Separate components of emotional go/no-go performance relate to autism versus attention symptoms in children with autism

Acute effects of exercise on gaze fixation and affective response inhibition in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized cross-over study

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in response inhibition, especially in socio-emotional contexts. A single aerobic exercise session has the potential to temporarily reduce such impairments as findings from neurotypical children support acute benefits of this exercise type for inhibitory control and emotion recognition. In children with ASD, we therefore aimed to investigate the effects of an aerobic exercise bout on response inhibition in an emotional Go/NoGo task and gaze fixation as possible mechanism underlying changes in performance. Using a cross-over design, 29 patients completed a 20-min aerobic exercise bout at moderate intensity on a cycling ergometer and a control condition in a randomized order. An emotional Go/NoGo task was administered before and after both experimental conditions. Eye-tracking was performed during the cognitive task to assess the duration of gaze fixation of eyes and mouth parts of faces expressing happy or sad emotions. The results support no beneficial effect of exercise on performance on the emotional Go/NoGo task. Instead, patients showed a greater decrease in accuracy on Go trials displaying happy faces in the exercise compared to the control condition. This change was associated with a more pronounced decrease in the fixation duration of the eyes for faces expressing either happy or sad emotions. In conclusion, while a single session of moderately intense aerobic exercise does not affect response inhibition, it temporarily aggravates ASD-specific deficits in the processing of and response to facial emotions.

Prenatal PM2.5 exposure in the second and third trimesters predicts neurocognitive performance at age 9-10 years: A cohort study of Mexico City children

INTRODUCTION

Prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) is an important, under-studied risk factor for neurodevelopmental dysfunction. We describe the relationships between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and vigilance and inhibitory control, executive functions related to multiple health outcomes in Mexico City children.

METHODS

We studied 320 children enrolled in Programming Research in Obesity, GRowth, Environment and Social Stressors, a longitudinal birth cohort study in Mexico City. We used a spatio-temporal model to estimate daily prenatal PM2.5 exposure at each participant's residential address. At age 9-10 years, children performed three Go/No-Go tasks, which measure vigilance and inhibitory control ability. We used Latent class analysis (LCA) to classify performance into subgroups that reflected neurocognitive performance and applied multivariate regression and distributed lag regression modeling (DLM) to test overall and time-dependent associations between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and Go/No-Go performance.

RESULTS

LCA detected two Go/No-Go phenotypes: high performers (Class 1) and low performers (Class 2). Predicting odds of Class 1 vs Class 2 membership based on prenatal PM2.5 exposure timing, logistic regression modeling showed that average prenatal PM2.5 exposure in the second and third trimesters correlated with increased odds of membership in low-performance Class 2 (OR = 1.59 (1.16, 2.17), p = 0.004). Additionally, DLM analysis identified a critical window consisting of gestational days 103-268 (second and third trimesters) in which prenatal PM2.5 exposure predicted poorer Go/No-Go performance.

DISCUSSION

Increased prenatal PM2.5 exposure predicted decreased vigilance and inhibitory control at age 9-10 years. These findings highlight the second and third trimesters of gestation as critical windows of PM2.5 exposure for the development of vigilance and inhibitory control in preadolescent children. Because childhood development of vigilance and inhibitory control informs behavior, academic performance, and self-regulation into adulthood, these results may help to describe the relationship of prenatal PM2.5 exposure to long-term health and psychosocial outcomes. The integrative methodology of this study also contributes to a shift towards more holistic analysis.

Interventions with Serious Games and Entertainment Games in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

The use of serious games and entertainment games was compared as adjuvant tools for intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A comprehensive search was performed in the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. From 295 studies, 53 studies were selected and included in this review. Overall, studies showed improvement after intervention, regardless of the type of video games, mostly for social skills and behavior. However, these changes should be regarded with caution, as they are limited to the tests applied. Furthermore, neither the entertainment nor the serious approach had a therapeutic impact on emotional resilience, representing the current gap in the field. Thus, even considering the limitations, our study is important because it shows that both categories have strengths.

