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Taitelbaum-Swead R, Ben-David BM. The Role of Early Intact Auditory Experience on the Perception of Spoken Emotions, Comparing Prelingual to Postlingual Cochlear Implant Users. Ear Hear 2024:00003446-990000000-00312. [PMID: 39004788 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Cochlear implants (CI) are remarkably effective, but have limitations regarding the transformation of the spectro-temporal fine structures of speech. This may impair processing of spoken emotions, which involves the identification and integration of semantic and prosodic cues. Our previous study found spoken-emotions-processing differences between CI users with postlingual deafness (postlingual CI) and normal hearing (NH) matched controls (age range, 19 to 65 years). Postlingual CI users over-relied on semantic information in incongruent trials (prosody and semantics present different emotions), but rated congruent trials (same emotion) similarly to controls. Postlingual CI's intact early auditory experience may explain this pattern of results. The present study examined whether CI users without intact early auditory experience (prelingual CI) would generally perform worse on spoken emotion processing than NH and postlingual CI users, and whether CI use would affect prosodic processing in both CI groups. First, we compared prelingual CI users with their NH controls. Second, we compared the results of the present study to our previous study (Taitlebaum-Swead et al. 2022; postlingual CI). DESIGN Fifteen prelingual CI users and 15 NH controls (age range, 18 to 31 years) listened to spoken sentences composed of different combinations (congruent and incongruent) of three discrete emotions (anger, happiness, sadness) and neutrality (performance baseline), presented in prosodic and semantic channels (Test for Rating of Emotions in Speech paradigm). Listeners were asked to rate (six-point scale) the extent to which each of the predefined emotions was conveyed by the sentence as a whole (integration of prosody and semantics), or to focus only on one channel (rating the target emotion [RTE]) and ignore the other (selective attention). In addition, all participants performed standard tests of speech perception. Performance on the Test for Rating of Emotions in Speech was compared with the previous study (postlingual CI). RESULTS When asked to focus on one channel, semantics or prosody, both CI groups showed a decrease in prosodic RTE (compared with controls), but only the prelingual CI group showed a decrease in semantic RTE. When the task called for channel integration, both groups of CI users used semantic emotional information to a greater extent than their NH controls. Both groups of CI users rated sentences that did not present the target emotion higher than their NH controls, indicating some degree of confusion. However, only the prelingual CI group rated congruent sentences lower than their NH controls, suggesting reduced accumulation of information across channels. For prelingual CI users, individual differences in identification of monosyllabic words were significantly related to semantic identification and semantic-prosodic integration. CONCLUSIONS Taken together with our previous study, we found that the degradation of acoustic information by the CI impairs the processing of prosodic emotions, in both CI user groups. This distortion appears to lead CI users to over-rely on the semantic information when asked to integrate across channels. Early intact auditory exposure among CI users was found to be necessary for the effective identification of semantic emotions, as well as the accumulation of emotional information across the two channels. Results suggest that interventions for spoken-emotion processing should not ignore the onset of hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riki Taitelbaum-Swead
- Department of Communication Disorders, Speech Perception and Listening Effort Lab in the name of Prof. Mordechai Himelfarb, Ariel University, Israel
- Meuhedet Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Boaz M Ben-David
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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2
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Li TS, Gau SSF, Chou TL. Exploring social emotion processing in autism: evaluating the reading the mind in the eyes test using network analysis. BMC Psychiatry 2022; 22:161. [PMID: 35241030 PMCID: PMC8892759 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-03773-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include difficulties in processing and interpreting socioemotional information. The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test (RMET) is a validated measurement for processing socioemotional ability. However, previous RMET studies did not explore patterns of incorrect answers and the emotional valence of the test items. This study used the Taiwanese version of the RMET and the network analysis methods to examine the differences in underlying mechanisms of socioemotional processes between 30 males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (mean age = 18 years) and 30 healthy control males (mean age = 17 years). For each test item, a picture of a person's eyes and partial face was shown with four words describing the emotional status on picture corners. Participants were instructed to choose one of the four words that best matched the person's thinking or feeling. We further classified the words into three valences of emotional categories to examine socioemotional processes. RESULTS Our results showed that ASD males performed poorer on the RMET than the controls. ASD males had higher network density and in-degree scores, especially in negative words, than control males. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that males with ASD might have deficits in mapping the best emotional concept words to the target item, especially for processing negative emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tai-Shan Li
- grid.19188.390000 0004 0546 0241Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106 Taiwan
| | - Susan Shur-Fen Gau
- Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, No 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan.
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan.
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3
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More Than Words: the Relative Roles of Prosody and Semantics in the Perception of Emotions in Spoken Language by Postlingual Cochlear Implant Users. Ear Hear 2022; 43:1378-1389. [PMID: 35030551 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The processing of emotional speech calls for the perception and integration of semantic and prosodic cues. Although cochlear implants allow for significant auditory improvements, they are limited in the transmission of spectro-temporal fine-structure information that may not support the processing of voice pitch cues. The goal of the current study is to compare the performance of postlingual cochlear implant (CI) users and a matched control group on perception, selective attention, and integration of emotional semantics and prosody. DESIGN Fifteen CI users and 15 normal hearing (NH) peers (age range, 18-65 years) 1istened to spoken sentences composed of different combinations of four discrete emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, and neutrality) presented in prosodic and semantic channels-T-RES: Test for Rating Emotions in Speech. In three separate tasks, listeners were asked to attend to the sentence as a whole, thus integrating both speech channels (integration), or to focus on one channel only (rating of target emotion) and ignore the other (selective attention). Their task was to rate how much they agreed that the sentence conveyed each of the predefined emotions. In addition, all participants performed standard tests of speech perception. RESULTS When asked to focus on one channel, semantics or prosody, both groups rated emotions similarly with comparable levels of selective attention. When the task was called for channel integration, group differences were found. CI users appeared to use semantic emotional information more than did their NH peers. CI users assigned higher ratings than did their NH peers to sentences that did not present the target emotion, indicating some degree of confusion. In addition, for CI users, individual differences in speech comprehension over the phone and identification of intonation were significantly related to emotional semantic and prosodic ratings, respectively. CONCLUSIONS CI users and NH controls did not differ in perception of prosodic and semantic emotions and in auditory selective attention. However, when the task called for integration of prosody and semantics, CI users overused the semantic information (as compared with NH). We suggest that as CI users adopt diverse cue weighting strategies with device experience, their weighting of prosody and semantics differs from those used by NH. Finally, CI users may benefit from rehabilitation strategies that strengthen perception of prosodic information to better understand emotional speech.
