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Keating J, Hashmi S, Vanderwert RE, Davies RM, Jones CRG, Gerson SA. Embracing neurodiversity in doll play: Investigating neural and language correlates of doll play in a neurodiverse sample. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 60:4097-4114. [PMID: 37731194 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16144] [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: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Doll play may provide opportunities for children to rehearse social interactions, even when playing alone. Previous research has found that the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) was more engaged when children played with dolls alone, compared to playing with tablet games alone. Children's use of internal state language (ISL) about others was also associated with pSTS activity. As differences in social cognition are frequently observed in autistic people, we were interested in the brain and language correlates of doll play in children with varying levels of autistic traits. We investigated children's (N = 57, mean age = 6.72, SD = 1.53) use of ISL and their pSTS brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as they played with dolls and tablet games, both alone and with a social partner. We also investigated whether there were any effects of autistic traits using the parent-report Autism Spectrum Quotient-Children's Version (AQ-Child). We found that the left pSTS was engaged more as children played with dolls or a tablet with a partner, and when playing with dolls alone, compared to when playing with a tablet alone. Relations between language and neural correlates of social processing were distinct based on the degree of autistic traits. For children with fewer autistic traits, greater pSTS activity was associated with using ISL about others. For children with more autistic traits, greater pSTS activity was associated with experimenter talk during solo play. These divergent pathways highlight the importance of embracing neurodiversity in children's play patterns to best support their development through play.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Keating
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science (CUCHDS), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Salim Hashmi
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Ross E Vanderwert
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science (CUCHDS), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Rhys M Davies
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science (CUCHDS), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Catherine R G Jones
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science (CUCHDS), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Sarah A Gerson
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science (CUCHDS), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
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Jording M, Hartz A, Vogel DHV, Schulte-Rüther M, Vogeley K. Impaired recognition of interactive intentions in adults with autism spectrum disorder not attributable to differences in visual attention or coordination via eye contact and joint attention. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8297. [PMID: 38594289 PMCID: PMC11004189 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58696-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Altered nonverbal communication patterns especially with regard to gaze interactions are commonly reported for persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study we investigate and differentiate for the first time the interplay of attention allocation, the establishment of shared focus (eye contact and joint attention) and the recognition of intentions in gaze interactions in adults with ASD compared to control persons. Participants interacted via gaze with a virtual character (VC), who they believed was controlled by another person. Participants were instructed to ascertain whether their partner was trying to interact with them. In fact, the VC was fully algorithm-controlled and showed either interactive or non-interactive gaze behavior. Participants with ASD were specifically impaired in ascertaining whether their partner was trying to interact with them or not as compared to participants without ASD whereas neither the allocation of attention nor the ability to establish a shared focus were affected. Thus, perception and production of gaze cues seem preserved while the evaluation of gaze cues appeared to be impaired. An additional exploratory analysis suggests that especially the interpretation of contingencies between the interactants' actions are altered in ASD and should be investigated more closely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathis Jording
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
| | - Arne Hartz
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH, Aachen, Germany
| | - David H V Vogel
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Martin Schulte-Rüther
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH, Aachen, Germany
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine - University Hospital Heidelberg, Ruprechts-Karls University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kai Vogeley
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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3
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Ibrahim K, Iturmendi-Sabater I, Vasishth M, Barron DS, Guardavaccaro M, Funaro MC, Holmes A, McCarthy G, Eickhoff SB, Sukhodolsky DG. Neural circuit disruptions of eye gaze processing in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Schizophr Res 2024; 264:298-313. [PMID: 38215566 PMCID: PMC10922721 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impairment in social cognition, particularly eye gaze processing, is a shared feature common to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. However, it is unclear if a convergent neural mechanism also underlies gaze dysfunction in these conditions. The present study examined whether this shared eye gaze phenotype is reflected in a profile of convergent neurobiological dysfunction in ASD and schizophrenia. METHODS Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted on peak voxel coordinates across the whole brain to identify spatial convergence. Functional coactivation with regions emerging as significant was assessed using meta-analytic connectivity modeling. Functional decoding was also conducted. RESULTS Fifty-six experiments (n = 30 with schizophrenia and n = 26 with ASD) from 36 articles met inclusion criteria, which comprised 354 participants with ASD, 275 with schizophrenia and 613 healthy controls (1242 participants in total). In ASD, aberrant activation was found in the left amygdala relative to unaffected controls during gaze processing. In schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area. Across ASD and schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus during gaze processing. Functional decoding mapped the left amygdala to domains related to emotion processing and cognition, the right inferior frontal gyrus to cognition and perception, and the right fusiform gyrus to visual perception, spatial cognition, and emotion perception. These regions also showed meta-analytic connectivity to frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry. CONCLUSION Alterations in frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry emerged as neural markers of gaze impairments in ASD and schizophrenia. These findings have implications for advancing transdiagnostic biomarkers to inform targeted treatments for ASD and schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America.
