with sensory information that needs to be filtered at the pre-attentional level and integrated into endogenous activity in order to allow for detection of salient information and an appropriate behavioral response. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) are often over- or under-reactive to stimulation, leading to a wide range of behavioral symptoms. This altered sensitivity may be caused by disrupted sensory processing, signal integration and/or gating, and is often being neglected. Here, we review translational experimental approaches that are used to investigate sensory processing in humans with ASD and FXS, and in relevant rodent models. This includes electroencephalographic measurement of event related potentials, neural oscillations and mismatch negativity, as well as habituation and pre-pulse inhibition of startle. We outline robust evidence of disrupted sensory processing in individuals with ASD and FXS, and in respective animal models, focusing on the auditory sensory domain. Animal models provide an excellent opportunity to examine common mechanisms of sensory pathophysiology in order to develop therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Sinclair
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, 125 S 31st St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - B Oranje
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, HP A 01.126 Heidelberglaan 100, CX Utrecht, 3584, The Netherlands; Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CNSR) and Center for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CINS), Copenhagen University Hospital, Psychiatric Center Glostrup, Ndr. Ringvej 29-67, Glostrup, 2600, Denmark; Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Sensory Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - K A Razak
- Psychology Department, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - S J Siegel
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, 125 S 31st St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - S Schmid
- Anatomy & Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, MSB 470, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada.
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Spatio-temporal source cluster analysis reveals fronto-temporal auditory change processing differences within a shared autistic and schizotypal trait phenotype. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2017; 16:383-389. [PMID: 28861339 PMCID: PMC5568880 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2017] [Revised: 03/19/2017] [Accepted: 04/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Social Disorganisation (SD) is a shared autistic and schizotypal phenotype that is present in the subclinical population. Auditory processing deficits, particularly in mismatch negativity/field (MMN/F) have been reported across both spectrum disorders. This study investigates differences in MMN/F cortical spatio-temporal source activity between higher and lower quintiles of the SD spectrum. Sixteen low (9 female) and 19 high (9 female) SD subclinical adults (18–40years) underwent magnetoencephalography (MEG) during an MMF paradigm where standard tones (50ms) were interrupted by infrequent duration deviants (100ms). Spatio-temporal source cluster analysis with permutation testing revealed no difference between the groups in source activation to the standard tone. To the deviant tone however, there was significantly reduced right hemisphere fronto-temporal and insular cortex activation for the high SD group (p= 0.038). The MMF, as a product of the cortical response to the deviant minus that to the standard, did not differ significantly between the high and low Social Disorganisation groups. These data demonstrate a deficit in right fronto-temporal processing of an auditory change for those with more of the shared SD phenotype, indicating that right fronto-temporal auditory processing may be associated with psychosocial functioning. Autism and schizotypal spectra share a trait phenotype, Social Disorganisation (SD). Auditory mismatch paradigm demonstrates processing differences between high and low SD. High SD scorers have reduced fronto-temporal response to auditory change. Reduced fronto-temporal source activation in high SD is right lateralised. Psychosocial function is related to auditory deviant processing.
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Others' emotions teach, but not in autism: an eye-tracking pupillometry study. Mol Autism 2016; 7:36. [PMID: 27579158 PMCID: PMC5004296 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-016-0098-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 07/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Much research has investigated deficit in emotional reactivity to others in people with autism, but scant attention has been paid to how this deficit affects their own reactions to features of their environment (objects, events, practices, etc.). The present study presents a preliminary analysis on whether calibrating one's own emotional reactions to others' emotional reactions about features of the world, a process we term social-emotional calibration, is disrupted in autism. METHODS To examine this process, we used a novel eye-tracking pupillometry paradigm in which we showed 20 preschoolers with autism and 20 matched typically developing preschoolers' videos of an actor opening a box and reacting to the occluded object inside, with fear or happiness. We expected preschoolers to come to perceive the box as containing a positive or threatening stimulus through emotionally calibrating to the actor's emotional expressions. Children's mean pupil diameter (indicating emotional reactivity) was measured whilst viewing an up-close, visually identical image of the box before and then after the scene, and this difference was taken as an index of social-emotional calibration and compared between groups. RESULTS Whilst the typically developing preschoolers responded more emotionally to the box after, compared to before the scene (as indexed by an increase in pupil size), those with autism did not, suggesting their reaction to the object was not affected by the actor's emotional expressions. The groups did not differ in looking duration to the emotional expressions; thus, the pupil dilation findings cannot be explained by differences in visual attention. More social-emotional calibration on the happy condition was associated with less severe autism symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Through the measurement of physiological reactivity, findings suggest social-emotional calibration is diminished in children with autism, with calibration to others' positive emotions as particularly important. This study highlights a possible mechanism by which individuals with autism develop idiosyncratic reactions to features of their environment, which is likely to impact their active and harmonious participation on social and cultural practices from infancy, throughout the lifespan. More research is needed to examine the mediators and developmental sequence of this tendency to emotionally calibrate to others' feelings about the world.