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4
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Bretthauer J, Canu D, Thiemann U, Fleischhaker C, Brauner H, Müller K, Smyrnis N, Biscaldi M, Bender S, Klein C. Attention for Emotion-How Young Adults With Neurodevelopmental Disorders Look at Facial Expressions of Affect. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:842896. [PMID: 35782441 PMCID: PMC9240263 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.842896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
While Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ) differ in many clinically relevant features such as symptomatology and course, they may also share genetic underpinnings, affective problems, deviancies in social interactions, and are all characterized by some kind of cognitive impairment. This situation calls for a joint investigation of the specifics of cognitive (dys-)functions of the three disorders. Such endeavor should focus, among other domains, on the inter-section of processing cognitive, affective and social information that is crucial in effective real-life interactions and can be accomplished when attentional preferences for human facial expressions of emotions is studied. To that end, attention to facial expressions of basic emotions was examined in young adults with ASD, ADHD, or SCZ in the present study. The three clinical groups were compared with an age-matched group of typically-developing participants (TD) during the free contemplation of five different facial emotions presented simultaneously, by varying identities, through the registration of eye movements. We showed, that dwell times and fixation counts differed for the different emotions in TD and in a highly similar way in ADHD. Patients with ASD differed from TD by showing a stronger differentiation between emotions and partially different attentional preferences. In contrast, the SCZ group showed an overall more restricted scanning behavior and a lack of differentiation between emotions. The ADHD group, showed an emotion-specific gazing pattern that was highly similar to that of controls. Thus, by analyzing eye movements, we were able to differentiate three different viewing patterns that allowed us to distinguish between the three clinical groups. This outcome suggests that attention for emotion may not tap into common pathophysiological processes and argues for a multi-dimensional approach to the grouping of disorders with neurodevelopmental etiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Bretthauer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Daniela Canu
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Ulf Thiemann
- Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics und Psychotherapy in Children and Adolescents, LVR Hospital, Bonn, Germany
| | - Christian Fleischhaker
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Heike Brauner
- Kinder- und Jugendwohnheim Leppermühle, Buseck, Germany
| | | | - Nikolaos Smyrnis
- Second Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital "Attikon", Athens, Greece
| | - Monica Biscaldi
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Stephan Bender
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Christoph Klein
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.,Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.,Second Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital "Attikon", Athens, Greece
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5
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Stagg S, Tan LH, Kodakkadan F. Emotion Recognition and Context in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:4129-4137. [PMID: 34617238 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05292-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
Emotion recognition research in autism has provided conflicting results and has ignored the role of context. We examined if autistic adolescents use context to identify displayed and felt emotion. Twenty adolescents with autism and 20 age-matched neurotypical adolescents identified emotions from a standardised set of images. The groups also viewed videos scenes with actors displaying a feigned emotion masking their true feelings. Participants identified the displayed and felt emotions. Both groups identified emotions from static images equally well. In the video condition, the autism group was unable to distinguish between the displayed and felt emotions. Emotion research is often divorced from context. Our findings suggest that autistic individuals have difficulty integrating contextual cues when processing emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Stagg
- Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 PT1, UK.
| | - Li-Huan Tan
- Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 PT1, UK
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6
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Nagy E, Prentice L, Wakeling T. Atypical Facial Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Exploratory Analysis on the Role of Task Demands. Perception 2021; 50:819-833. [PMID: 34428977 PMCID: PMC8438782 DOI: 10.1177/03010066211038154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
People with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have difficulty with socio-emotional functioning; however, research on facial emotion recognition (FER) remains inconclusive. Individuals with ASD might be using atypical compensatory mechanisms that are exhausted in more complex tasks. This study compared response accuracy and speed on a forced-choice FER task using neutral, happy, sad, disgust, anger, fear and surprise expressions under both timed and non-timed conditions in children with and without ASD (n = 18). The results showed that emotion recognition accuracy was comparable in the two groups in the non-timed condition. However, in the timed condition, children with ASD were less accurate in identifying anger and surprise compared to children without ASD. This suggests that people with ASD have atypical processing of anger and surprise that might become challenged under time pressure. Understanding these atypical processes, and the environmental factors that challenge them, could be beneficial in supporting socio-emotional functioning in people ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emese Nagy
- 3042Psychology, School of Social Sciences, The University of Dundee, UK
| | - Louise Prentice
- 3042Psychology, School of Social Sciences, The University of Dundee, UK
| | - Tess Wakeling
- 3042Psychology, School of Social Sciences, The University of Dundee, UK
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7
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Icht M, Zukerman G, Ben-Itzchak E, Ben-David BM. Keep it simple: Identification of basic versus complex emotions in spoken language in individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability: A meta-analysis study. Autism Res 2021; 14:1948-1964. [PMID: 34101373 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 03/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Daily functioning involves identifying emotions in spoken language, a fundamental aspect of social interactions. To date, there is inconsistent evidence in the literature on whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-without-ID) experience difficulties in identification of spoken emotions. We conducted a meta-analysis (literature search following the PRISMA guidelines), with 26 data sets (taken from 23 peer-reviewed journal articles) comparing individuals with ASD-without-ID (N = 614) and typically-developed (TD) controls (N = 640), from nine countries and in seven languages (published until February 2020). In our analyses there was no sufficient evidence to suggest that individuals with HF-ASD differ from matched controls in the identification of simple prosodic emotions (e.g., sadness, happiness). However, individuals with ASD-without-ID were found to perform significantly worse than controls in identification of complex prosodic emotions (e.g., envy and boredom). The level of the semantic content of the stimuli presented (e.g., sentences vs. strings of digits) was not found to have an impact on the results. In conclusion, the difference in findings between simple and complex emotions calls for a new-look on emotion processing in ASD-without-ID. Intervention programs may rely on the intact abilities of individuals with ASD-without-ID to process simple emotions and target improved performance with complex emotions. LAY SUMMARY: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-without-ID) do not differ from matched controls in the identification of simple prosodic emotions (e.g., sadness, happiness). However, they were found to perform significantly worse than controls in the identification of complex prosodic emotions (e.g., envy, boredom). This was found in a meta-analysis of 26 data sets with 1254 participants from nine countries and in seven languages. Intervention programs may rely on the intact abilities of individuals with ASD-without-ID to process simple emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Icht
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Gil Zukerman
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Esther Ben-Itzchak
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.,The Bruckner Center for Research in Autism, Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Boaz M Ben-David
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel.,Department of Speech-Language Pathology, and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Networks (UHN), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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8
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Mazzoni N, Ricciardelli P, Actis-Grosso R, Venuti P. Difficulties in Recognising Dynamic but not Static Emotional Body Movements in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:1092-1105. [PMID: 33866488 PMCID: PMC8854267 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05015-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated whether the difficulties in body motion (BM) perception may led to deficit in emotion recognition in Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To this aim, individuals with high-functioning ASD were asked to recognise fearful, happy, and neutral BM depicted as static images or dynamic point-light and full-light displays. Results showed slower response times in participants with ASD only in recognising dynamic stimuli, but no group differences in accuracy. This suggests that i) a deficit in action chaining mechanism in ASD may prevent the recognition of dynamic BM automatically and rapidly, ii) individuals with ASD and high cognitive resources can develop alternative—but equally successful—strategies to recognise emotional body expressions. Implications for treatment are discussed
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemi Mazzoni
- OFDLab - Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Via Matteo del Ben, 5B, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Paola Ricciardelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Rossana Actis-Grosso
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Paola Venuti
- OFDLab - Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Via Matteo del Ben, 5B, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
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9
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Zhang M, Xu S, Chen Y, Lin Y, Ding H, Zhang Y. Recognition of affective prosody in autism spectrum conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2021; 26:798-813. [PMID: 33722094 DOI: 10.1177/1362361321995725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Differences in understanding others' emotions and attitudes through features in speech (e.g. intonation) have been observed in individuals with autism spectrum conditions, which contribute greatly to their social communication challenges. However, some studies reported that individuals with autism spectrum condition performed comparably to typically developing individuals on affective prosody recognition. Here, we provide a comprehensive review with statistical analysis of 23 existing studies on this topic to examine potential factors that could explain the discrepancies. Compared with typically developing individuals, autism spectrum condition participants generally appeared to encounter more difficulties in affective prosody recognition. But this finding was likely due to the tendency of the existing research to overly focus on deficits in autism. The affective prosody recognition performance in individuals with autism spectrum condition was closely related to the number of answer options offered to them. Moreover, the degree of difficulty in affective prosody recognition encountered by individuals with autism spectrum condition varied across emotions. The findings of this systematic review highlighted the need for further research on affective prosody recognition in autism (e.g. studies that include tonal language speakers and autism spectrum condition individuals with lower cognitive or verbal abilities).