| | | | - Maya Vasishth
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
| | - Daniel S Barron
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, United States of America; Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America
| | | | - Melissa C Funaro
- Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, United States of America
| | - Avram Holmes
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Gregory McCarthy
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Denis G Sukhodolsky
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
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Siddiqui M, Pinti P, Brigadoi S, Lloyd-Fox S, Elwell CE, Johnson MH, Tachtsidis I, Jones EJH. Using multi-modal neuroimaging to characterise social brain specialisation in infants. eLife 2023; 12:e84122. [PMID: 37818944 PMCID: PMC10624424 DOI: 10.7554/elife.84122] [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: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The specialised regional functionality of the mature human cortex partly emerges through experience-dependent specialisation during early development. Our existing understanding of functional specialisation in the infant brain is based on evidence from unitary imaging modalities and has thus focused on isolated estimates of spatial or temporal selectivity of neural or haemodynamic activation, giving an incomplete picture. We speculate that functional specialisation will be underpinned by better coordinated haemodynamic and metabolic changes in a broadly orchestrated physiological response. To enable researchers to track this process through development, we develop new tools that allow the simultaneous measurement of coordinated neural activity (EEG), metabolic rate, and oxygenated blood supply (broadband near-infrared spectroscopy) in the awake infant. In 4- to 7-month-old infants, we use these new tools to show that social processing is accompanied by spatially and temporally specific increases in coupled activation in the temporal-parietal junction, a core hub region of the adult social brain. During non-social processing, coupled activation decreased in the same region, indicating specificity to social processing. Coupling was strongest with high-frequency brain activity (beta and gamma), consistent with the greater energetic requirements and more localised action of high-frequency brain activity. The development of simultaneous multimodal neural measures will enable future researchers to open new vistas in understanding functional specialisation of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maheen Siddiqui
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Paola Pinti
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Sabrina Brigadoi
- Department of Development and Social Psychology, University of PadovaPadovaItaly
- Department of Information Engineering, University of PadovaPadovaItaly
| | - Sarah Lloyd-Fox
- Department of Psychology, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Clare E Elwell
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Mark H Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Ilias Tachtsidis
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Emily JH Jones
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
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Jayashankar A, Bynum B, Butera C, Kilroy E, Harrison L, Aziz-Zadeh L. Connectivity differences between inferior frontal gyrus and mentalizing network in autism as compared to developmental coordination disorder and non-autistic youth. Cortex 2023; 167:115-131. [PMID: 37549452 PMCID: PMC10543516 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.014] [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: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
Prior studies have compared neural connectivity during mentalizing tasks in autism (ASD) to non-autistic individuals and found reduced connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and mentalizing regions. However, given that the IFG is involved in motor processing, and about 80% of autistic individuals have motor-related difficulties, it is necessary to explore if these differences are specific to ASD or instead similar across other developmental motor disorders, such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Participants (29 ASD, 20 DCD, 31 typically developing [TD]; ages 8-17) completed a mentalizing task in the fMRI scanner, where they were asked to think about why someone was performing an action. Results indicated that the ASD group, as compared to both TD and DCD groups, showed significant functional connectivity differences when mentalizing about other's actions. The left IFG seed revealed ASD connectivity differences with the: bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), left insular cortex, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Connectivity differences using the right IFG seed revealed ASD differences in the: left insula, and right DLPFC. These results indicate that connectivity differences between the IFG, mentalizing regions, emotion and motor processing regions are specific to ASD and not a result of potentially co-occurring motor differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditya Jayashankar
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Brittany Bynum
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Christiana Butera
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Emily Kilroy
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Laura Harrison
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- Center for Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition (CeNEC), Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Javaheripour N, Wagner G, de la Cruz F, Walter M, Szycik GR, Tietze FA. Altered brain network organization in adults with Asperger's syndrome: decreased connectome transitivity and assortativity with increased global efficiency. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1223147. [PMID: 37701094 PMCID: PMC10494541 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1223147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that persists into adulthood with both social and cognitive disturbances. Asperger's syndrome (AS) was a distinguished subcategory of autism in the DSM-IV-TR defined by specific symptoms including difficulties in social interactions, inflexible thinking patterns, and repetitive behaviour without any delay in language or cognitive development. Studying the functional brain organization of individuals with these specific symptoms may help to better understand Autism spectrum symptoms. Methods The aim of this study is therefore to investigate functional connectivity as well as functional network organization characteristics using graph-theory measures of the whole brain in male adults with AS compared to healthy controls (HC) (AS: n = 15, age range 21-55 (mean ± sd: 39.5 ± 11.6), HC: n = 15, age range 22-57 [mean ± sd: 33.5 ± 8.5]). Results No significant differences were found when comparing the region-by-region connectivity at the whole-brain level between the AS group and HC. However, measures of "transitivity," which reflect local information processing and functional segregation, and "assortativity," indicating network resilience, were reduced in the AS group compared to HC. On the other hand, global efficiency, which represents the overall effectiveness and speed of information transfer across the entire brain network, was increased in the AS group. Discussion Our findings suggest that individuals with AS may have alterations in the organization and functioning of brain networks, which could contribute to the distinctive cognitive and behavioural features associated with this condition. We suggest further research to explore the association between these altered functional patterns in brain networks and specific behavioral traits observed in individuals with AS, which could provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of its symptomatology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nooshin Javaheripour
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
| | - Gerd Wagner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
- Center for Intervention and Research on Adaptive and Maladaptive Brain Circuits Underlying Mental Health (C-I-R-C), Jena, Germany
| | - Feliberto de la Cruz
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
| | - Martin Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
- Center for Intervention and Research on Adaptive and Maladaptive Brain Circuits Underlying Mental Health (C-I-R-C), Jena, Germany
- Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (CANLAB), Magdeburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
- Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany
- German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Jena, Germany
| | - Gregor R. Szycik
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Fabian-Alexander Tietze
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jüdisches Krankenhaus Berlin—Berlin Jewish Hospital, Academic Teaching Hospital of the Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Zhou L, Hu H, Qin B, Zhu Q, Qian Z. Brain activity differences between susceptible and non-susceptible populations under visually induced motion sickness based on sensor-space and source-space analyses. Brain Res 2023; 1815:148474. [PMID: 37393010 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148474] [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: 02/18/2023] [Revised: 06/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2023]
Abstract
The neural mechanisms underlying visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) in different susceptible populations are unclear, as it is not clear how brain activity changes in different susceptible populations during the vection section (VS). This study aimed to analyze the brain activity changes in different susceptible populations during VS. Twenty subjects were included in this study and divided into the VIMS-susceptible group (VIMSSG) and VIMS-resistant group (VIMSRG) based on a motion sickness questionnaire. 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) data from these subjects during VS were collected. The brain activities during VS for VIMSSG and VIMSRG were analyzed with time-frequency based sensor-space analysis and EEG source imaging based source-space analysis. Under VS, delta and theta energies were significantly increased in VIMSSG and VIMSRG, while alpha and beta energies were only significantly increased in VIMSRG. Also, the superior and middle temporal were activated in VIMSSG and VIMSRG, while lateral occipital, supramarginal gyrus, and precentral gyrus were activated only in VIMSSG. The spatiotemporal differences in brain activity observed between VIMSSG and VIMSRG may be attributed to the different susceptibility of participants in each group and the different severity of MS symptoms experienced. Long-term vestibular training can effectively improve the ability of anti-VIMS. The knowledge gained from this study helps advance understanding of the neural mechanism of VIMS in different susceptible populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Zhou
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Multimodal Brain-Computer Precision Drive Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Equipment and Technology of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210016, China
| | - Haixu Hu
- Sports Training Academy, Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, 210016, China
| | - Bing Qin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Multimodal Brain-Computer Precision Drive Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Equipment and Technology of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210016, China
| | - Qiaoqiao Zhu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Multimodal Brain-Computer Precision Drive Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Equipment and Technology of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210016, China.
