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Ujfalussy DJ, Gergely A, Petró E, Topál J. ASD-similar social behaviour scores affect stimulus generalization in family dogs. Sci Rep 2024; 14:18578. [PMID: 39127863 PMCID: PMC11316795 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69610-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 08/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Generalization, the tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli, is one of the main cognitive abilities that make category formation possible and thus is a prerequisite for efficiency in learning. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience pervasive difficulty with producing generalized responses across materials, people, places, and contexts. Increasing evidence suggests that "ASD-like" social impairments appear endogenously and spontaneously in family dogs providing a high-validity model for understanding the phenotypic expression of human ASD. The present study aims to further investigate the dog model of ASD by the approach of searching for analogues in dogs showing "ASD-like" social impairments of cognitive phenomena in humans specific to ASD, specifically impairments of generalization abilities. We have tested 18 family dogs with formerly established "ASD-like" behaviour scores (F1, F2, F3) in a generalization task involving three conditions (size, colour and texture). We found a significant association between F1 scores and test performance as well as improvement during testing sessions. Our study provides further support for the notion that dogs with lower social competence-similarly to humans with ASD-exhibit attentional and perceptual abnormalities, such as being sensitive to minor changes to a non-adaptive extent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorottya J Ujfalussy
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok krt. 2, Budapest, 1117, Hungary.
- NAP 3.0 Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary.
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Anna Gergely
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok krt. 2, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
- NAP 3.0 Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Eszter Petró
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok krt. 2, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
| | - József Topál
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok krt. 2, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
- NAP 3.0 Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
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2
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Li W, Huang B, Song Y, Hou L, Shi W. Altered neural mechanisms of deception in individuals with autistic traits. Brain Cogn 2023; 170:106005. [PMID: 37320929 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.106005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
A successful deception involves making a decision, acting on it, and evaluating results. Here, we investigated deception in a non-clinical sample (n = 36) with varying autism traits using a coin-toss paradigm of active deception. The subjects were asked to react to the instructions by clicking one of the two boxes that could mislead their opponents, followed by feedback on their success or failure. During this reaction, their EEG activity was recorded, and the results suggested that people with high autistic traits exhibited longer reaction times and lower amplitude of P3 in the decision-making stage compared to individuals with low autistic traits. The feedback evaluation stage in the high autistic trait group elicited lower amplitude of FRN and P3. Overall, these results indicated that people with high autistic traits experienced difficulties in deceiving, which could be related to atypical neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenrui Li
- School of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200000, China
| | - Bowen Huang
- School of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200000, China
| | - Youming Song
- Department of Psychology, College of Education Science, Yan'an University, Yan'an 716000, China
| | - Lulu Hou
- School of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200000, China
| | - Wendian Shi
- School of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200000, China.
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3
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Tarasi L, Borgomaneri S, Romei V. Antivax attitude in the general population along the autism-schizophrenia continuum and the impact of socio-demographic factors. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1059676. [PMID: 37151316 PMCID: PMC10161933 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1059676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction One of the most important inventions in human history is vaccines. However, to date a consistent amount of people exhibit a hesitant approach toward them and mixed results have emerged in the attempt to characterize which factors may play a role in predicting such negative attitude. Here, we aimed at investigating how the individual scoring along the autism-schizophrenic continuum component and socio-cultural factors contribute toward vaccination attitudes in the general population. Methods To test whether individual position along the autism-schizophrenic continuum could predict vaccine attitude, we used principal component analysis (PCA) to extract the component showing diametric loading between the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and Autistic Quotient (AQ) subscales. Then, we performed a series of multiple linear regression analyses to understand the relation between the ASD-SSD continuum component and Vax scores. We also included socio-demographic