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Affiliation(s)
- Minyue Zhang
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Suyun Xu
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu Chen
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Lin
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN, USA
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10
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Self-Conscious Emotion Processing in Autistic Adolescents: Over-Reliance on Learned Social Rules During Tasks with Heightened Perspective-Taking Demands May Serve as Compensatory Strategy for Less Reflexive Mentalizing. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:3514-3532. [PMID: 33387235 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04808-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Autistic adolescents experience a secondary wave of social cognitive challenges which impact interpersonal success. We investigated self-conscious emotion (SCE) processing in autistic and neurotypical adolescents. Participants watched videos of peers acting embarrassed and proud and rated inferred and empathic SCEs. We compared intensity ratings across groups and conducted correlations with social cognitive abilities and autistic features. Autistic adolescents recognized SCEs and felt empathic SCEs; however, they made atypical emotion attributions when perspective-taking demands were high, which more strongly reflected the situational context. Atypical attributions were associated with perspective-taking difficulties and autistic feature intensity. An over-reliance on contextual cues may reflect a strict adherence to learned social rules, possibly compensating for less reflexive mentalizing, which may underlie interpersonal challenges in ASD.
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11
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Morel-Kohlmeyer S, Thillay A, Roux S, Amado I, Brenugat L, Carteau-Martin I, Danset-Alexandre C, Gaudelus B, Graux J, Peyroux E, Prost Z, Krebs MO, Franck N, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Houy-Durand E. When Alterations in Social Cognition Meet Subjective Complaints in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evaluation With the "ClaCoS" Battery. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:643551. [PMID: 34512407 PMCID: PMC8426662 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.643551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Deficit in social communication is a core feature in Autism Spectrum Disorder but remains poorly assessed in classical clinical practice, especially in adult populations. This gap between needs and practice is partly due to a lack of standardized evaluation tools. The multicentric Research group in psychiatry GDR3557 (Institut de Psychiatrie) developed a new battery for social cognitive evaluation named "ClaCoS," which allows testing the main components of social cognition: Emotion Recognition, Theory of Mind, Attributional Style, and Social Perception and Knowledge. It further provides an assessment of subjective complaints in social cognition. Methods: We compared the social cognition abilities of 45 adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder without intellectual disability and 45 neurotypically developed volunteers using the "ClaCoS" battery, in order to determine its relevance in the evaluation of social cognition impairments in autism. A correlational approach allowed us to test the links between subjective complaints and objectively measured impairments for the different components of social cognition. Results: As expected, the Autism Spectrum Disorder group showed deficits in all four components of social cognition. Moreover, they reported greater subjective complaints than controls regarding their social abilities, correlated to the neuropsychological assessments. Conclusion: The "ClaCoS" battery is an interesting tool allowing to assess social impairments in autism and to specify the altered components, for a better adjustment of tailored social cognition training programs. Our results further suggest that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder have a good social cognitive insight, i.e., awareness into social cognitive functioning, and may thus benefit from social cognitive training tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shasha Morel-Kohlmeyer
- Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Centre d'Excellence Autisme et Troubles du Neuro-développement-Tours exac.t, Tours, France.,UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France
| | - Alix Thillay
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Se Rétablir 37, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Sylvie Roux
- UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France
| | - Isabelle Amado
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,GHU-Site Sainte Anne, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Remédiation Cognitive et Réhabilitation Psychosociale, île de France, Paris, France
| | - Lindsay Brenugat
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,GHU-Site Sainte Anne, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Remédiation Cognitive et Réhabilitation Psychosociale, île de France, Paris, France
| | | | - Charlotte Danset-Alexandre
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire PEPIT, GHU Psychiatrie et Neurosciences - Hôpital Sainte Anne, Paris, France.,Inserm Institut Paris Neurosciences et Psychiatrie (IPNP)-UMR 1266, Paris, France
| | - Baptiste Gaudelus
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron, France
| | - Jérôme Graux
- UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Se Rétablir 37, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Elodie Peyroux
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron, France.,Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire ADIS, CRMR GénoPsy, Centre d'Excellence Autisme et Troubles du Neurodéveloppement iMind, Lyon, France
| | - Zelda Prost
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron, France.,Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire ADIS, CRMR GénoPsy, Centre d'Excellence Autisme et Troubles du Neurodéveloppement iMind, Lyon, France.,Dispositif de Soins de Réhabilitation Psycho-Sociale, Centre Psychothérapique de l'Ain, Bourg-en-Bresse, France
| | - Marie-Odile Krebs
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire PEPIT, GHU Psychiatrie et Neurosciences - Hôpital Sainte Anne, Paris, France.,Inserm Institut Paris Neurosciences et Psychiatrie (IPNP)-UMR 1266, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Franck
- Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France.,Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron, France.,UMR 5229 CNRS & Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault
- Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Centre d'Excellence Autisme et Troubles du Neuro-développement-Tours exac.t, Tours, France.,UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France
| | - Emmanuelle Houy-Durand
- Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Centre d'Excellence Autisme et Troubles du Neuro-développement-Tours exac.t, Tours, France.,UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie (CNRS GDR 3557), groupe de travail ≪ Cognition ≫, Paris, France
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12
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Partner Perceptions of Conversations with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 50:1182-1197. [PMID: 31894461 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04348-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Pragmatic difficulties resulting in problems with reciprocal conversation are widely studied in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is some consensus on the conversation differences between individuals with autism compared to neurotypical groups and groups with other developmental delays. There is little information on whether conversation partners (neurotypical or with ASD) of individuals with ASD find these differences problematic. The results indicate that behaviors reported to be the most problematic were not necessarily behaviors commonly addressed in research. Further, some conversational capacities that have received less research focus were perceived as more problematic. Although conversation partners who had ASD themselves reported the frequency of behaviors similarly to the neurotypical group, they did not find the behaviors as problematic.
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13
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Scheerer NE, Shafai F, Stevenson RA, Iarocci G. Affective Prosody Perception and the Relation to Social Competence in Autistic and Typically Developing Children. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 48:965-975. [PMID: 32285352 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-020-00644-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty perceiving and expressing emotions. Since prosodic changes in speech (i.e. changes in intonation, stress, rhythm, etc.) are crucial for extracting information about the emotional state of a speaker, an inability to perceive and interpret these prosodic changes may be related to impairments in social communication. This study used non-verbal emotional voice-clips to examine the ability of autistic and typically-developing children (7-13 years old) to extract affect from changes in prosody. This research also explored whether difficulty extracting affective intent from changes in prosody may be related to social competence. Autistic (n = 26) and typically-developing (n = 26) children accurately matched emotional voice-clips to emotion words, suggesting autistic children can accurately extract the affective meaning conveyed by changes in prosody. Autistic children were less accurate at matching the voice-clips to emotional faces, suggesting that autistic children may struggle to make use of prosodic information in a social context. Across both autistic and typically-developing children, prosody-face matching accuracy was found to predict overall social competence, as well as social inferencing abilities, suggesting that the inability to utilize affective information derived from a speaker's voice may interfere with effective social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nichole E Scheerer
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Fakhri Shafai
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Ryan A Stevenson
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Grace Iarocci
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
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14
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Doernberg EA, Russ SW, Dimitropoulos A. Believing in Make-Believe: Efficacy of a Pretend Play Intervention for School-Aged Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 51:576-588. [PMID: 32556834 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04547-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by socio-emotional deficits, and difficulties with pretend play skills. Play skills are related to processes of adaptive functioning and emotion understanding. The present pilot study implemented an in-person pretend play intervention to school-aged children (ages 6 to 9 years, intervention group = 18, control group = 7) diagnosed with high-functioning ASD (HF-ASD), to increase children's cognitive and affective play skills, and emotional understanding abilities. The intervention consisted of 5 weekly sessions, 15-20 minutes each. The intervention group significantly increased in imagination and cognitive play skills, which generalized to increased skills in emotional understanding. Findings demonstrate the positive impact of a short, easily facilitated, accessible play intervention for school-aged children with HF-ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen A Doernberg
- Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. .,Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 11220 Bellflower Road, Mather Memorial Building, Rm 109, Cleveland, OH, 44106-7123, USA.