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Cantiani C, Choudhury NA, Yu YH, Shafer VL, Schwartz RG, Benasich AA. From Sensory Perception to Lexical-Semantic Processing: An ERP Study in Non-Verbal Children with Autism. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0161637. [PMID: 27560378 PMCID: PMC4999236 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2016] [Accepted: 08/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This study examines electrocortical activity associated with visual and auditory sensory perception and lexical-semantic processing in nonverbal (NV) or minimally-verbal (MV) children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Currently, there is no agreement on whether these children comprehend incoming linguistic information and whether their perception is comparable to that of typically developing children. Event-related potentials (ERPs) of 10 NV/MV children with ASD and 10 neurotypical children were recorded during a picture-word matching paradigm. Atypical ERP responses were evident at all levels of processing in children with ASD. Basic perceptual processing was delayed in both visual and auditory domains but overall was similar in amplitude to typically-developing children. However, significant differences between groups were found at the lexical-semantic level, suggesting more atypical higher-order processes. The results suggest that although basic perception is relatively preserved in NV/MV children with ASD, higher levels of processing, including lexical- semantic functions, are impaired. The use of passive ERP paradigms that do not require active participant response shows significant potential for assessment of non-compliant populations such as NV/MV children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Cantiani
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Naseem A. Choudhury
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Psychology, SSHS, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Yan H. Yu
- The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, St. John's University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Valerie L. Shafer
- The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Richard G. Schwartz
- The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - April A. Benasich
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
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Lindström R, Lepistö-Paisley T, Vanhala R, Alén R, Kujala T. Impaired neural discrimination of emotional speech prosody in children with autism spectrum disorder and language impairment. Neurosci Lett 2016; 628:47-51. [PMID: 27291458 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2016] [Revised: 05/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficient social and communication skills, including difficulties in perceiving speech prosody. The present study addressed processing of emotional prosodic changes (sad, scornful and commanding) in natural word stimuli in typically developed school-aged children and in children with ASD and language impairment. We found that the responses to a repetitive word were diminished in amplitude in the children with ASD, reflecting impaired speech encoding. Furthermore, the amplitude of the MMN/LDN component, reflecting cortical discrimination of sound changes, was diminished in the children with ASD for the scornful deviant. In addition, the amplitude of the P3a, reflecting involuntary orienting to attention-catching changes, was diminished in the children with ASD for the scornful deviant and tended to be smaller for the sad deviant. These results suggest that prosody processing in ASD is impaired at various levels of neural processing, including deficient pre-attentive discrimination and involuntary orientation to speech prosody.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Lindström
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - T Lepistö-Paisley
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Child Neurology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R Vanhala
- Department of Child Neurology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R Alén
- Department of Child Neurology, Central Finland Central Hospital, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - T Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Moseley RL, Correia MM, Baron-Cohen S, Shtyrov Y, Pulvermüller F, Mohr B. Reduced Volume of the Arcuate Fasciculus in Adults with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Conditions. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:214. [PMID: 27242478 PMCID: PMC4867673 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2015] [Accepted: 04/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Atypical language is a fundamental feature of autism spectrum conditions (ASC), but few studies have examined the structural integrity of the arcuate fasciculus, the major white matter tract connecting frontal and temporal language regions, which is usually implicated as the main transfer route used in processing linguistic information by the brain. Abnormalities in the arcuate have been reported in young children with ASC, mostly in low-functioning or non-verbal individuals, but little is known regarding the structural properties of the arcuate in adults with ASC or, in particular, in individuals with ASC who have intact language, such as those with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome. We used probabilistic tractography of diffusion-weighted imaging to isolate and scrutinize the arcuate in a mixed-gender sample of 18 high-functioning adults with ASC (17 Asperger syndrome) and 14 age- and IQ-matched typically developing controls. Arcuate volume was significantly reduced bilaterally with clearest differences in the right hemisphere. This finding remained significant in an analysis of all male participants alone. Volumetric reduction in the arcuate was significantly correlated with the severity of autistic symptoms as measured by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. These data reveal that structural differences are present even in high-functioning adults with ASC, who presented with no clinically manifest language deficits and had no reported developmental language delay. Arcuate structural integrity may be useful as an index of ASC severity and thus as a predictor and biomarker for ASC. Implications for future research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel L Moseley