factors (i.e., gender, education level, and age) as predictors. Results Multiple regression analysis revealed that the closer the individual lied on the positive schizotypal pole, the higher was their negative attitude toward vaccines. A diametric, more favorable disposition was found for individuals closer to the autistic end of the continuum. Furthermore, we reported that among the socio-cultural factors, only age can be considered a significant predictor of vaccination attitudes, with younger participants showing a more positive attitudes toward vaccination, while the level of education is an important protective factor in mitigating the negative impact that the proximity to the SSD pole and age play against vaccination disposition. Discussion These findings are relevant to improve targeted public health interventions, highlighting the crucial role of demographic, psychological, and social correlates in predicting anti-vax beliefs, which have the devasting potential to increase the spread of infectious disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Tarasi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna and Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Sara Borgomaneri
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna and Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna and Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- *Correspondence: Vincenzo Romei,
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Ursino M, Serra M, Tarasi L, Ricci G, Magosso E, Romei V. Bottom-up vs. top-down connectivity imbalance in individuals with high-autistic traits: An electroencephalographic study. Front Syst Neurosci 2022; 16:932128. [PMID: 36032324 PMCID: PMC9412751 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.932128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain connectivity is often altered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is little consensus on the nature of these alterations, with studies pointing to either increased or decreased connectivity strength across the broad autism spectrum. An important confound in the interpretation of these contradictory results is the lack of information about the directionality of the tested connections. Here, we aimed at disambiguating these confounds by measuring differences in directed connectivity using EEG resting-state recordings in individuals with low and high autistic traits. Brain connectivity was estimated using temporal Granger Causality applied to cortical signals reconstructed from EEG. Between-group differences were summarized using centrality indices taken from graph theory (in degree, out degree, authority, and hubness). Results demonstrate that individuals with higher autistic traits exhibited a significant increase in authority and in degree in frontal regions involved in high-level mechanisms (emotional regulation, decision-making, and social cognition), suggesting that anterior areas mostly receive information from more posterior areas. Moreover, the same individuals exhibited a significant increase in the hubness and out degree over occipital regions (especially the left and right pericalcarine regions, where the primary visual cortex is located), suggesting that these areas mostly send information to more anterior regions. Hubness and authority appeared to be more sensitive indices than the in degree and out degree. The observed brain connectivity differences suggest that, in individual with higher autistic traits, bottom-up signaling overcomes top-down channeled flow. This imbalance may contribute to some behavioral alterations observed in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Ursino
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- *Correspondence: Mauro Ursino,
| | - Michele Serra
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Giulia Ricci
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Elisa Magosso
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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Recognition and Optimization Analysis of Urban Public Sports Facilities Based on Intelligent Image Processing. COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 2021:8948248. [PMID: 34899898 PMCID: PMC8660230 DOI: 10.1155/2021/8948248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
In the utilization of urban public facilities, it is found that the number of people under 18 years who exercise accounts for 29.5% of the total number of people surveyed, 32.8% between 18 and 65 years, and 37.7% over 65 years. The elderly have become the main population of public facilities, and the aging of cities is becoming more and more obvious. Strengthening the construction and development of urban public facilities has become the main work of current urban construction, and planning public facilities can effectively alleviate the pressure of urban public facilities. Through image recognition to promote urban sports public service, we improve the management efficiency of urban sports public service, facilitate residents' sports, and improve residents' satisfaction and happiness index. Through image recognition to manage portraits and objects, the safety of residents' sports and sports facilities is guaranteed, and the management efficiency is improved. The experimental results show that R-CNN, FAST R-CNN, and Faster R-CNN in urban public facilities can be intelligently recognized by image recognition technology for comparison. Faster R-CNN has good accuracy and low average time. Finally, the study analyzes the service cost of public facilities, compared with traditional public services, with the application of public services under image recognition, so as to guide different groups of people to make full use of public service facilities to improve their quality of life and realize the good behavior of the national movement.