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15
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Ben-David BM, Ben-Itzchak E, Zukerman G, Yahav G, Icht M. The Perception of Emotions in Spoken Language in Undergraduates with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preserved Social Skill. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 50:741-756. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04297-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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16
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Oron Y, Levy O, Avivi-Reich M, Goldfarb A, Handzel O, Shakuf V, Ben-David BM. Tinnitus affects the relative roles of semantics and prosody in the perception of emotions in spoken language. Int J Audiol 2019; 59:195-207. [DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2019.1677952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yahav Oron
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head, Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Oren Levy
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
| | - Meital Avivi-Reich
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
- Communication Arts, Sciences and Disorders, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Abraham Goldfarb
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Ophir Handzel
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head, Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Vered Shakuf
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
| | - Boaz M. Ben-David
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Networks (UHN), Toronto, ON, Canada
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17
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Griffiths S, Jarrold C, Penton-Voak IS, Woods AT, Skinner AL, Munafò MR. Impaired Recognition of Basic Emotions from Facial Expressions in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Assessing the Importance of Expression Intensity. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:2768-2778. [PMID: 28361375 PMCID: PMC6606653 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3091-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that impairments in emotion recognition in ASD are greater for more subtle expressions of emotion. We measured recognition of 6 basic facial expressions at 8 intensity levels in young people (6-16 years) with ASD (N = 63) and controls (N = 64) via an Internet platform. Participants with ASD were less accurate than controls at labelling expressions across intensity levels, although differences at very low levels were not detected due to floor effects. Recognition accuracy did not correlate with parent-reported social functioning in either group. These findings provide further evidence for an impairment in recognition of basic emotion in ASD and do not support the idea that this impairment is limited solely to low intensity expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Griffiths
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. .,MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. .,Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | | | - Ian S Penton-Voak
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | | | - Andy L Skinner
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Marcus R Munafò
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
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18
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Morrison KE, Pinkham AE, Kelsven S, Ludwig K, Penn DL, Sasson NJ. Psychometric Evaluation of Social Cognitive Measures for Adults with Autism. Autism Res 2019; 12:766-778. [PMID: 30770676 PMCID: PMC6499650 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2018] [Accepted: 02/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Although social cognition is frequently identified as a target in clinical trials and psychosocial interventions for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these efforts are hampered by a lack of consensus and validation of social cognitive measures. The current study provides psychometric evaluation of 11 frequently used measures encompassing different subdomains of social cognition. Adults with autism (N = 103) and typically developing controls (N = 95) completed 11 commonly used social cognitive tasks spanning the domains of emotion processing, social perception, and mentalizing/theory of mind. We examined each measure's internal reliability and sensitivity to group differences, how performance related to general intellectual ability, and alignment of measures with a proposed two-factor structure of social cognition in ASD. Controls outperformed the ASD group on 8 of the 11 social cognitive tasks, with the largest group differences occurring on two mentalizing measures, The awareness of social inference task (TASIT) and hinting task. In ASD, all tasks demonstrated strong internal consistency and avoided ceiling and floor effects. Social cognitive performance was also related to, but not redundant with, intellectual functioning. We also found support for a two-factor structure of social cognition, with basic social perception and emotional processing aligning into a lower-order social perception factor, while mentalizing tasks aligned into a higher-order social appraisal factor. In sum, eight tasks showed adequate to strong psychometric properties. The psychometric data, effect size estimates, and correlations between measures reported here can be used for study planning for social cognitive interventions in autism. Autism Research 2019, 12: 766-778. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We examined 11 tasks that measure how adults with autism perceive and interpret social information. Eight of the tasks were reliable and showed lower performance in adults with autism compared to typically-developing controls. Task performance was related to but distinguishable from IQ. These measures evaluated here may be useful in assessing the effectiveness of interventions and treatments to improve social abilities in adults with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerrianne E. Morrison
- School of Behavioral and Brain SciencesThe University Of Texas At DallasRichardsonTexas, 75080
| | - Amy E. Pinkham
- School of Behavioral and Brain SciencesThe University Of Texas At DallasRichardsonTexas, 75080
| | - Skylar Kelsven
- School of Behavioral and Brain SciencesThe University Of Texas At DallasRichardsonTexas, 75080
| | - Kelsey Ludwig
- Department of Psychology and NeuroscienceThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillNorth Carolina, 27599
| | - David L. Penn
- Department of Psychology and NeuroscienceThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillNorth Carolina, 27599
- School of PsychologyAustralian Catholic University3065, MelbourneVICAustralia
| | - Noah J. Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain SciencesThe University Of Texas At DallasRichardsonTexas, 75080
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19
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Specific Patterns of Emotion Recognition from Faces in Children with ASD: Results of a Cross-Modal Matching Paradigm. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 48:844-852. [PMID: 29164447 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3389-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Children with ASD show emotion recognition difficulties, as part of their social communication deficits. We examined facial emotion recognition (FER) in intellectually disabled children with ASD and in younger typically developing (TD) controls, matched on mental age. Our emotion-matching paradigm employed three different modalities: facial, vocal and verbal. Results confirmed overall FER deficits in ASD. Compared to the TD group, children with ASD had the poorest performance in recognizing surprise and anger in comparison to happiness and sadness, and struggled with face-face matching, compared to voice-face and word-face combinations. Performance in the voice-face cross-modal recognition task was related to adaptive communication. These findings highlight the specific face processing deficit, and the relative merit of cross-modal integration in children with ASD.