| | - Zhiyu Qian
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Multimodal Brain-Computer Precision Drive Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing, 210016, China; Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Equipment and Technology of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210016, China.
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Angelini L, Tamburro G, Lionetti F, Spinelli M, Comani S, Zappasodi F, Fasolo M, Aureli T. Alpha and theta brain activity in 9-month-old infants during a live referential gaze paradigm. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14198. [PMID: 36271701 PMCID: PMC10078202 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
The ability to establish a connection between the direction of the other's gaze and the object that is observed has important implications in the development of social cognition and learning. In this study, we analyzed alpha and theta band oscillations in one group of 9-month-old infants by implementing a face-to-face live paradigm, which presented the infants with a triadic social interaction with a real human being. We compared neural activations in two experimental conditions: Congruent and Incongruent gaze shift following the appearance of an object. In the Incongruent object-gaze shift condition, we observed an increase of the theta power in comparison with the Congruent condition. We also found an enhancement of the alpha activity during the Congruent versus the Incongruent object-gaze condition. These findings confirm the involvement of the theta and alpha band activity in the detection of the gaze of others when it shifts toward a referential target. We consider that the theta band modulation could be associated with the processing of unexpected events. Furthermore, the increase of the alpha band activity during the Congruent object-gaze condition seems to be in agreement with prior findings on the mechanisms of internally controlled attention that emerge before the first year of life. The implementation of a live paradigm elicited a partially different oscillatory pattern in comparison with non-live standard paradigms, supporting the importance of an ecological set-up reproducing real-life conditions to study the development of social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Angelini
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Gabriella Tamburro
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.,Behavioral Imaging and Neural Dynamics Center, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Francesca Lionetti
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Maria Spinelli
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Silvia Comani
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.,Behavioral Imaging and Neural Dynamics Center, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Filippo Zappasodi
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.,Behavioral Imaging and Neural Dynamics Center, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.,Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Mirco Fasolo
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Tiziana Aureli
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
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Chung K, Chung E. Randomized controlled pilot study of an app-based intervention for improving social skills, face perception, and eye gaze among youth with autism spectrum disorder. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1126290. [PMID: 37181907 PMCID: PMC10173303 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1126290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction This pilot study aimed to examine the effectiveness of an app-based intervention (Yface) in 53 children with autism spectrum disorder. Yface is a combined program that improves social skills, facial perception, and eye gaze. Methods Children were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups or a waitlist control group. One of the training groups completed the Yface training program lasting for 66 days, while the other training group used a similar app called Ycog, which focuses on cognitive rehabilitation. Questionnaires, computerized tasks, and semi-structured interviews were administered to children and their parents at pre- and post-training sessions. Results The Yface group showed improvements in face perception and some social skills compared to waitlist controls, and in eye gaze compared to the Ycog group. Discussion Our results suggest that this app-based intervention is effective in improving targeted social skills and face perception, although their relative effectiveness differs across skill domains.
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10
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Hirsch J, Zhang X, Noah JA, Dravida S, Naples A, Tiede M, Wolf JM, McPartland JC. Neural correlates of eye contact and social function in autism spectrum disorder. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265798. [PMID: 36350848 PMCID: PMC9645655 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Reluctance to make eye contact during natural interactions is a central diagnostic criterion for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the underlying neural correlates for eye contacts in ASD are unknown, and diagnostic biomarkers are active areas of investigation. Here, neuroimaging, eye-tracking, and pupillometry data were acquired simultaneously using two-person functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during live "in-person" eye-to-eye contact and eye-gaze at a video face for typically-developed (TD) and participants with ASD to identify the neural correlates of live eye-to-eye contact in both groups. Comparisons between ASD and TD showed decreased right dorsal-parietal activity and increased right ventral temporal-parietal activity for ASD during live eye-to-eye contact (p≤0.05, FDR-corrected) and reduced cross-brain coherence consistent with atypical neural systems for live eye contact. Hypoactivity of right dorsal-parietal regions during eye contact in ASD was further associated with gold standard measures of social performance by the correlation of neural responses and individual measures of: ADOS-2, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition (r = -0.76, -0.92 and -0.77); and SRS-2, Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (r = -0.58). The findings indicate that as categorized social ability decreases, neural responses to real eye-contact in the right dorsal parietal region also decrease consistent with a neural correlate for social characteristics in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joy Hirsch
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Xian Zhang
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - J. Adam Noah
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Swethasri Dravida
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Adam Naples
- Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Mark Tiede
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Julie M. Wolf
- Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, United States of America
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11
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Keles U, Kliemann D, Byrge L, Saarimäki H, Paul LK, Kennedy DP, Adolphs R. Atypical gaze patterns in autistic adults are heterogeneous across but reliable within individuals. Mol Autism 2022; 13:39. [PMID: 36153629 PMCID: PMC9508778 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-022-00517-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Across behavioral studies, autistic individuals show greater variability than typically developing individuals. However, it remains unknown to what extent this variability arises from heterogeneity across individuals, or from unreliability within individuals. Here, we focus on eye tracking, which provides rich dependent measures that have been used extensively in studies of autism. Autistic individuals have an atypical gaze onto both static visual images and dynamic videos that could be leveraged for diagnostic purposes if the above open question could be addressed. METHODS We tested three competing hypotheses: (1) that gaze patterns of autistic individuals are less reliable or noisier than those of controls, (2) that atypical gaze patterns are individually reliable but heterogeneous across autistic individuals, or (3) that atypical gaze patterns are individually reliable and also homogeneous among autistic individuals. We collected desktop-based eye tracking data from two different full-length television sitcom episodes, at two independent sites (Caltech and Indiana University), in a total of over 150 adult participants (N = 48 autistic individuals with IQ in the normal range, 105 controls) and quantified gaze onto features of the videos using automated computer vision-based feature extraction. RESULTS We found support for the second of these hypotheses. Autistic people and controls showed equivalently reliable gaze onto specific features of videos, such as faces, so much so that individuals could be identified significantly above chance using a fingerprinting approach from video epochs as short as 2 min. However, classification of participants into diagnostic groups based on their eye tracking data failed to produce clear group classifications, due to heterogeneity in the autistic group. LIMITATIONS Three limitations are the relatively small sample size, assessment across only two videos (from the same television series), and the absence of other dependent measures (e.g., neuroimaging or genetics) that might have revealed individual-level variability that was not evident with eye tracking. Future studies should expand to larger samples across longer longitudinal epochs, an aim that is now becoming feasible with Internet- and phone-based eye tracking. CONCLUSIONS These findings pave the way for the investigation of autism subtypes, and for elucidating the specific visual features that best discriminate gaze patterns-directions that will also combine with and inform neuroimaging and genetic studies of this complex disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umit Keles
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA.
