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Bleimeister I, Avni I, Granovetter M, Meiri G, Ilan M, Michaelovski A, Menashe I, Behrmann M, Dinstein I. Idiosyncratic pupil regulation in autistic children. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.10.575072. [PMID: 38260528 PMCID: PMC10802609 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.10.575072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Recent neuroimaging and eye tracking studies have suggested that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may exhibit more variable and idiosyncratic brain responses and eye movements than typically developing (TD) children. Here we extended this research for the first time to pupillometry recordings. We successfully completed pupillometry recordings with 103 children (66 with ASD), 4.5-years-old on average, who viewed three 90 second movies, twice. We extracted their pupillary time-course for each movie, capturing their stimulus evoked pupillary responses. We then computed the correlation between the time-course of each child and those of all others in their group. This yielded an average inter-subject correlation value per child, representing how similar their pupillary responses were to all others in their group. ASD participants exhibited significantly weaker inter-subject correlations than TD participants, reliably across all three movies. Differences across groups were largest in responses to a naturalistic movie containing footage of a social interaction between two TD children. This measure enabled classification of ASD and TD children with a sensitivity of 0.82 and specificity of 0.73 when trained and tested on independent datasets. Using the largest ASD pupillometry dataset to date, we demonstrate the utility of a new technique for measuring the idiosyncrasy of pupil regulation, which can be completed even by young children with co-occurring intellectual disability. These findings reveal that a considerable subgroup of ASD children have significantly more unstable, idiosyncratic pupil regulation than TD children, indicative of more variable, weakly regulated, underlying neural activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Bleimeister
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Inbar Avni
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Michael Granovetter
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, U.S.A 15213
| | - Gal Meiri
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Pre-school Psychiatry Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - Michal Ilan
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Pre-school Psychiatry Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - Analya Michaelovski
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Child Development Institute, Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - Idan Menashe
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Public Health Department, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
| | - Marlene Behrmann
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, U.S.A 15213
| | - Ilan Dinstein
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
- Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
- Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
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2
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Gonçalves AM, Monteiro P. Autism Spectrum Disorder and auditory sensory alterations: a systematic review on the integrity of cognitive and neuronal functions related to auditory processing. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2023; 130:325-408. [PMID: 36914900 PMCID: PMC10033482 DOI: 10.1007/s00702-023-02595-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/15/2023]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition with a wide spectrum of symptoms, mainly characterized by social, communication, and cognitive impairments. Latest diagnostic criteria according to DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, 2013) now include sensory issues among the four restricted/repetitive behavior features defined as "hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment". Here, we review auditory sensory alterations in patients with ASD. Considering the updated diagnostic criteria for ASD, we examined research evidence (2015-2022) of the integrity of the cognitive function in auditory-related tasks, the integrity of the peripheral auditory system, and the integrity of the central nervous system in patients diagnosed with ASD. Taking into account the different approaches and experimental study designs, we reappraise the knowledge on auditory sensory alterations and reflect on how these might be linked with behavior symptomatology in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Margarida Gonçalves
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, 4710-057, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Patricia Monteiro
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, 4710-057, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.
- Experimental Biology Unit, Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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3
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Garcés P, Baumeister S, Mason L, Chatham CH, Holiga S, Dukart J, Jones EJH, Banaschewski T, Baron-Cohen S, Bölte S, Buitelaar JK, Durston S, Oranje B, Persico AM, Beckmann CF, Bougeron T, Dell'Acqua F, Ecker C, Moessnang C, Charman T, Tillmann J, Murphy DGM, Johnson M, Loth E, Brandeis D, Hipp JF. Resting state EEG power spectrum and functional connectivity in autism: a cross-sectional analysis. Mol Autism 2022; 13:22. [PMID: 35585637 PMCID: PMC9118870 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-022-00500-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the development of the neuronal circuitry underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is critical to shed light into its etiology and for the development of treatment options. Resting state EEG provides a window into spontaneous local and long-range neuronal synchronization and has been investigated in many ASD studies, but results are inconsistent. Unbiased investigation in large and comprehensive samples focusing on replicability is needed. METHODS We quantified resting state EEG alpha peak metrics, power spectrum (PS, 2-32 Hz) and functional connectivity (FC) in 411 children, adolescents and adults (n = 212 ASD, n = 199 neurotypicals [NT], all with IQ > 75). We performed analyses in source-space using individual head models derived from the participants' MRIs. We tested for differences in mean and variance between the ASD and NT groups for both PS and FC using linear mixed effects models accounting for age, sex, IQ and site effects. Then, we used machine learning to assess whether a multivariate combination of EEG features could better separate ASD and NT participants. All analyses were embedded within a train-validation approach (70%-30% split). RESULTS In the training dataset, we found an interaction between age and group for the reactivity to eye opening (p = .042 uncorrected), and a significant but weak multivariate ASD vs. NT classification performance for PS and FC (sensitivity 0.52-0.62, specificity 0.59-0.73). None of these findings replicated significantly in the validation dataset, although the effect size in the validation dataset overlapped with the prediction interval from the training dataset. LIMITATIONS The statistical power to detect weak effects-of the magnitude of those found in the training dataset-in the validation dataset is small, and we cannot fully conclude on the reproducibility of the training dataset's effects. CONCLUSIONS This suggests that PS and FC values in ASD and NT have a strong overlap, and that differences between both groups (in both mean and variance) have, at best, a small effect size. Larger studies would be needed to investigate and replicate such potential effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pilar Garcés
- Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Sarah Baumeister
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Luke Mason
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Christopher H Chatham
- Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Holiga
- Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Juergen Dukart
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.,Medical Faculty, Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Emily J H Jones
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sven Bölte
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.,Curtin Autism Research Group, Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Jan K Buitelaar
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Sarah Durston
- Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Bob Oranje
- Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Antonio M Persico
- Interdepartmental Program "Autism 0-90", "G. Martino" University Hospital, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Christian F Beckmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Thomas Bougeron
- Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions, Institut Pasteur, UMR3571 CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Flavio Dell'Acqua
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Christine Ecker
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Carolin Moessnang
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Tony Charman
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Julian Tillmann
- Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Declan G M Murphy
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Mark Johnson
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Eva Loth
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK
| | - Daniel Brandeis
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Joerg F Hipp
- Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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4
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Kanske P, Murray RJ. The neurobiological bases of understanding others. Cortex 2021; 134:351-357. [PMID: 33390214 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Kanske
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.