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20
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Nagy E, Paton SC, Primrose FEA, Farkas TN, Pow CF. Speeded Recognition of Fear and Surprise in Autism. Perception 2018. [DOI: 10.1177/0301006618811768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) involve difficulties with socioemotional functioning; however, research on emotion recognition remains inconclusive. Children with ASD have been reported to show less susceptibility to spatial inversion. The aim of this study is to examine whether children with ASD utilize atypical abilities in socioemotional processing. This study tested 13 children with ASD (1 girl, M: 15.10 years, standard deviation [ SD]: 1.60 years), 13 children without ASD (3 girls, M: 15.92 years, SD: 1.03 years), and 20 control adults (11 women, M: 24.77 years, SD: 8.30 years) to investigate the speed and accuracy of their responses to images of neutral faces and faces expressing “easy” (happiness, anger) and “difficult” emotions (surprise, fear) in nonrotated (0°) and rotated (30°, 90°, 150°, 180°, 210°, 270°, and 330°) positions. The results showed that children with ASD recognized both easy and difficult emotions as accurately as did children and adults without ASD. Children with ASD, however, responded significantly faster to difficult emotions when the images were rotated. These results offer less support for a deficiency model than for an atypical, rapid featural type of processing used by children with ASD to encode and understand complex socioemotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emese Nagy
- Department of Psychology, The University of Dundee, UK
| | | | | | | | - Coreen F. Pow
- Department of Psychology, The University of Dundee, UK
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21
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Barendse EM, Hendriks MPH, Thoonen G, Aldenkamp AP, Kessels RPC. Social behaviour and social cognition in high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): two sides of the same coin? Cogn Process 2018; 19:545-555. [DOI: 10.1007/s10339-018-0866-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2017] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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22
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Ghanouni P, Zwicker JG. Electrophysiological Responses to Emotional Facial Expressions in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review. REVIEW JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s40489-018-0134-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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23
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Dickter CL, Burk JA, Fleckenstein K, Kozikowski CT. Autistic traits and social anxiety predict differential performance on social cognitive tasks in typically developing young adults. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0195239. [PMID: 29596523 PMCID: PMC5875886 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2017] [Accepted: 03/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The current work examined the unique contribution that autistic traits and social anxiety have on tasks examining attention and emotion processing. In Study 1, 119 typically-developing college students completed a flanker task assessing the control of attention to target faces and away from distracting faces during emotion identification. In Study 2, 208 typically-developing college students performed a visual search task which required identification of whether a series of 8 or 16 emotional faces depicted the same or different emotions. Participants with more self-reported autistic traits performed more slowly on the flanker task in Study 1 than those with fewer autistic traits when stimuli depicted complex emotions. In Study 2, participants higher in social anxiety performed less accurately on trials showing all complex faces; participants with autistic traits showed no differences. These studies suggest that traits related to autism and to social anxiety differentially impact social cognitive processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl L. Dickter
- Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Joshua A. Burk
- Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States of America
| | - Katarina Fleckenstein
- Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States of America
| | - C. Teal Kozikowski
- Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States of America
- Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, United States of America
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24
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Rosenblau G, Kliemann D, Dziobek I, Heekeren HR. Emotional prosody processing in autism spectrum disorder. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2017; 12:224-239. [PMID: 27531389 PMCID: PMC5390729 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2015] [Accepted: 08/12/2016] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by severe deficits in social communication, whereby the nature of their impairments in emotional prosody processing have yet to be specified. Here, we investigated emotional prosody processing in individuals with ASD and controls with novel, lifelike behavioral and neuroimaging paradigms. Compared to controls, individuals with ASD showed reduced emotional prosody recognition accuracy on a behavioral task. On the neural level, individuals with ASD displayed reduced activity of the STS, insula and amygdala for complex vs basic emotions compared to controls. Moreover, the coupling between the STS and amygdala for complex vs basic emotions was reduced in the ASD group. Finally, groups differed with respect to the relationship between brain activity and behavioral performance. Brain activity during emotional prosody processing was more strongly related to prosody recognition accuracy in ASD participants. In contrast, the coupling between STS and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity predicted behavioral task performance more strongly in the control group. These results provide evidence for aberrant emotional prosody processing of individuals with ASD. They suggest that the differences in the relationship between the neural and behavioral level of individuals with ASD may account for their observed deficits in social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Rosenblau
- Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotion', Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 S. Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
| | - Dorit Kliemann
- Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotion', Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 149 Thirteenth Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Isabel Dziobek
- Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotion', Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin 10099, Germany
| | - Hauke R Heekeren
- Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotion', Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.,Dahlem Institute for Neuroimaging of Emotion, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany
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25
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Sato W, Sawada R, Uono S, Yoshimura S, Kochiyama T, Kubota Y, Sakihama M, Toichi M. Impaired detection of happy facial expressions in autism. Sci Rep 2017; 7:13340. [PMID: 29042592 PMCID: PMC5645383 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11900-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The detection of emotional facial expressions plays an indispensable role in social interaction. Psychological studies have shown that typically developing (TD) individuals more rapidly detect emotional expressions than neutral expressions. However, it remains unclear whether individuals with autistic phenotypes, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and high levels of autistic traits (ATs), are impaired in this ability. We examined this by comparing TD and ASD individuals in Experiment 1 and individuals with low and high ATs in Experiment 2 using the visual search paradigm. Participants detected normal facial expressions of anger and happiness and their anti-expressions within crowds of neutral expressions. In Experiment 1, reaction times were shorter for normal angry expressions than for anti-expressions in both TD and ASD groups. This was also the case for normal happy expressions vs. anti-expressions in the TD group but not in the ASD group. Similarly, in Experiment 2, the detection of normal vs. anti-expressions was faster for angry expressions in both groups and for happy expressions in the low, but not high, ATs group. These results suggest that the detection of happy facial expressions is impaired in individuals with ASD and high ATs, which may contribute to their difficulty in creating and maintaining affiliative social relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
| | - Reiko Sawada
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Shota Uono
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Sayaka Yoshimura
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takanori Kochiyama
- Brain Activity Imaging Center, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Soraku, Japan
| | - Yasutaka Kubota
- Health and Medical Services Center, Shiga University, Hikone, Japan
| | | | - Motomi Toichi
- Faculty of Human Health Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,The Organization for Promoting Neurodevelopmental Disorder Research, Kyoto, Japan
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26
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Eyuboglu M, Baykara B, Eyuboglu D. Broad autism phenotype: theory of mind and empathy skills in unaffected siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. PSYCHIAT CLIN PSYCH 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/24750573.2017.1379714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Murat Eyuboglu
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Mardin Public Hospital, Mardin, Turkey
| | - Burak Baykara
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dokuz Eylül Unversity, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Damla Eyuboglu
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Mardin Public Hospital, Mardin, Turkey
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27
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Social Skills Intervention Participation and Associated Improvements in Executive Function Performance. AUTISM RESEARCH AND TREATMENT 2017; 2017:5843851. [PMID: 29075533 PMCID: PMC5623786 DOI: 10.1155/2017/5843851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2017] [Revised: 07/07/2017] [Accepted: 08/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social communication. It has been postulated that such difficulties are related to disruptions in underlying cognitive processes such as executive function. The present study examined potential changes in executive function performance associated with participation in the Social Competence Intervention (SCI) program, a short-term intervention designed to improve social competence in adolescents with ASD. Laboratory behavioral performance measures were used to separately evaluate potential intervention-related changes in individual executive function component processes (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) in a sample of 22 adolescents with ASD both before and after intervention. For comparison purposes, a demographically matched sample of 14 individuals without ASD was assessed at identical time intervals. Intervention-related improvements were observed on the working memory task, with gains evident in spatial working memory and, to a slightly lesser degree, verbal working memory. Significant improvements were also found for a working memory-related aspect of the task switching test (i.e., mixing costs). Taken together, these findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that participation in the SCI program is accompanied by changes in underlying neurocognitive processes such as working memory.
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28
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Lewis MB, Dunn E. Instructions to mimic improve facial emotion recognition in people with sub-clinical autism traits. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2016; 70:2357-2370. [PMID: 27734764 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1238950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
People tend to mimic the facial expression of others. It has been suggested that this helps provide social glue between affiliated people but it could also aid recognition of emotions through embodied cognition. The degree of facial mimicry, however, varies between individuals and is limited in people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). The present study sought to investigate the effect of promoting facial mimicry during a facial-emotion-recognition test. In two experiments, participants without an ASC diagnosis had their autism quotient (AQ) measured. Following a baseline test, they did an emotion-recognition test again but half of the participants were asked to mimic the target face they saw prior to making their responses. Mimicry improved emotion recognition, and further analysis revealed that the largest improvement was for participants who had higher scores on the autism traits. In fact, recognition performance was best overall for people who had high AQ scores but also received the instruction to mimic. Implications for people with ASC are explored.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emily Dunn
- a School of Psychology , Cardiff University , Cardiff , UK
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29
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Walsh JA, Creighton SE, Rutherford MD. Emotion Perception or Social Cognitive Complexity: What Drives Face Processing Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder? J Autism Dev Disord 2016; 46:615-23. [PMID: 26439480 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2606-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Some, but not all, relevant studies have revealed face processing deficits among those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, deficits are revealed in face processing tasks that involve emotion perception. The current study examined whether either deficits in processing emotional expression or deficits in processing social cognitive complexity drive face processing deficits in ASD. We tested adults with and without ASD on a battery of face processing tasks that varied with respect to emotional expression processing and social cognitive complexity. Results revealed significant group differences on tasks involving emotional expression processing, but typical performance on a non-emotional but socially complex task. These results support an emotion processing rather than a social complexity explanation for face processing deficits in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Walsh
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada.
| | - Sarah E Creighton
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - M D Rutherford
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada.