| | - Dorit Kliemann
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
| | - Lisa Byrge
- Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA
| | - Heini Saarimäki
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Lynn K Paul
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
| | - Daniel P Kennedy
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
| | - Ralph Adolphs
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA.,Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA.,Chen Neuroscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
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12
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Richey JA, Gracanin D, LaConte S, Lisinski J, Kim I, Coffman M, Antezana L, Carlton CN, Garcia KM, White SW. Neural Mechanisms of Facial Emotion Recognition in Autism: Distinct Roles for Anterior Cingulate and dlPFC. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL FOR THE SOCIETY OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, DIVISION 53 2022; 51:323-343. [PMID: 35476602 PMCID: PMC9177800 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2022.2051528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The present study sought to measure and internally validate neural markers of facial emotion recognition (FER) in adolescents and young adults with ASD to inform targeted intervention. METHOD We utilized fMRI to measure patterns of brain activity among individuals with ASD (N = 21) and matched controls (CON; N = 20) 2 s prior to judgments about the identity of six distinct facial emotions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, fearful, disgust). RESULTS Predictive modeling of fMRI data (support vector classification; SVC) identified mechanistic roles for brain regions that forecasted correct and incorrect identification of facial emotion as well as sources of errors over these decisions. BOLD signal activation in bilateral insula, anterior cingulate (ACC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) preceded accurate FER in both controls and ASD. Predictive modeling utilizing SVC confirmed the utility of ACC in forecasting correct decisions in controls but not ASD, and further indicated that a region within the right dlPFC was the source of a type 1 error signal in ASD (i.e. neural marker reflecting an impending correct judgment followed by an incorrect behavioral response) approximately two seconds prior to emotion judgments during fMRI. CONCLUSIONS ACC forecasted correct decisions only among control participants. Right dlPFC was the source of a false-positive signal immediately prior to an error about the nature of a facial emotion in adolescents and young adults with ASD, potentially consistent with prior work indicating that dlPFC may play a role in attention to and regulation of emotional experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A. Richey
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech. 109 Williams Hall, MC0436, Blacksburg, VA 24061
- Address correspondence by , or by surface John A. Richey, MC0436, 109 Williams Hall, Dept. of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Phone: 540.231.1463, Fax: 540.231.3562
| | - Denis Gracanin
- Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech. 2202 Kraft Drive, Room 1135, Blacksburg VA 24060
| | - Stephen LaConte
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion. 2 Riverside Circle Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
| | - Jonathan Lisinski
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion. 2 Riverside Circle Roanoke, VA 24016
| | - Inyoung Kim
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion. 2 Riverside Circle Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Statistics, Hutcheson Hall, RM 406-A Virginia Tech. Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Marika Coffman
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech. 109 Williams Hall, MC0436, Blacksburg, VA 24061
- Duke University Center for Autism and Brain Development. 2608 Erwin Rd, Suite 300 b
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27701Durham, NC 27705
| | - Ligia Antezana
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech. 109 Williams Hall, MC0436, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Corinne N. Carlton
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech. 109 Williams Hall, MC0436, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Katelyn M. Garcia
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech. 109 Williams Hall, MC0436, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Susan W. White
- Center for Youth Development and Intervention, McMillan Building 101-F, University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
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13
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Extrastriatal dopamine D2/3 receptor binding, functional connectivity, and autism socio-communicational deficits: a PET and fMRI study. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:2106-2113. [PMID: 35181754 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01464-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The social motivation hypothesis of autism proposes that social communication symptoms in autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) stem from atypical social attention and reward networks, where dopamine acts as a crucial mediator. However, despite evidence indicating that individuals with ASD show atypical activation in extrastriatal regions while processing reward and social stimuli, no previous studies have measured extrastriatal dopamine D2/3 receptor (D2/3R) availability in ASD. Here, we investigated extrastriatal D2/3R availability in individuals with ASD and its association with ASD social communication symptoms using positron emission tomography (PET). Moreover, we employed a whole-brain multivariate pattern analysis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify regions where functional connectivity atypically correlates with D2/3R availability depending on ASD diagnosis. Twenty-two psychotropic-free males with ASD and 24 age- and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing males underwent [11C]FLB457 PET, fMRI, and clinical symptom assessment. Participants with ASD showed lower D2/3R availability throughout the D2/3R-rich extrastriatal regions of the dopaminergic pathways. Among these, the posterior region of the thalamus, which primarily comprises the pulvinar, displayed the largest effect size for the lower D2/3R availability, which correlated with a higher score on the Social Affect domain of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 in participants with ASD. Moreover, lower D2/3R availability was correlated with lower functional connectivity of the thalamus-superior temporal sulcus and cerebellum-medial occipital cortex, specifically in individuals with ASD. The current findings provide novel molecular evidence for the social motivation theory of autism and offer a novel therapeutic target.