| | - Ryan J Murray
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
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5
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Hendriks MHA, Dillen C, Vettori S, Vercammen L, Daniels N, Steyaert J, Op de Beeck H, Boets B. Neural processing of facial identity and expression in adults with and without autism: A multi-method approach. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 29:102520. [PMID: 33338966 PMCID: PMC7750419 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The ability to recognize faces and facial expressions is a common human talent. It has, however, been suggested to be impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of this study was to compare the processing of facial identity and emotion between individuals with ASD and neurotypicals (NTs). Behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 46 young adults (aged 17-23 years, NASD = 22, NNT = 24) was analysed. During fMRI data acquisition, participants discriminated between short clips of a face transitioning from a neutral to an emotional expression. Stimuli included four identities and six emotions. We performed behavioural, univariate, multi-voxel, adaptation and functional connectivity analyses to investigate potential group differences. The ASD-group did not differ from the NT-group on behavioural identity and expression processing tasks. At the neural level, we found no differences in average neural activation, neural activation patterns and neural adaptation to faces in face-related brain regions. In terms of functional connectivity, we found that amygdala seems to be more strongly connected to inferior occipital cortex and V1 in individuals with ASD. Overall, the findings indicate that neural representations of facial identity and expression have a similar quality in individuals with and without ASD, but some regions containing these representations are connected differently in the extended face processing network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle H A Hendriks
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Claudia Dillen
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sofie Vettori
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Laura Vercammen
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nicky Daniels
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jean Steyaert
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hans Op de Beeck
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bart Boets
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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6
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Jouravlev O, Kell AJE, Mineroff Z, Haskins AJ, Ayyash D, Kanwisher N, Fedorenko E. Reduced Language Lateralization in Autism and the Broader Autism Phenotype as Assessed with Robust Individual-Subjects Analyses. Autism Res 2020; 13:1746-1761. [PMID: 32935455 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2020] [Revised: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
One of the few replicated functional brain differences between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurotypical (NT) controls is reduced language lateralization. However, most prior reports relied on comparisons of group-level activation maps or functional markers that had not been validated at the individual-subject level, and/or used tasks that do not isolate language processing from other cognitive processes, complicating interpretation. Furthermore, few prior studies have examined functional responses in other brain networks, as needed to determine the spatial selectivity of the effect. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compared language lateralization between 28 adult ASD participants and carefully pairwise-matched controls, with the language regions defined individually using a well-validated language "localizer" task. Across two language comprehension paradigms, ASD participants showed less lateralized responses due to stronger right hemisphere activity. Furthermore, this effect did not stem from a ubiquitous reduction in lateralization of function across the brain: ASD participants did not differ from controls in the lateralization of two other large-scale networks-the Theory of Mind network and the Multiple Demand network. Finally, in an exploratory study, we tested whether reduced language lateralization may also be present in NT individuals with high autism-like traits. Indeed, autistic trait load in a large set of NT participants (n = 189) was associated with less lateralized language responses. These results suggest that reduced language lateralization is robustly associated with autism and, to some extent, with autism-like traits in the general population, and this lateralization reduction appears to be restricted to the language system. LAY SUMMARY: How do brains of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) differ from those of neurotypical (NT) controls? One of the most consistently reported differences is the reduction of lateralization during language processing in individuals with ASD. However, most prior studies have used methods that made this finding difficult to interpret, and perhaps even artifactual. Using robust individual-level markers of lateralization, we found that indeed, ASD individuals show reduced lateralization for language due to stronger right-hemisphere activity. We further show that this reduction is not due to a general reduction of lateralization of function across the brain. Finally, we show that greater autistic trait load is associated with less lateralized language responses in the NT population. These results suggest that reduced language lateralization is robustly associated with autism and, to some extent, with autism-like traits in the general population. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1746-1761. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olessia Jouravlev
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Department of Cognitive Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Alexander J E Kell
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Zachary Mineroff
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Amanda J Haskins
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Dima Ayyash
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Nancy Kanwisher
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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