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Begeer S, Meerum Terwogt M, Rieffe C, Stegge H, Koot HM. Do children with autism acknowledge the influence of mood on behaviour? AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2016; 11:503-21. [DOI: 10.1177/1362361307083262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We tested whether children with and without high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) differ in their understanding of the influence of mood states on behaviour. A total of 122 children with HFASD or typical development were asked to predict and explain the behaviour of story characters during hypothetical social interactions. HFASD and typically developing children predicted at equal rates that mood states likely result in similar valenced behaviour. `Explicit' descriptions were used to explain predictions more often by children with HFASD than by typically developing children. However, `implicit' and `irrelevant' descriptions elicited fewer mood references among HFASD children. Furthermore, they less often referred to the uncertainty of the influence of mood on behaviour, and less often used mood-related explanations, in particular when they had to rely on implicit information. This may indicate a rote- rather than self-generated understanding of emotions in children with HFASD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Hedy Stegge
- Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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31
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Sasson NJ, Pinkham AE, Weittenhiller LP, Faso DJ, Simpson C. Context Effects on Facial Affect Recognition in Schizophrenia and Autism: Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Evidence. Schizophr Bull 2016; 42:675-83. [PMID: 26645375 PMCID: PMC4838097 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbv176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Although Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) share impairments in emotion recognition, the mechanisms underlying these impairments may differ. The current study used the novel "Emotions in Context" task to examine how the interpretation and visual inspection of facial affect is modulated by congruent and incongruent emotional contexts in SCZ and ASD. Both adults with SCZ (n= 44) and those with ASD (n= 21) exhibited reduced affect recognition relative to typically-developing (TD) controls (n= 39) when faces were integrated within broader emotional scenes but not when they were presented in isolation, underscoring the importance of using stimuli that better approximate real-world contexts. Additionally, viewing faces within congruent emotional scenes improved accuracy and visual attention to the face for controls more so than the clinical groups, suggesting that individuals with SCZ and ASD may not benefit from the presence of complementary emotional information as readily as controls. Despite these similarities, important distinctions between SCZ and ASD were found. In every condition, IQ was related to emotion-recognition accuracy for the SCZ group but not for the ASD or TD groups. Further, only the ASD group failed to increase their visual attention to faces in incongruent emotional scenes, suggesting a lower reliance on facial information within ambiguous emotional contexts relative to congruent ones. Collectively, these findings highlight both shared and distinct social cognitive processes in SCZ and ASD that may contribute to their characteristic social disabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah J. Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX;,*To whom correspondence should be addressed; School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 W. Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080, US; tel: 972-883-2541, fax: 972-883-2491, e-mail:
| | - Amy E. Pinkham
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX
| | | | - Daniel J. Faso
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX
| | - Claire Simpson
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
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32
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Knutsen J, Mandell DS, Frye D. Children with autism are impaired in the understanding of teaching. Dev Sci 2015; 20. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2014] [Accepted: 08/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John Knutsen
- Department of Pediatrics; Harvard Medical School; USA
- Division of General Academic Pediatrics; Massachusetts General Hospital; USA
| | - David S. Mandell
- Center for Mental Health Policy & Services Research; Perelman School of Medicine; University of Pennsylvania; USA
| | - Douglas Frye
- Division of Applied Psychology and Human Development; Graduate School of Education; University of Pennsylvania; USA
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Reed P, Steed I. Interference with facial emotion recognition by verbal but not visual loads. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2015; 47:441-450. [PMID: 26519662 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2015] [Revised: 10/05/2015] [Accepted: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The ability to recognize emotions through facial characteristics is critical for social functioning, but is often impaired in those with a developmental or intellectual disability. The current experiments explored the degree to which interfering with the processing capacities of typically-developing individuals would produce a similar inability to recognize emotions through the facial elements of faces displaying particular emotions. It was found that increasing the cognitive load (in an attempt to model learning impairments in a typically developing population) produced deficits in correctly identifying emotions from facial elements. However, this effect was much more pronounced when using a concurrent verbal task than when employing a concurrent visual task, suggesting that there is a substantial verbal element to the labeling and subsequent recognition of emotions. This concurs with previous work conducted with those with developmental disabilities that suggests emotion recognition deficits are connected with language deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phil Reed
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
| | - Ian Steed
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
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Crawford H, Moss J, Anderson GM, Oliver C, McCleery JP. Implicit Discrimination of Basic Facial Expressions of Positive/Negative Emotion in Fragile X Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder. AMERICAN JOURNAL ON INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2015; 120:328-345. [PMID: 26161470 DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-120.4.328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social functioning. We examined the spontaneous discrimination of happy and disgusted facial expressions, from neutral faces, in individuals with FXS (n = 13, Mage = 19.70) and ASD (n = 15, Mage = 11.00) matched on adaptive behavior and verbal abilities measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Eye gaze to the eyes and mouth of neutral faces was also measured. Results suggest individuals with FXS and ASD distinguish facial expressions spontaneously in the same way. Individuals with FXS looked significantly less at the eye region of neutral faces than individuals with ASD. These results provide insight into similarities and differences in face processing in two neurodevelopmental disorders noted for their similarities in social behavior.
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Lin IF, Yamada T, Komine Y, Kato N, Kato M, Kashino M. Vocal Identity Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0129451. [PMID: 26070199 PMCID: PMC4466534 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2014] [Accepted: 05/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Voices can convey information about a speaker. When forming an abstract representation of a speaker, it is important to extract relevant features from acoustic signals that are invariant to the modulation of these signals. This study investigated the way in which individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recognize and memorize vocal identity. The ASD group and control group performed similarly in a task when asked to choose the name of the newly-learned speaker based on his or her voice, and the ASD group outperformed the control group in a subsequent familiarity test when asked to discriminate the previously trained voices and untrained voices. These findings suggest that individuals with ASD recognized and memorized voices as well as the neurotypical individuals did, but they categorized voices in a different way: individuals with ASD categorized voices quantitatively based on the exact acoustic features, while neurotypical individuals categorized voices qualitatively based on the acoustic patterns correlated to the speakers' physical and mental properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- I-Fan Lin
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- * E-mail: (IL); (MK)
| | - Takashi Yamada
- Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
- ATR Brain Information Communication Research Laboratory Group, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yoko Komine
- Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nobumasa Kato
- Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masaharu Kato
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- Center for Baby Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Makio Kashino
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- Department of Information Processing, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
- CREST, JST, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- * E-mail: (IL); (MK)