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth UniversityDorset, UK; Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitCambridge, UK; Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeCambridge, UK; Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeCambridge, UK
| | - Marta M Correia
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit Cambridge, UK
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeCambridge, UK; Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough National Health Service Foundation TrustCambridge, UK
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitCambridge, UK; Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus UniversityAarhus, Denmark; Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsMoscow, Russia
| | - Friedemann Pulvermüller
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitCambridge, UK; Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität BerlinBerlin, Germany
| | - Bettina Mohr
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany
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Yau SH, Brock J, McArthur G. The relationship between spoken language and speech and nonspeech processing in children with autism: a magnetic event-related field study. Dev Sci 2016; 19:834-52. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2014] [Accepted: 04/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shu Hui Yau
- ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders; Department of Cognitive Science; Macquarie University; Australia
| | - Jon Brock
- ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders; Department of Cognitive Science; Macquarie University; Australia
| | - Genevieve McArthur
- ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders; Department of Cognitive Science; Macquarie University; Australia
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Chronaki G. Event-Related Potentials and Emotion Processing in Child Psychopathology. Front Psychol 2016; 7:564. [PMID: 27199803 PMCID: PMC4851139 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Accepted: 04/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years there has been increasing interest in the neural mechanisms underlying altered emotional processes in children and adolescents with psychopathology. This review provides a brief overview of the most up-to-date findings in the field of event-related potentials (ERPs) to facial and vocal emotional expressions in the most common child psychopathological conditions. In regards to externalizing behavior (i.e., ADHD, CD), ERP studies show enhanced early components to anger, reflecting enhanced sensory processing, followed by reductions in later components to anger, reflecting reduced cognitive-evaluative processing. In regards to internalizing behavior, research supports models of increased processing of threat stimuli especially at later more elaborate and effortful stages. Finally, in autism spectrum disorders abnormalities have been observed at early visual-perceptual stages of processing. An affective neuroscience framework for understanding child psychopathology can be valuable in elucidating underlying mechanisms and inform preventive intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgia Chronaki
- Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of Central LancashirePreston, UK; School of Psychological Sciences, University of ManchesterManchester, UK
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39
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Adults with Asperger syndrome are less sensitive to intonation than control persons when listening to speech. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s40167-016-0035-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Chronaki G, Benikos N, Fairchild G, Sonuga-Barke EJS. Atypical neural responses to vocal anger in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2015; 56:477-87. [PMID: 25117642 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Deficits in facial emotion processing, reported in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), have been linked to both early perceptual and later attentional components of event-related potentials (ERPs). However, the neural underpinnings of vocal emotion processing deficits in ADHD have yet to be characterised. Here, we report the first ERP study of vocal affective prosody processing in ADHD. METHODS Event-related potentials of 6-11-year-old children with ADHD (n = 25) and typically developing controls (n = 25) were recorded as they completed a task measuring recognition of vocal prosodic stimuli (angry, happy and neutral). Audiometric assessments were conducted to screen for hearing impairments. RESULTS Children with ADHD were less accurate than controls at recognising vocal anger. Relative to controls, they displayed enhanced N100 and attenuated P300 components to vocal anger. The P300 effect was reduced, but remained significant, after controlling for N100 effects by rebaselining. Only the N100 effect was significant when children with ADHD and comorbid conduct disorder (n = 10) were excluded. CONCLUSION This study provides the first evidence linking ADHD to atypical neural activity during the early perceptual stages of vocal anger processing. These effects may reflect preattentive hyper-vigilance to vocal anger in ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgia Chronaki
- Developmental Brain-Behaviour Laboratory, Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK; Section of Clinical & Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