Rigidity coincides with reduced cognitive control to affective cues in children with autism

The present study tested whether salient affective cues would negatively influence cognitive control in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One hundred children aged 6-12 years who were either typically developing or had ASD performed a novel go/no-go task to cues of their interest versus cues of noninterest. Linear mixed-effects (LME) models for hit rate, false alarms, and the sensitivity index d' were used to test for group differences. Caregivers completed the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised to test associations between repetitive behaviors and task performance. Children with ASD had reduced cognitive control toward their interests compared with typically developing children. Further, children with ASD showed reduced cognitive control to interests compared with noninterests, a pattern not observed in typically developing children. Decreased cognitive control toward interests was associated with higher insistence on sameness behavior in ASD, but there was no association between sameness behavior and cognitive control for noninterests. Together, children with ASD demonstrated decreased cognitive flexibility in the context of increased affective salience related to interests. These results provide a mechanism for how salient affective cues, such as interests, interfere with daily functioning and social communication in ASD. Further, the findings have broader clinical implications for understanding how affective cues can drive interactions between restricted patterns of behavior and cognitive control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Overlapping and Distinct Cognitive Impairments in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Autism Spectrum Disorder without Intellectual Disability

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are commonly comorbid, share genetic liability, and often exhibit overlapping cognitive impairments. Clarification of shared and distinct cognitive effects while considering comorbid symptoms across disorders has been lacking. In the current study, children ages 7-15 years assigned to three diagnostic groups:ADHD (n = 509), ASD (n = 97), and controls (n = 301) completed measures spanning the cognitive domains of attention/arousal, working memory, set-shifting, inhibition, and response variability. Specific processes contributing to response variability were examined using a drift diffusion model, which separately quantified drift rate (i.e., efficiency of information processing), boundary separation (i.e., speed-accuracy trade-offs), and non-decision time. Children with ADHD and ASD were impaired on attention/arousal, processing speed, working memory, and response inhibition, but did not differ from controls on measures of delayed reward discounting, set-shifting, or interference control. Overall, impairments in the ASD group were not attributable to ADHD symptoms using either continuous symptom measures or latent categorical grouping approaches. Similarly, impairments in the ADHD group were not attributable to ASD symptoms. When specific RT parameters were considered, children with ADHD and ASD shared impairments in drift rate. However, children with ASD were uniquely characterized by a wider boundary separation. Findings suggest a combination of overlapping and unique patterns of cognitive impairment for children with ASD as compared to those with ADHD, particularly when the processes underlying reaction time measures are considered separately.

Symptoms of ADHD Affect Intrasubject Variability in Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Ex-Gaussian Analysis

Increased intrasubject variability in reaction times (RT-ISV) is frequently found in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, how dimensional attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms impact RT-ISV in individuals with ASD remains elusive. We assessed 97 high-functioning youths with co-occurring ASD and ADHD (ASD+ADHD), 124 high-functioning youths with ASD only, 98 youths with ADHD only, and 249 typically developing youths, 8-18 years of age, using the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CCPT). We compared the conventional CCPT parameters (omission errors, commission errors, mean RT and RT standard error (RTSE) as well as the ex-Gaussian parameters of RT (mu, sigma, and tau) across the four groups. We also conducted regression analyses to assess the relationships between RT indices and symptoms of ADHD and ASD in the ASD group (i.e., the ASD+ADHD and ASD-only groups). The ASD+ADHD and ADHD-only groups had higher RT-ISV than the other two groups. RT-ISV, specifically RTSE and tau, was significantly associated with ADHD symptoms rather than autistic traits in the ASD group. Regression models also revealed that sex partly accounted for RT-ISV variance in the ASD group. A post hoc analysis showed girls with ASD had higher tau and RTSE values than their male counterparts. Our results suggest that RT-ISV is primarily associated with co-occurring ADHD symptoms/diagnosis in children and adolescents with ASD. These results do not support the hypothesis of response variability as a transdiagnostic phenotype for ASD and ADHD and warrant further validation at a neural level.

Neural correlates of preferred activities: development of an interest-specific go/nogo task

The activities we choose to spend our leisure time with are intrinsically motivating and vary across individuals. Yet it is unknown how impulse control or neural activity changes when processing a preferred stimulus related to a hobby or interest. Developing a task that assesses the response to preferred interests is of importance as it would be relevant to a range of psychiatric disorders that have hyper- or hypo-arousal to such cues. During functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), 39 healthy adults completed a novel task to test approach behavior and cognitive control to cues that were personalized to the participants' interests compared to stimuli the participants identified as being of non-interest and colored shapes. fMRI results showed that cues of one's interest elicited activation in the anterior insula compared to colored shapes. Interests did not change inhibition compared to non-interests and colored shapes and all stimuli equally engaged a frontostriatal circuit. Together the results suggest that adults were sensitive to their interests but were effective at regulating their impulses towards these cues, a skill that is critical for navigating the temptations and distractions in our daily environment.