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14
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Integration of Facial Expression and Gaze Direction in Individuals with a High Level of Autistic Traits. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19052798. [PMID: 35270490 PMCID: PMC8910540 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19052798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022]
Abstract
Background. We investigated whether individuals with high levels of autistic traits integrate relevant communicative signals, such as facial expression, when decoding eye-gaze direction. Methods. Students with high vs. low scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) performed a task in which they responded to the eye directions of faces, presented on the left or the right side of a screen, portraying different emotional expressions. Results. In both groups, the identification of gaze direction was faster when the eyes were directed towards the center of the scene. However, in the low AQ group, this effect was larger for happy faces than for neutral faces or faces showing other emotional expressions, whereas participants from high AQ group were not affected by emotional expressions. Conclusions. These results suggest that individuals with more autistic traits may not integrate multiple communicative signals based on their emotional value.
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15
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Bagherzadeh-Azbari S, Lau GKB, Ouyang G, Zhou C, Hildebrandt A, Sommer W, Lui M. Multimodal Evidence of Atypical Processing of Eye Gaze and Facial Emotion in Children With Autistic Traits. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:733852. [PMID: 35242018 PMCID: PMC8886727 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.733852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the shared signal hypothesis (SSH) the impact of facial expressions on emotion processing partially depends on whether the gaze is directed toward or away from the observer. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD) several aspects of face processing have been found to be atypical, including attention to eye gaze and the identification of emotional expressions. However, there is little research on how gaze direction affects emotional expression processing in typically developing (TD) individuals and in those with ASD. This question is investigated here in two multimodal experiments. Experiment 1 required processing eye gaze direction while faces differed in emotional expression. Forty-seven children (aged 9–12 years) participated. Their Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) scores ranged from 0 to 6 in the experiment. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were sensitive to gaze direction and emotion, but emotion processing did not depend on gaze direction. However, for angry faces the gaze direction effect on the N170 amplitude, as typically observed in TD individuals, diminished with increasing ADOS score. For neutral expressions this correlation was not significant. Experiment 2 required explicit emotion classifications in a facial emotion composite task while eye gaze was manipulated incidentally. A group of 22 children with ASD was compared to a propensity score-matched group of TD children (mean age = 13 years). The same comparison was carried out for a subgroup of nine children with ASD who were less trained in social cognition, according to clinician’s report. The ASD group performed overall worse in emotion recognition than the TD group, independently of emotion or gaze direction. However, for disgust expressions, eye tracking data revealed that TD children fixated relatively longer on the eyes of the stimulus face with a direct gaze as compared with averted gaze. In children with ASD we observed no such modulation of fixation behavior as a function of gaze direction. Overall, the present findings from ERPs and eye tracking confirm the hypothesis of an impaired sensitivity to gaze direction in children with ASD or elevated autistic traits, at least for specific emotions. Therefore, we conclude that multimodal investigations of the interaction between emotional processing and stimulus gaze direction are promising to understand the characteristics of individuals differing along the autism trait dimension.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gilbert Ka Bo Lau
- Center for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Guang Ouyang
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Changsong Zhou
- Department of Physics, Centre for Nonlinear Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Beijing-Hong Kong-Singapore Joint Centre for Nonlinear and Complex Systems, Institute of Computational and Theoretical Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Andrea Hildebrandt
- Department of Psychology and Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- *Correspondence: Andrea Hildebrandt,
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Physics, Centre for Nonlinear Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
- Werner Sommer,
| | - Ming Lui
- Center for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Ming Lui,
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16
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Su T, Zhu PW, Li B, Shi WQ, Lin Q, Yuan Q, Jiang N, Pei CG, Shao Y. Gray matter volume alterations in patients with strabismus and amblyopia: voxel-based morphometry study. Sci Rep 2022; 12:458. [PMID: 35013442 PMCID: PMC8748957 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04184-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
This study proposes the use of the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) technique to investigate structural alterations of the cerebral cortex in patients with strabismus and amblyopia (SA). Sixteen patients with SA and sixteen healthy controls (HCs) underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Original whole brain images were analyzed using the VBM method. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between mean gray matter volume (GMV) and clinical manifestations. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to classify the mean GMV values of the SA group and HCs. Compared with the HCs, GMV values in the SA group showed a significant difference in the right superior temporal gyrus, posterior and anterior lobes of the cerebellum, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, and left anterior cingulate cortex. The mean GMV value in the right superior temporal gyrus, posterior and anterior lobes of the cerebellum, and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus were negatively correlated with the angle of strabismus. The ROC curve analysis of each cerebral region confirmed the accuracy of the area under the curve. Patients with SA have reduced GMV values in some brain regions. These findings might help to reveal the potential pathogenesis of SA and its relationship with the atrophy of specific regions of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Su
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361102, People's Republic of China.,Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Pei-Wen Zhu
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China
| | - Biao Li
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China
| | - Wen-Qing Shi
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China
| | - Qi Lin
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China
| | - Qing Yuan
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China
| | - Nan Jiang
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361102, People's Republic of China
| | - Chong-Gang Pei
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yi Shao
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
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17
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Aranda-Martín B, Ballesteros-Duperón MÁ, Lupiáñez J. What gaze adds to arrows: Changes in attentional response to gaze versus arrows in childhood and adolescence. Br J Psychol 2022; 113:718-738. [PMID: 34997569 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