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Gebauer L, Skewes J, Hørlyck L, Vuust P. Atypical perception of affective prosody in Autism Spectrum Disorder. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2014; 6:370-8. [PMID: 25379450 PMCID: PMC4218934 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2014.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2014] [Revised: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 08/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in language and social–emotional cognition. Yet, findings of emotion recognition from affective prosody in individuals with ASD are inconsistent. This study investigated emotion recognition and neural processing of affective prosody in high-functioning adults with ASD relative to neurotypical (NT) adults. Individuals with ASD showed mostly typical brain activation of the fronto-temporal and subcortical brain regions in response to affective prosody. Yet, the ASD group showed a trend towards increased activation of the right caudate during processing of affective prosody and rated the emotional intensity lower than NT individuals. This is likely associated with increased attentional task demands in this group, which might contribute to social–emotional impairments. This study investigated processing of affective prosody in ASD Including 19 high-functioning adults with ASD and 20 neurotypical (NT) adults Using behavioral measures for emotion recognition and fMRI Individuals with ASD showed lower ratings of emotional intensity than NT A trend towards increased activation of caudate during affective prosody in ASD
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Affiliation(s)
- Line Gebauer
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Building 10G, 5th Floor, Noerrebrogade 44, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark ; Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Building 1483, 3rd Floor, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
| | - Joshua Skewes
- Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Building 1483, 3rd Floor, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
| | - Lone Hørlyck
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Building 10G, 5th Floor, Noerrebrogade 44, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Building 10G, 5th Floor, Noerrebrogade 44, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark ; Royal Academy of Music, Skovgaardsgade 2C, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
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37
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Visual Search and Emotion: How Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Scan Emotional Scenes. J Autism Dev Disord 2014; 44:2871-81. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2148-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Zalla T, Sperduti M. The amygdala and the relevance detection theory of autism: an evolutionary perspective. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:894. [PMID: 24416006 PMCID: PMC3874476 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2013] [Accepted: 12/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In the last few decades there has been increasing interest in the role of the amygdala in psychiatric disorders and, in particular, in its contribution to the socio-emotional impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Given that the amygdala is a component structure of the "social brain," several theoretical explanations compatible with amygdala dysfunction have been proposed to account for socio-emotional impairments in ASDs, including abnormal eye contact, gaze monitoring, face processing, mental state understanding, and empathy. Nevertheless, many theoretical accounts, based on the Amygdala Theory of Autism, fail to elucidate the complex pattern of impairments observed in this population, which extends beyond the social domain. As posited by the Relevance Detector theory (Sander et al., 2003), the human amygdala is a critical component of a brain circuit involved in the appraisal of self-relevant events that include, but are not restricted to, social stimuli. Here, we propose that the behavioral and social-emotional features of ASDs may be better understood in terms of a disruption in a "Relevance Detector Network" affecting the processing of stimuli that are relevant for the organism's self-regulating functions. In the present review, we will first summarize the main literature supporting the involvement of the amygdala in socio-emotional disturbances in ASDs. Next, we will present a revised version of the Amygdala Relevance Detector hypothesis and we will show that this theoretical framework can provide a better understanding of the heterogeneity of the impairments and symptomatology of ASDs. Finally, we will discuss some predictions of our model, and suggest new directions in the investigation of the role of the amygdala within the more generally disrupted cortical connectivity framework as a model of neural organization of the autistic brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiziana Zalla
- Institut Jean Nicod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris, France
| | - Marco Sperduti
- Laboratoire Mémoire et Cognition, Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Descartes Boulogne-Billancourt, France ; Inserm U894, Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université Paris Descartes Paris, France
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39
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Salmi J, Roine U, Glerean E, Lahnakoski J, Nieminen-von Wendt T, Tani P, Leppämäki S, Nummenmaa L, Jääskeläinen IP, Carlson S, Rintahaka P, Sams M. The brains of high functioning autistic individuals do not synchronize with those of others. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2013; 3:489-97. [PMID: 24273731 PMCID: PMC3830058 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2013.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2013] [Revised: 10/15/2013] [Accepted: 10/17/2013] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Multifaceted and idiosyncratic aberrancies in social cognition characterize autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To advance understanding of underlying neural mechanisms, we measured brain hemodynamic activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in individuals with ASD and matched-pair neurotypical (NT) controls while they were viewing a feature film portraying social interactions. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used as a measure of voxelwise similarity of brain activity (InterSubject Correlations—ISCs). Individuals with ASD showed lower ISC than NT controls in brain regions implicated in processing social information including the insula, posterior and anterior cingulate cortex, caudate nucleus, precuneus, lateral occipital cortex, and supramarginal gyrus. Curiously, also within NT group, autism-quotient scores predicted ISC in overlapping areas, including, e.g., supramarginal gyrus and precuneus. In ASD participants, functional connectivity was decreased between the frontal pole and the superior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, superior parietal lobule, precentral gyrus, precuneus, and anterior/posterior cingulate gyrus. Taken together these results suggest that ISC and functional connectivity measure distinct features of atypical brain function in high-functioning autistic individuals during free viewing of acted social interactions. Our ISC results suggest that the minds of ASD individuals do not ‘tick together’ with others while perceiving identical dynamic social interactions. We studied brain function in autism during free viewing of social interactions. The brains of individuals with autism do not ‘tick together’ with others. Long-range functional connectivity is altered in individuals with autism. Link between autistic traits and social brain synchrony extends to normal population.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Salmi
- Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science (BECS), School of Science, Aalto University, Finland ; Advanced Magnetic Imaging (AMI) Centre, School of Science, Aalto University, Finland
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Mathersul D, McDonald S, Rushby JA. Automatic facial responses to briefly presented emotional stimuli in autism spectrum disorder. Biol Psychol 2013; 94:397-407. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2012] [Revised: 08/19/2013] [Accepted: 08/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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41
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Mathersul D, McDonald S, Rushby JA. Autonomic arousal explains social cognitive abilities in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder. Int J Psychophysiol 2013; 89:475-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2013] [Revised: 04/17/2013] [Accepted: 04/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Grecucci A, Brambilla P, Siugzdaite R, Londero D, Fabbro F, Rumiati RI. Emotional resonance deficits in autistic children. J Autism Dev Disord 2013; 43:616-28. [PMID: 22806001 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-012-1603-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
According to some theories imitation, defined as an action resonance mechanism, is deficient in autism. In contrast, other theories (e.g., the "top down control of imitation" hypothesis) state that the problem is not in imitation per se but in the way social cues modulate imitative responses. In this study, 15 high-functioning children with autism and 15 matched controls were tested for their ability to imitate finger movements preceded by neutral and emotional facial expressions (primes) in a stimulus-response compatibility task. Hand movements performed after neutral expressions did not differ between the two groups (i.e., they both showed a normal imitative tendency). However, hand movements performed after emotional expressions significantly differed between the two populations, with controls, but not autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), showing enhanced imitation in the emotional condition. This study supports the view that, in ASD, imitation abilities are spared but they are not modulated according to the emotional and social context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Grecucci
- Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Study (SISSA/ISAS), via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy.