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Lartseva A, Dijkstra T, Buitelaar JK. Emotional language processing in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 8:991. [PMID: 25610383 PMCID: PMC4285104 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 11/20/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In his first description of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Kanner emphasized emotional impairments by characterizing children with ASD as indifferent to other people, self-absorbed, emotionally cold, distanced, and retracted. Thereafter, emotional impairments became regarded as part of the social impairments of ASD, and research mostly focused on understanding how individuals with ASD recognize visual expressions of emotions from faces and body postures. However, it still remains unclear how emotions are processed outside of the visual domain. This systematic review aims to fill this gap by focusing on impairments of emotional language processing in ASD. We systematically searched PubMed for papers published between 1990 and 2013 using standardized search terms. Studies show that people with ASD are able to correctly classify emotional language stimuli as emotionally positive or negative. However, processing of emotional language stimuli in ASD is associated with atypical patterns of attention and memory performance, as well as abnormal physiological and neural activity. Particularly, younger children with ASD have difficulties in acquiring and developing emotional concepts, and avoid using these in discourse. These emotional language impairments were not consistently associated with age, IQ, or level of development of language skills. We discuss how emotional language impairments fit with existing cognitive theories of ASD, such as central coherence, executive dysfunction, and weak Theory of Mind. We conclude that emotional impairments in ASD may be broader than just a mere consequence of social impairments, and should receive more attention in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Lartseva
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical CentreNijmegen, Netherlands
- International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences, Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ton Dijkstra
- Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jan K. Buitelaar
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical CentreNijmegen, Netherlands
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Segal O, Kaplan D, Patael S, Kishon-Rabin L. Judging emotions in lexical-prosodic congruent and incongruent speech stimuli by adolescents in the autism spectrum. Folia Phoniatr Logop 2014; 66:25-36. [PMID: 25472790 DOI: 10.1159/000363739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to assess how adolescents with autism who vary in the severity of autistic characteristics judge the emotional state of the speaker when lexical and prosodic information is congruent or incongruent. PARTICIPANTS Eighty participants, 24 autistic and 56 typically developing (TD) subjects participated: (a) 11 autistic adolescents between 9.5 and 16.83 years old, studying at general education settings (AA1), (b) 13 autistic adolescents between 15.91 and 20.33 years old, studying at a special school (AA2), and (c) 56 TD subjects between 6 and 29 years old. Listeners were required to judge the emotional meaning of words (sad/happy) in congruent conditions and incongruent conditions. RESULTS (a) All participants judged lexical and prosodic meaning separately with high accuracy, (b) all participants showed prolonged reaction times in the incongruent compared to the congruent condition, (c) AA1 relied on prosodic information in the incongruent condition similarly to TD 9-15 year olds and TD adults, (d) AA2 and TD 6-8 year olds did not rely on prosodic information in the incongruent condition, and (e) both education placements, the severity of autistic characteristics and nonverbal IQ contributed to prosodic judgment in the incongruent condition in autistic adolescents. CONCLUSIONS The two groups of autistic adolescents processed both lexical and prosodic information in the incongruent condition. However, the severity of autistic characteristics influenced the preference for prosody.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osnat Segal
- Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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43
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Oerlemans AM, Droste K, van Steijn DJ, de Sonneville LMJ, Buitelaar JK, Rommelse NNJ. Co-segregation of social cognition, executive function and local processing style in children with ASD, their siblings and normal controls. J Autism Dev Disord 2014; 43:2764-78. [PMID: 23532348 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1807-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition, affective prosody, and facial emotion recognition), EF (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal working memory) and local processing style was assessed. Compelling evidence was found for the interrelatedness of SC and EF, but not local processing style, within individuals and within families, suggesting that these domains tend to co-segregate in ASD. Using the underlying shared variance of these constructs in genetic research may increase the power for detecting susceptibility genes for ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anoek M Oerlemans
- Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands,
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44
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Nuske HJ, Vivanti G, Hudry K, Dissanayake C. Pupillometry reveals reduced unconscious emotional reactivity in autism. Biol Psychol 2014; 101:24-35. [PMID: 25017502 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2013] [Revised: 03/06/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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45