From early ages, gaze acts as a cue to infer the interests, behaviours, thoughts and emotions of social partners. Despite sharing attentional properties with other non-social directional stimuli, such as arrows, gaze produces unique effects. A spatial interference task revealed this dissociation. The direction of arrows was identified faster on congruent than on incongruent direction-location trials. Conversely, gaze produced a reversed congruency effect (RCE), with faster identifications on incongruent than congruent trials. To determine the emergence of these gaze-specific attentional mechanisms, 214 Spanish children (4-17 years) divided into 6 age groups, performed the aforementioned task across three experiments. Results showed stimulus-specific developmental trajectories. Whereas the standard effect of arrows was unaffected by age, gaze shifted from an arrow-like effect at age 4 to a gaze-specific RCE at age 12. The orienting mechanisms shared by gaze and arrows are already present in 4-year olds and, throughout childhood, gaze becomes a special social cue with additional attentional properties. Besides orienting attention to a direction, as arrows would do, gaze might orient attention towards a specific object that would be attentionally selected. Such additional components may not fully develop until adolescence. Understanding gaze-specific attentional mechanisms may be crucial for children with atypical socio-cognitive development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belén Aranda-Martín
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Center, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | | | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Center, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
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18
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Coll SY, Eustache F, Doidy F, Fraisse F, Peschanski D, Dayan J, Gagnepain P, Laisney M. Avoidance behaviour generalizes to eye processing in posttraumatic stress disorder. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2022; 13:2044661. [PMID: 35479300 PMCID: PMC9037205 DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2022.2044661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Avoidance describes any action designed to prevent an uncomfortable situation or emotion from occurring. Although it is a common reaction to trauma, avoidance becomes problematic when it is the primary coping strategy, and plays a major role in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Avoidance in PTSD may generalize to non-harmful environmental cues that are perceived to be unsafe. OBJECTIVE We tested whether avoidance extends to social cues (i.e. emotional gazes) that are unrelated to trauma. METHOD A total of 159 participants (103 who had been exposed to the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks and 56 who had not) performed a gaze-cueing task featuring sad, happy and neutral faces. Attention to the eye area was recorded using an eyetracker. Of the exposed participants, 52 had been diagnosed with PTSD (PTSD+) and 51 had not developed PTSD (PTSD-). As a result of the preprocessing stages, 52 PTSD+ (29 women), 50 PTSD- (20 women) and 53 nonexposed (31 women) participants were included in the final analyses. RESULTS PTSD+ participants looked at sad eyes for significantly less time than PTSD- and nonexposed individuals. This effect was negatively correlated with the intensity of avoidance symptoms. No difference was found for neutral and happy faces. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that maladaptive avoidance in PTSD extends to social processing, in terms of eye contact and others' emotions that are unrelated to trauma. New therapeutic directions could include targeting sociocognitive deficits. Our findings open up new and indirect avenues for overcoming maladaptive avoidance behaviours by remediating eye processing.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02810197. HIGHLIGHTS Avoidance is a key symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Avoidance is often viewed as limited to reminders linked to the trauma.Results show that attention to the eyes of sad faces is also affected by PTSD. This effect is correlated with avoidance symptoms in PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sélim Yahia Coll
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France.,Neurorehabilitation divison, Université de Genève, Beau-Séjour hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.,Neuroscience of Emotions and Affective Dynamics laboratory, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Francis Eustache
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France
| | - Franck Doidy
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France
| | - Florence Fraisse
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France
| | - Denis Peschanski
- Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, HESAM Université, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Jacques Dayan
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France.,Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier, Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Rennes, France
| | - Pierre Gagnepain
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France
| | - Mickaël Laisney
- Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Université Recherche, EPHE, INSERM, Caen, France
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19
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Ghosh S, Guha T. Towards Autism Screening through Emotion-guided Eye Gaze Response. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021; 2021:820-823. [PMID: 34891416 DOI: 10.1109/embc46164.2021.9630888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are known to have significantly limited social interaction abilities, which are often manifested in different non-verbal cues of communication such as facial expression, atypical eye gaze response. While prior works leveraged the role of pupil response for screening ASD, limited works have been carried out to find the influence of emotion stimuli on pupil response for ASD screening. We, in this paper, design, develop, and evaluate a light-weight LSTM (Long-short Term Memory) model that captures pupil responses (pupil diameter, fixation duration, and fixation location) based on the social interaction with a virtual agent and detects ASD sessions based on short interactions. Our findings demonstrate that all the pupil responses vary significantly in the ASD sessions in response to the different emotion (angry, happy, neutral) stimuli applied. These findings reinforce the ASD screening with an average accuracy of 77%, while the accuracy improves further (>80%) with respect to angry and happy emotion stimuli.
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20
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Borgolte A, Roy M, Sinke C, Wiswede D, Stephan M, Bleich S, Münte TF, Szycik GR. Enhanced attentional processing during speech perception in adult high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: An ERP-study. Neuropsychologia 2021; 161:108022. [PMID: 34530026 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in audiovisual speech perception have consistently been detected in patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Especially for patients with a highly functional subtype of ASD, it remains uncertain whether these deficits and underlying neural mechanisms persist into adulthood. Research indicates differences in audiovisual speech processing between ASD and healthy controls (HC) in the auditory cortex. The temporal dynamics of these differences still need to be characterized. Thus, in the present study we examined 14 adult subjects with high-functioning ASD and 15 adult HC while they viewed visual (lip movements) and auditory (voice) speech information that was either superimposed by white noise (condition 1) or not (condition 2). Subject's performance was quantified by measuring stimulus comprehension. In addition, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Results demonstrated worse speech comprehension for ASD subjects compared to HC under noisy conditions. Moreover, ERP-analysis revealed significantly higher P2 amplitudes over parietal electrodes for ASD subjects compared to HC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Borgolte
- Dept. of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany.