Evaluation of the ADHD Rating Scale in Youth with Autism

Scientists and clinicians regularly use clinical screening tools for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to assess comorbidity without empirical evidence that these measures are valid in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined the prevalence of youth meeting ADHD criteria on the ADHD rating scale fourth edition (ADHD-RS-IV), the relationship of ADHD-RS-IV ratings with participant characteristics and behaviors, and its underlying factor structure in 386, 7-17 year olds with ASD without intellectual disability. Expected parent prevalence rates, relationships with age and externalizing behaviors were observed, but confirmatory factor analyses revealed unsatisfactory fits for one-, two-, three-factor models. Exploratory analyses revealed several items cross-loading on multiple factors. Implications of screening ADHD in youth with ASD using current diagnostic criteria are discussed.

Face Recognition, Musical Appraisal, and Emotional Crossmodal Bias

Recent research on the crossmodal integration of visual and auditory perception suggests that evaluations of emotional information in one sensory modality may tend toward the emotional value generated in another sensory modality. This implies that the emotions elicited by musical stimuli can influence the perception of emotional stimuli presented in other sensory modalities, through a top-down process. The aim of this work was to investigate how crossmodal perceptual processing influences emotional face recognition and how potential modulation of this processing induced by music could be influenced by the subject's musical competence. We investigated how emotional face recognition processing could be modulated by listening to music and how this modulation varies according to the subjective emotional salience of the music and the listener's musical competence. The sample consisted of 24 participants: 12 professional musicians and 12 university students (non-musicians). Participants performed an emotional go/no-go task whilst listening to music by Albeniz, Chopin, or Mozart. The target stimuli were emotionally neutral facial expressions. We examined the N170 Event-Related Potential (ERP) and behavioral responses (i.e., motor reaction time to target recognition and musical emotional judgment). A linear mixed-effects model and a decision-tree learning technique were applied to N170 amplitudes and latencies. The main findings of the study were that musicians' behavioral responses and N170 is more affected by the emotional value of music administered in the emotional go/no-go task and this bias is also apparent in responses to the non-target emotional face. This suggests that emotional information, coming from multiple sensory channels, activates a crossmodal integration process that depends upon the stimuli emotional salience and the listener's appraisal.

Sex differences in parent-reported executive functioning and adaptive behavior in children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder

This study is the largest to date examining executive function and adaptive skills in females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Its primary aim was to utilize parent ratings of real-world executive functioning and adaptive behavior to better understand whether females with ASD differ from males with ASD in these areas of everyday functioning. We compared 79 females with ASD to 158 males with ASD (ages 7-18) who were statistically matched on age, IQ, and level of ADHD or ASD traits. All participants were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and a subset (56 females and 130 males) also received the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). Females were rated by parents as having greater problems with executive function on the BRIEF. Parents also rated females as exhibiting more difficulties than males on the Daily Living Skills domain of the VABS. There was a correlation between increased global EF difficulty and decreased adaptive ability in both males and females. Our results indicate relative weaknesses for females compared to males diagnosed with ASD on executive function and daily living skills. These differences occur in the absence of sex differences in our sample in age, IQ, clinician ratings of core ASD symptomatology, parent ratings of ADHD symptoms, and parent-reported social and communication adaptive skills on the VABS. These findings indicate specific liabilities in real world EF and daily living skills for females with ASD and have important implications for targeting their treatments. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1653-1662. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social-Emotional Inhibition of Return in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Versus Typical Development

In typical development there is a bias to orient visual attention to social information. Children with ASD do not reliably demonstrate this bias, and the role of attention orienting has not been well studied. We examined attention orienting via the inhibition of return (IOR) mechanism in a spatial cueing task using social-emotional cues; we studied 8- to 17-year-old children with ASD (n = 41) and typically developing controls (TDC) (n = 25). The ASD group exhibited a significantly stronger IOR effect than the TDC group, and the IOR effect correlated positively with social impairments but was unrelated to co-occurring ADHD or anxiety symptoms. The results provide evidence of an early altered attention mechanism that is associated with to core social deficits in ASD.