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Fan YT, Cheng Y. Atypical mismatch negativity in response to emotional voices in people with autism spectrum conditions. PLoS One 2014; 9:e102471. [PMID: 25036143 PMCID: PMC4103818 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Accepted: 06/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are characterized by heterogeneous impairments of social reciprocity and sensory processing. Voices, similar to faces, convey socially relevant information. Whether voice processing is selectively impaired remains undetermined. This study involved recording mismatch negativity (MMN) while presenting emotionally spoken syllables dada and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds to 20 subjects with ASC and 20 healthy matched controls. The people with ASC exhibited no MMN response to emotional syllables and reduced MMN to nonvocal sounds, indicating general impairments of affective voice and acoustic discrimination. Weaker angry MMN amplitudes were associated with more autistic traits. Receiver operator characteristic analysis revealed that angry MMN amplitudes yielded a value of 0.88 (p<.001). The results suggest that people with ASC may process emotional voices in an atypical fashion already at the automatic stage. This processing abnormality can facilitate diagnosing ASC and enable social deficits in people with ASC to be predicted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang-Teng Fan
- Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yawei Cheng
- Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Rehabilitation, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Taiwan
- Department of Research and Education, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
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46
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Nuske HJ, Vivanti G, Dissanayake C. Reactivity to fearful expressions of familiar and unfamiliar people in children with autism: an eye-tracking pupillometry study. J Neurodev Disord 2014; 6:14. [PMID: 24982695 PMCID: PMC4064262 DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-6-14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2013] [Accepted: 05/02/2014] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with autism are often reported to have difficulty with emotion processing. However, clinical and experimental data show that they are sensitive to familiarity; for example, they show normative attachment to familiar people, and have normative brain activity in response to familiar faces. To date, no study has measured their reactivity to the emotions of familiar vs. unfamiliar people. Thus, our aim was to determine whether individuals with autism would show normative reactivity to emotion in familiar people. METHODS Participants were 21 children with autism and 21 children with typical development, aged two to five years, matched on age and gender. The children observed videos of familiar people (their child-care teachers) and unfamiliar people expressing fear, whilst their visual attention and pupillary reactions were recorded (the latter as an index of emotional reactivity), using eye tracking technology. RESULTS The children with autism showed normative pupillary reactions (peak magnitude) to fear expressed by familiar people, but a reduced response to fear expressed by unfamiliar people. However, across familiarity conditions, the children with autism had longer latency peak responses than the typically developing children. This pattern of findings was independent of cognitive factors or visual attention as visual attention by group was not related to familiarity condition. The children with autism had reduced visual attention to neutral faces; however, on fearful faces there were no group differences. Abnormalities in pupillary reactivity in the autism group were related to less prosocial behaviour and more severe play and communication deficits. CONCLUSIONS Children with autism were less atypical in their responses to fearful expressions of people they know, arguing against a pervasive emotional impairment in autism, but rather one that may be mediated by familiarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather J Nuske
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Giacomo Vivanti
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- The Victoria Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Cheryl Dissanayake
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Oerlemans AM, van der Meer JMJ, van Steijn DJ, de Ruiter SW, de Bruijn YGE, de Sonneville LMJ, Buitelaar JK, Rommelse NNJ. Recognition of facial emotion and affective prosody in children with ASD (+ADHD) and their unaffected siblings. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2014; 23:257-71. [PMID: 23824472 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-013-0446-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2013] [Accepted: 06/21/2013] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Autism is a highly heritable and clinically heterogeneous neuropsychiatric disorder that frequently co-occurs with other psychopathologies, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). An approach to parse heterogeneity is by forming more homogeneous subgroups of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients based on their underlying, heritable cognitive vulnerabilities (endophenotypes). Emotion recognition is a likely endophenotypic candidate for ASD and possibly for ADHD. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether emotion recognition is a viable endophenotypic candidate for ASD and to assess the impact of comorbid ADHD in this context. A total of 90 children with ASD (43 with and 47 without ADHD), 79 ASD unaffected siblings, and 139 controls aged 6-13 years, were included to test recognition of facial emotion and affective prosody. Our results revealed that the recognition of both facial emotion and affective prosody was impaired in children with ASD and aggravated by the presence of ADHD. The latter could only be partly explained by typical ADHD cognitive deficits, such as inhibitory and attentional problems. The performance of unaffected siblings could overall be considered at an intermediate level, performing somewhat worse than the controls and better than the ASD probands. Our findings suggest that emotion recognition might be a viable endophenotype in ASD and a fruitful target in future family studies of the genetic contribution to ASD and comorbid ADHD. Furthermore, our results suggest that children with comorbid ASD and ADHD are at highest risk for emotion recognition problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anoek M Oerlemans
- Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands,
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48
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Recognition of facial expressions and prosodic cues with graded emotional intensities in adults with Asperger syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 2014; 43:2099-113. [PMID: 23371506 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1760-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the ability of adults with Asperger syndrome to recognize emotional categories of facial expressions and emotional prosodies with graded emotional intensities. The individuals with Asperger syndrome showed poorer recognition performance for angry and sad expressions from both facial and vocal information. The group difference in facial expression recognition was prominent for stimuli with low or intermediate emotional intensities. In contrast to this, the individuals with Asperger syndrome exhibited lower recognition accuracy than typically-developed controls mainly for emotional prosody with high emotional intensity. In facial expression recognition, Asperger and control groups showed an inversion effect for all categories. The magnitude of this effect was less in the Asperger group for angry and sad expressions, presumably attributable to reduced recruitment of the configural mode of face processing. The individuals with Asperger syndrome outperformed the control participants in recognizing inverted sad expressions, indicating enhanced processing of local facial information representing sad emotion. These results suggest that the adults with Asperger syndrome rely on modality-specific strategies in emotion recognition from facial expression and prosodic information.
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49
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Orekhova EV, Stroganova TA. Arousal and attention re-orienting in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from auditory event-related potentials. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:34. [PMID: 24567709 PMCID: PMC3915101 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2013] [Accepted: 01/17/2014] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The extended phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) includes a combination of arousal regulation problems, sensory modulation difficulties, and attention re-orienting deficit. A slow and inefficient re-orienting to stimuli that appear outside of the attended sensory stream is thought to be especially detrimental for social functioning. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and magnetic fields (ERFs) may help to reveal which processing stages underlying brain response to unattended but salient sensory event are affected in individuals with ASD. Previous research focusing on two sequential stages of the brain response-automatic detection of physical changes in auditory stream, indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN), and evaluation of stimulus novelty, indexed by P3a component,-found in individuals with ASD either increased, decreased, or normal processing of deviance and novelty. The review examines these apparently conflicting results, notes gaps in previous findings, and suggests a potentially unifying hypothesis relating the dampened responses to unattended sensory events to the deficit in rapid arousal process. Specifically, "sensory gating" studies focused on pre-attentive arousal consistently demonstrated that brain response to unattended and temporally novel sound in ASD is already affected at around 100 ms after stimulus onset. We hypothesize that abnormalities in nicotinic cholinergic arousal pathways, previously reported in individuals with ASD, may contribute to these ERP/ERF aberrations and result in attention re-orienting deficit. Such cholinergic dysfunction may be present in individuals with ASD early in life and can influence both sensory processing and attention re-orienting behavior. Identification of early neurophysiological biomarkers for cholinergic deficit would help to detect infants "at risk" who can potentially benefit from particular types of therapies or interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena V Orekhova
- MEG Centre, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education Moscow, Russia ; MedTech West, Sahlgrenska Academy Gothenburg, Sweden
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50
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A comparison of social cognitive profiles in children with autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a matter of quantitative but not qualitative difference? J Autism Dev Disord 2013; 43:1157-70. [PMID: 23015110 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-012-1657-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare social cognitive profiles of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and ADHD. Participants diagnosed with an ASD (n = 137) were compared to participants with ADHD (n = 436) on tests of facial and vocal affect recognition, social judgment and problem-solving, and parent- and teacher-report of social functioning. Both groups performed significantly worse than the normative sample on all measures. Although the ASD group had more severe deficits, the pattern of deficits was surprisingly similar between groups, suggesting that social cognitive deficit patterns may be more similar in ASD and ADHD than previously thought. Thus, like those with ASDs, individuals with ADHD may also need to be routinely considered for treatments targeting social skills.
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