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Faghel-Soubeyrand S, Kloess JA, Gosselin F, Charest I, Woodhams J. Diagnostic Features for Human Categorisation of Adult and Child Faces. Front Psychol 2021; 12:775338. [PMID: 34867686 PMCID: PMC8640236 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775338] [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] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowing how humans differentiate children from adults has useful implications in many areas of both forensic and cognitive psychology. Yet, how we extract age from faces has been surprisingly underexplored in both disciplines. Here, we used a novel data-driven experimental technique to objectively measure the facial features human observers use to categorise child and adult faces. Relying on more than 35,000 trials, we used a reverse correlation technique that enabled us to reveal how specific features which are known to be important in face-perception - position, spatial-frequency (SF), and orientation - are associated with accurate child and adult discrimination. This showed that human observers relied on evidence in the nasal bone and eyebrow area for accurate adult categorisation, while they relied on the eye and jawline area to accurately categorise child faces. For orientation structure, only facial information of vertical orientation was linked to face-adult categorisation, while features of horizontal and, to a lesser extent oblique orientations, were more diagnostic of a child face. Finally, we found that SF diagnosticity showed a U-shaped pattern for face-age categorisation, with information in low and high SFs being diagnostic of child faces, and mid SFs being diagnostic of adult faces. Through this first characterisation of the facial features of face-age categorisation, we show that important information found in psychophysical studies of face-perception in general (i.e., the eye area, horizontals, and mid-level SFs) is crucial to the practical context of face-age categorisation, and present data-driven procedures through which face-age classification training could be implemented for real-world challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Faghel-Soubeyrand
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Juliane A Kloess
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Frédéric Gosselin
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Ian Charest
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Woodhams
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Tarasi L, Trajkovic J, Diciotti S, di Pellegrino G, Ferri F, Ursino M, Romei V. Predictive waves in the autism-schizophrenia continuum: A novel biobehavioral model. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:1-22. [PMID: 34774901 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The brain is a predictive machine. Converging data suggests a diametric predictive strategy from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to schizophrenic spectrum disorders (SSD). Whereas perceptual inference in ASD is rigidly shaped by incoming sensory information, the SSD population is prone to overestimate the precision of their priors' models. Growing evidence considers brain oscillations pivotal biomarkers to understand how top-down predictions integrate bottom-up input. Starting from the conceptualization of ASD and SSD as oscillopathies, we introduce an integrated perspective that ascribes the maladjustments of the predictive mechanism to dysregulation of neural synchronization. According to this proposal, disturbances in the oscillatory profile do not allow the appropriate trade-off between descending predictive signal, overweighted in SSD, and ascending prediction errors, overweighted in ASD. These opposing imbalances both result in an ill-adapted reaction to external challenges. This approach offers a neuro-computational model capable of linking predictive coding theories with electrophysiological findings, aiming to increase knowledge on the neuronal foundations of the two spectra features and stimulate hypothesis-driven rehabilitation/research perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy.
| | - Jelena Trajkovic
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Stefano Diciotti
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy; Alma Mater Research Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Francesca Ferri
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Mauro Ursino
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy.
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The Directionality of Fronto-Posterior Brain Connectivity Is Associated with the Degree of Individual Autistic Traits. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11111443. [PMID: 34827442 PMCID: PMC8615575 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11111443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Altered patterns of brain connectivity have been found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and associated with specific symptoms and behavioral features. Growing evidence suggests that the autistic peculiarities are not confined to the clinical population but extend along a continuum between healthy and maladaptive conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a differentiated connectivity pattern could also be tracked along the continuum of autistic traits in a non-clinical population. A Granger causality analysis conducted on a resting-state EEG recording showed that connectivity along the posterior-frontal gradient is sensitive to the magnitude of individual autistic traits and mostly conveyed through fast oscillatory activity. Specifically, participants with higher autistic traits were characterized by a prevalence of ascending connections starting from posterior regions ramping the cortical hierarchy. These findings point to the presence of a tendency within the neural mapping of individuals with higher autistic features in conveying proportionally more bottom-up information. This pattern of findings mimics those found in clinical forms of autism, supporting the idea of a neurobiological continuum between autistic traits and ASD.
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Xu J, Chen X, Sun Y, Shi Y, Teng F, Lv M, Liu C, Jia X. The Regulation Network and Clinical Significance of Circular RNAs in Breast Cancer. Front Oncol 2021; 11:691317. [PMID: 34307155 PMCID: PMC8299466 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.691317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women worldwide. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a class of structurally stable non-coding RNA with a covalently closed circular structure. In recent years, with the development of high-throughput RNA sequencing, many circRNAs have been discovered and have proven to be clinically significant in the development and progression of breast cancer. Importantly, several regulators of circRNA biogenesis have been discovered. Here, we systematically summarize recent progress regarding the network of regulation governing the biogenesis, degradation, and distribution of circRNAs, and we comprehensively analyze the functions, mechanisms, and clinical significance of circRNA in breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Xu
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiyi Chen
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yu Sun
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yaqian Shi
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Fang Teng
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Mingming Lv
- Department of Breast, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chen Liu
- Department of Medical Genetics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuemei Jia
- Deparment of Gynecology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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