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Apicella F, Sicca F, Federico RR, Campatelli G, Muratori F. Fusiform Gyrus responses to neutral and emotional faces in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: a High Density ERP study. Behav Brain Res 2013; 251:155-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.10.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2012] [Revised: 10/18/2012] [Accepted: 10/23/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Charbonneau G, Bertone A, Lepore F, Nassim M, Lassonde M, Mottron L, Collignon O. Multilevel alterations in the processing of audio-visual emotion expressions in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:1002-10. [PMID: 23462241 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2012] [Revised: 01/27/2013] [Accepted: 02/13/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The abilities to recognize and integrate emotions from another person's facial and vocal expressions are fundamental cognitive skills involved in the effective regulation of social interactions. Deficits in such abilities have been suggested as a possible source for certain atypical social behaviors manifested by persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the present study, we assessed the recognition and integration of emotional expressions in ASD using a validated set of ecological stimuli comprised of dynamic visual and auditory (non-verbal) vocal clips. Autistic participants and typically developing controls (TD) were asked to discriminate between clips depicting expressions of disgust and fear presented either visually, auditorily or audio-visually. The group of autistic participants was less efficient to discriminate emotional expressions across all conditions (unimodal and bimodal). Moreover, they necessitated a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the discrimination of visual or auditory presentations of disgust versus fear expressions. These results suggest an altered sensitivity to emotion expressions in this population that is not modality-specific. In addition, the group of autistic participants benefited from exposure to bimodal information to a lesser extent than did the TD group, indicative of a decreased multisensory gain in this population. These results are the first to compellingly demonstrate joint alterations for both the perception and the integration of multisensory emotion expressions in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geneviève Charbonneau
- Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition-CERNEC, Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada
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45
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Nuske HJ, Vivanti G, Dissanayake C. Are emotion impairments unique to, universal, or specific in autism spectrum disorder? A comprehensive review. Cogn Emot 2013; 27:1042-61. [PMID: 23387530 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2012.762900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
There is widespread belief that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are "emotionally detached" from others. This comprehensive review examines the empirical evidence for this assumption, addressing three critical questions: (1) Are emotion-processing impairments universal in ASD? (2) Are they specific, or can they be explained by deficits in other domains? (3) Is the emotion processing profile seen in ASD unique to these conditions? Upon review of the literature (over 200 studies), we conclude that: (1) emotion-processing impairments might not be universal in ASD, as suggested by variability across participants and across emotion-processing tasks; (2) emotion-processing impairments might not be specific to ASD, as domain-general processes appear to account for some of these impairments; and (3) the specific pattern of emotion-processing strengths and weaknesses observed in ASD, involving difficulties with processing social versus non-social, and complex versus simple emotional information (with impairments more consistently reported on implicit than explicit emotion-processing tasks), appears to be unique to ASD. The emotion-processing profile observed in ASD might be best understood as resulting from heterogeneous vulnerabilities in different components of an "emotional communication system" that, in typical development, emerges from the interplay between domain-general cognitive, social and affective processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather J Nuske
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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46
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Mathersul D, McDonald S, Rushby JA. Automatic facial responses to affective stimuli in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder. Physiol Behav 2013; 109:14-22. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2012] [Revised: 09/05/2012] [Accepted: 10/05/2012] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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47
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Doyle-Thomas KAR, Goldberg J, Szatmari P, Hall GBC. Neurofunctional underpinnings of audiovisual emotion processing in teens with autism spectrum disorders. Front Psychiatry 2013; 4:48. [PMID: 23750139 PMCID: PMC3667547 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2013] [Accepted: 05/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite successful performance on some audiovisual emotion tasks, hypoactivity has been observed in frontal and temporal integration cortices in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Little is understood about the neurofunctional network underlying this ability in individuals with ASD. Research suggests that there may be processing biases in individuals with ASD, based on their ability to obtain meaningful information from the face and/or the voice. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined brain activity in teens with ASD (n = 18) and typically developing controls (n = 16) during audiovisual and unimodal emotion processing. Teens with ASD had a significantly lower accuracy when matching an emotional face to an emotion label. However, no differences in accuracy were observed between groups when matching an emotional voice or face-voice pair to an emotion label. In both groups brain activity during audiovisual emotion matching differed significantly from activity during unimodal emotion matching. Between-group analyses of audiovisual processing revealed significantly greater activation in teens with ASD in a parietofrontal network believed to be implicated in attention, goal-directed behaviors, and semantic processing. In contrast, controls showed greater activity in frontal and temporal association cortices during this task. These results suggest that in the absence of engaging integrative emotional networks during audiovisual emotion matching, teens with ASD may have recruited the parietofrontal network as an alternate compensatory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krissy A R Doyle-Thomas
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University , Hamilton, ON , Canada
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Sucksmith E, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Chakrabarti B, Hoekstra RA. Empathy and emotion recognition in people with autism, first-degree relatives, and controls. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:98-105. [PMID: 23174401 PMCID: PMC6345368 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2012] [Revised: 10/19/2012] [Accepted: 11/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Empathy is the lens through which we view others' emotion expressions, and respond to them. In this study, empathy and facial emotion recognition were investigated in adults with autism spectrum conditions (ASC; N=314), parents of a child with ASC (N=297) and IQ-matched controls (N=184). Participants completed a self-report measure of empathy (the Empathy Quotient [EQ]) and a modified version of the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces Task (KDEF) using an online test interface. Results showed that mean scores on the EQ were significantly lower in fathers (p<0.05) but not mothers (p>0.05) of children with ASC compared to controls, whilst both males and females with ASC obtained significantly lower EQ scores (p<0.001) than controls. On the KDEF, statistical analyses revealed poorer overall performance by adults with ASC (p<0.001) compared to the control group. When the 6 distinct basic emotions were analysed separately, the ASC group showed impaired performance across five out of six expressions (happy, sad, angry, afraid and disgusted). Parents of a child with ASC were not significantly worse than controls at recognising any of the basic emotions, after controlling for age and non-verbal IQ (all p>0.05). Finally, results indicated significant differences between males and females with ASC for emotion recognition performance (p<0.05) but not for self-reported empathy (p>0.05). These findings suggest that self-reported empathy deficits in fathers of autistic probands are part of the 'broader autism phenotype'. This study also reports new findings of sex differences amongst people with ASC in emotion recognition, as well as replicating previous work demonstrating empathy difficulties in adults with ASC. The use of empathy measures as quantitative endophenotypes for ASC is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Sucksmith
- Department of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
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Gaigg SB. The Interplay between Emotion and Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Developmental Theory. Front Integr Neurosci 2012; 6:113. [PMID: 23316143 PMCID: PMC3540960 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2012] [Accepted: 11/11/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is clinically defined by abnormalities in reciprocal social and communicative behaviors and an inflexible adherence to routinised patterns of thought and behavior. Laboratory studies repeatedly demonstrate that autistic individuals experience difficulties in recognizing and understanding the emotional expressions of others and naturalistic observations show that they use such expressions infrequently and inappropriately to regulate social exchanges. Dominant theories attribute this facet of the ASD phenotype to abnormalities in a social brain network that mediates social-motivational and social-cognitive processes such as face processing, mental state understanding, and empathy. Such theories imply that only emotion related processes relevant to social cognition are compromised in ASD but accumulating evidence suggests that the disorder may be characterized by more widespread anomalies in the domain of emotions. In this review I summarize the relevant literature and argue that the social-emotional characteristics of ASD may be better understood in terms of a disruption in the domain-general interplay between emotion and cognition. More specifically I will suggest that ASD is the developmental consequence of early emerging anomalies in how emotional responses to the environment modulate a wide range of cognitive processes including those that are relevant to navigating the social world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian B. Gaigg
- Department of Psychology, Autism Research Group, City University LondonLondon, UK
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Are autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder different manifestations of one overarching disorder? Cognitive and symptom evidence from a clinical and population-based sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2012; 51:1160-1172.e3. [PMID: 23101742 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2012.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2012] [Revised: 08/22/2012] [Accepted: 08/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently co-occur. Given the heterogeneity of both disorders, several more homogeneous ASD-ADHD comorbidity subgroups may exist. The current study examined whether such subgroups exist, and whether their overlap or distinctiveness in associated comorbid symptoms and cognitive profiles gives support for a gradient overarching disorder hypothesis or a separate disorders hypothesis. METHOD Latent class analysis was performed on Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R:L) data for 644 children and adolescents (5 through 17 years of age). Classes were compared for comorbid symptoms and cognitive profiles of motor speed and variability, executive functioning, attention, emotion recognition, and detail-focused processing style. RESULTS Latent class analysis revealed five classes: two without behavioral problems, one with only ADHD behavior, and two with both clinical symptom levels of ASD and ADHD but with one domain more prominent than the other (ADHD[+ASD] and ASD[+ADHD]). In accordance with the gradient overarching disorder hypothesis were the presence of an ADHD class without ASD symptoms and the absence of an ASD class without ADHD symptoms, as well as cognitive functioning of the simple ADHD class being less impaired than that of both comorbid classes. In conflict with this hypothesis was that there was some specificity of cognitive deficits across classes. CONCLUSIONS The overlapping cognitive deficits may be used to further unravel the shared etiological underpinnings of ASD and ADHD, and the nonoverlapping deficits may indicate why some children develop ADHD despite their enhanced risk for ASD. The two subtypes of children with both ASD and ADHD behavior will most likely benefit from different clinical approaches.
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