The role of interstimulus interval and "Stimulus-type" in prepotent response inhibition abilities in people with ASD: A quantitative and qualitative review

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with prepotent response inhibition difficulties. However, the large variation between studies suggests that understudied factors, such as interstimulus interval (ISI) and "stimulus-type" (both hypothesized proxies of stressors influencing arousal), might influence the inhibitory abilities of people with ASD. Using meta-analysis, we tested whether differences in prepotent response inhibition between people with and without ASD was influenced by ISI. There was not enough variation in "stimulus-type" between the studies to include it as a moderator. Thirty-seven studies met inclusion criteria, with a combined sample size of 950 people with ASD and 966 typically developing controls. Additionally, a qualitative review including studies comparing a neutral and an arousing condition in one experiment was performed to examine whether fast ISI or specific arousing stimuli directly influence prepotent response inhibition. The meta-analysis indicated that ISI was not a relevant moderator. The qualitative review showed that ISI and "stimulus-type" had the same effect for both groups. Although all studies regarding ISI indicated that fast ISI worsened performance, different types of stimuli had either a positive or a negative influence. This could suggest that distinctive stimuli might affect arousal differently. While we replicated the inhibition difficulties in people with ASD (g = .51), our results do not show strong ASD-specific effects of ISI or "stimulus-type" on inhibition. Nonetheless, ISI and "stimulus-type" do seem to influence performance. Future research focusing on potential underlying factors (e.g., baseline physiological arousal) is needed to examine why this is the case. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1124-1141. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An update on the comorbidity of ADHD and ASD: a focus on clinical management

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly co-occur. With the DSM-5, clinicians are permitted to make an ASD diagnosis in the context of ADHD. In earlier versions of the DSM, this was not acceptable. Both ASD and ADHD are reported to have had substantial increases in prevalence within the past 10 years. As a function of both the increased prevalence of both disorders as well as the ability to make an ASD diagnosis in ADHD, there has been a significant amount of research focusing on the comorbidity between ADHD and ASD in the past few years. Here, we provide an update on the biological, cognitive and behavioral overlap/distinctiveness between the two neurodevelopmental disorders with a focus on data published in the last four years. Treatment strategies for the comorbid condition as well as future areas of research and clinical need are discussed.

Neural systems mediating decision-making and response inhibition for social and nonsocial stimuli in autism

Autism is marked by impairments in social reciprocity and communication, along with restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. Prior studies have separately investigated social processing and executive function in autism, but little is known about the brain mechanisms of cognitive control for both emotional and nonemotional stimuli. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify differences in neurocircuitry between individuals with high functioning autism (HFA) and neurotypical controls during two versions of a go/no-go task: emotional (fear and happy faces) and nonemotional (English letters). During the letter task, HFA participants showed hypoactivation in the ventral prefrontal cortex. During the emotion task, happy faces elicited activation in the ventral striatum, nucleus accumbens and anterior amygdala in neurotypical, but not HFA, participants. Response inhibition for fear faces compared with happy faces recruited occipitotemporal regions in HFA, but not neurotypical, participants. In a direct contrast of emotional no-go and letter no-go blocks, HFA participants showed hyperactivation in extrastriate cortex and fusiform gyrus. Accuracy for emotional no-go trials was negatively correlated with activation in fusiform gyrus in the HFA group. These results indicate that autism is associated with abnormal processing in socioemotional brain networks, and support the theory that autism is marked by a social motivational deficit.

Reprint of "Deficits of hot executive function in developmental coordination disorder: Sensitivity to positive social cues"

Recent research shows that children with motor coordination problems (or developmental coordination disorder--DCD) show deficits in not only cool executive function (EF), but also hot EF. We aimed to determine whether this deficit of hot EF is due to heightened sensitivity to rewarding stimuli, specifically, or to a general deficit of cognitive control, like inhibition. Using two versions of a go/no-go task, one with neutral facial expressions and the other with happy and fearful faces, we compared 12 children with DCD with 28 typically-developing children, aged 7-12 years. Like earlier studies, children responded faster to happy faces. Both groups showed comparable accuracy in response to go targets, and also had similar commission errors, except when the no-go stimulus was a happy face. Importantly, the DCD group made significantly more commission errors to happy faces failing to suppress their response on more than half of the no-go trials. These results suggest a heightened sensitivity to emotionally significant distractors in DCD; this type of impulsivity may undermine self-regulation in DCD, with possible implications for adaptive function and emotional well-being. We argue that the interaction of cognitive control and emotion processing networks may be disrupted in DCD or delayed in development.