| | - Mandy Roy
- Asklepios, Psychiatric Hospital Ochsenzoll, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christopher Sinke
- Dept. of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Daniel Wiswede
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Michael Stephan
- Dept. of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Stefan Bleich
- Dept. of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany; Center of Systems Neuroscience, Hanover, Germany
| | - Thomas F Münte
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Gregor R Szycik
- Dept. of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
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21
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Griffin JW, Geier CF, Smyth JM, Scherf KS. Improving sensitivity to eye gaze cues in adolescents on the autism spectrum using serious game technology: A randomized controlled trial. JCPP ADVANCES 2021; 1:e12041. [PMID: 36643718 PMCID: PMC9835110 DOI: 10.1002/jcv2.12041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Perceiving and interpreting eye gaze cues is foundational for social cognition and social interactions because it involves the ability to use eye gaze direction to predict the actions and intentions of others. Autism is a disability that impacts social interactions. A diagnostic symptom of autism is difficulty understanding eye gaze cues as social signals. This deficit has long-term consequences for understanding goal-directed behavior, language learning, and social communication. We hypothesize that targeted intervention methods designed to improve sensitivity to eye gaze cues may begin to treat core symptoms of autism and potentially alter multiple aspects of social functioning. Social Games for Autistic Adolescents (SAGA) is a serious computer game intervention designed to improve sensitivity to eye gaze cues. Serious games improve targeted skills with the goal of enhancing real life outcomes. In SAGA, participants progress through a narrative storyline and interact with animated characters. In so doing, they implicitly discover that eye gaze cues are useful for guiding their own goal-directed behavior to solve problems in the game. Methods We evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of SAGA in a hybrid phase 1/2, randomized controlled trial. Forty adolescents on the autism spectrum were randomized to either the treatment or standard care control group. Adolescents in the treatment group were asked to play SAGA for 30-minute sessions at home 3 times a week over 10 weeks. Results A group × time interaction revealed that the treatment group developed increasing sensitivity to human eye gaze cues, whereas the standard care group did not. Participants who experienced a sufficient dose of gameplay showed larger treatment-related improvements. Critically, increases in sensitivity to human eye gaze cues were associated with improvements in social skills. Conclusions This accessible, scalable, and affordable intervention shows promise as an effective tool for improving the ability to interpret and understand eye gaze cues and social skills in adolescents on the autism spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Charles F. Geier
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University
| | - Joshua M. Smyth
- Departments of Biobehavioral Health and Medicine, Pennsylvania State University
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22
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Ibrahim K, Soorya LV, Halpern DB, Gorenstein M, Siper PM, Wang AT. Social cognitive skills groups increase medial prefrontal cortex activity in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:2495-2511. [PMID: 34486810 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 07/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Few studies have examined the neural mechanisms of change following social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined the neural effects of social cognitive skills groups during functional MRI (fMRI) tasks of irony comprehension and eye gaze processing in school-aged children with ASD. Verbally fluent children (ages 8-11) were randomized to social cognitive skills groups or facilitated play comparison groups. Behavioral assessments and fMRI scans were obtained at baseline and endpoint (12 weeks). During fMRI, children completed two separate tasks to engage social cognition circuitry: comprehension of potentially ironic scenarios (n = 34) and viewing emotionally expressive faces with direct or averted gaze (n = 24). Whole-brain analyses were conducted to examine neural changes following treatment. Regression analyses were also conducted to explore the relationship between neural and behavioral changes. When comparing the two groups directly, the social cognitive skills group showed greater increases in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), implicated in theory of mind, relative to the comparison group for both irony comprehension and gaze processing tasks. Increased mPFC activity during the irony task was associated with improvement in social functioning on the Social Responsiveness Scale across both groups. Findings indicate that social cognitive skills interventions may increase activity in regions associated with social cognition and mentalizing abilities. LAY SUMMARY: Social skills groups are a common intervention for school-aged children with ASD. However, few studies have examined the neural response to social skills groups in school-aged children with ASD. Here, we report on a study evaluating neural outcomes from an empirically supported social cognitive skills training curriculum using fMRI. This study seeks to understand the effects of targeting emotion recognition and theory of mind on the brain circuitry involved in social cognition in verbally fluent children ages 8-11. Results indicate increased neural activity in the mPFC, a region considered to be a central hub of the "social brain," in children randomized to social cognitive skills groups relative to a comparison group that received a high-quality, child-directed play approach. In addition, increased activation in the mPFC during an irony comprehension task was associated with gains in social functioning across both groups from pre- to post-treatment. This is the first fMRI study of social skills treatment outcomes following a randomized trial with an active treatment condition in school-aged children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.,Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Latha V Soorya
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.,Rush Medical College, Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Danielle B Halpern
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - Michelle Gorenstein
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - Paige M Siper
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
| | - A Ting Wang
- Seaver Autism Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
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23
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McCrackin SD, Itier RJ. I can see it in your eyes: Perceived gaze direction impacts ERP and behavioural measures of affective theory of mind. Cortex 2021; 143:205-222. [PMID: 34455372 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Looking at someone's eyes is thought to be important for affective theory of mind (aTOM), our ability to infer their emotional state. However, it is unknown whether an individual's gaze direction influences our aTOM judgements and what the time course of this influence might be. We presented participants with sentences describing individuals in positive, negative or neutral scenarios, followed by direct or averted gaze neutral face pictures of those individuals. Participants made aTOM judgements about each person's mental state, including their affective valence and arousal, and we investigated whether the face gaze direction impacted those judgements. Participants rated that gazers were feeling more positive when they displayed direct gaze as opposed to averted gaze, and that they were feeling more aroused during negative contexts when gaze was averted as opposed to direct. Event-related potentials associated with face perception and affective processing were examined using mass-univariate analyses to track the time-course of this eye-gaze and affective processing interaction at a neural level. Both positive and negative trials were differentiated from neutral trials at many stages of processing. This included the early N200 and EPN components, believed to reflect automatic emotion areas activation and attentional selection respectively. This also included the later P300 and LPP components, thought to reflect elaborative cognitive appraisal of emotional content. Critically, sentence valence and gaze direction interacted over these later components, which may reflect the incorporation of eye-gaze in the cognitive evaluation of another's emotional state. The results suggest that gaze perception directly impacts aTOM processes, and that altered eye-gaze processing in clinical populations may contribute to associated aTOM impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Roxane J Itier
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
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24
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Quiñones-Camacho LE, Fishburn FA, Belardi K, Williams DL, Huppert TJ, Perlman SB. Dysfunction in interpersonal neural synchronization as a mechanism for social impairment in autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:1585-1596. [PMID: 33847461 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Social deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been linked to atypical activation of the mentalizing network. This work, however, has been limited by a focus on the brain activity of a single person during computerized social tasks rather than exploring brain activity during in vivo interactions. The current study assessed neural synchronization during a conversation as a mechanism for social impairment in adults with ASD (n = 24) and matched controls (n = 26). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data were collected from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and tempoparietal junction (TPJ). Participants self-reported on their social communication and videos of the interaction were coded for utterances and conversational turns. As expected, controls showed more neural synchrony than participants with ASD in the TPJ. Also as expected, controls showed less social communication impairment than participants with ASD. However, participants with ASD did not have fewer utterances compared with control subjects. Overall, less neural synchrony in the TPJ was associated with higher social impairment and marginally fewer utterances. Our findings advance our understanding of social difficulties in ASD by linking them to decreased neural synchronization of the TPJ. LAY SUMMARY: The coordination of brain responses is important for efficient social interactions. The current study explored the coordination of brain responses in neurotypical adults and adults with ASD to investigate if difficulties in social interactions are related to difficulties coordinating brain responses in ASD. We found that participants with ASD had more difficulties coordinating brain responses during a conversation with an interacting partner. Additionally, we found that the level of coordination in brain responses was linked to problems with social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Frank A Fishburn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Katherine Belardi
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Diane L Williams
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Theodore J Huppert
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Susan B Perlman
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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25
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Webster PJ, Wang S, Li X. Review: Posed vs. Genuine Facial Emotion Recognition and Expression in Autism and Implications for Intervention. Front Psychol 2021; 12:653112. [PMID: 34305720 PMCID: PMC8300960 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.653112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Different styles of social interaction are one of the core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social differences among individuals with ASD often include difficulty in discerning the emotions of neurotypical people based on their facial expressions. This review first covers the rich body of literature studying differences in facial emotion recognition (FER) in those with ASD, including behavioral studies and neurological findings. In particular, we highlight subtle emotion recognition and various factors related to inconsistent findings in behavioral studies of FER in ASD. Then, we discuss the dual problem of FER – namely facial emotion expression (FEE) or the production of facial expressions of emotion. Despite being less studied, social interaction involves both the ability to recognize emotions and to produce appropriate facial expressions. How others perceive facial expressions of emotion in those with ASD has remained an under-researched area. Finally, we propose a method for teaching FER [FER teaching hierarchy (FERTH)] based on recent research investigating FER in ASD, considering the use of posed vs. genuine emotions and static vs. dynamic stimuli. We also propose two possible teaching approaches: (1) a standard method of teaching progressively from simple drawings and cartoon characters to more complex audio-visual video clips of genuine human expressions of emotion with context clues or (2) teaching in a field of images that includes posed and genuine emotions to improve generalizability before progressing to more complex audio-visual stimuli. Lastly, we advocate for autism interventionists to use FER stimuli developed primarily for research purposes to facilitate the incorporation of well-controlled stimuli to teach FER and bridge the gap between intervention and research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula J Webster
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Xin Li
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
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26
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Gagliardi M. How Our Caregivers Shape Who We Are: The Seven Dimensions of Attachment at the Core of Personality. Front Psychol 2021; 12:657628. [PMID: 34276482 PMCID: PMC8280313 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.657628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychology defines personality as the stable traits of an individual, and cognitive research suggests that a set of core beliefs is at the root of these traits. From this perspective, two major questions remain unanswered: (1) What are the core beliefs that make up personality? (2) How are they acquired? An interesting answer is provided by attachment theory, according to which attachment is at the basis of personality. The current theoretical formulation, however, does not sufficiently clarify the relationship between the two. Adopting a cognitive-clinical approach, we put forward a novel version of attachment theory, arguing that it can better account for the relationship between attachment and personality, thereby providing more convincing answers to questions (1) and (2). In particular, we propose that: (A) attachment information is acquired over seven dimensions; (B) the acquisition of each dimension is induced by a specific caregiving feature and (C) realized through a specific acquisition mechanism - imprinting. In a nutshell, we propose an Attachment-Personality Model (APM) according to which seven attachment dimensions constitute the knowledge core of personality. We finally discuss the significant implications of the model, especially its clinical application in terms of conception, assessment, and treatment of mental disorders. The model can be empirically tested, and we suggest three ways to do that.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcantonio Gagliardi
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
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27
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Effects of Mini-Basketball Training Program on Social Communication Impairment and Executive Control Network in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18105132. [PMID: 34066139 PMCID: PMC8150962 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18105132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This study evaluated the effect of a 12-week mini-basketball training program (MBTP) on social communication (SC) and the executive control network (ECN) in preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We finally assigned 30 preschool children with ASD to an experiment group (n = 15, 12 males, 3 females) or a control group (n = 15, 13 males, 2 females). The experiment group participated in a 12-week MBTP (40-min sessions per day, 5 days a week), while the control group only received the institutional routine behavioral rehabilitation intervention. The SC of preschool children with ASD was measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2), whereas functional connectivity (FC) of the ECN was assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) at pre-and post-test. Our results showed that SC exhibited significant improvement in the intervention group, especially in SRS-2 total score, social cognition, and social communication. We found significantly enhanced functional connectivity between the right cerebellum and left inferior frontal gyrus in the experimental group, while functional connectivity between the left middle temporal gyrus and right cerebellum were decreased in the control group. Furthermore, there were no significant correlations between the change in SC scores and FC of the ECN. Altogether, this study provides valuable insights that a 12-week MBTP improves SC and functional connectivity of the ECN in preschool children with ASD. We further inferred that neural mechanisms might be associated with changing the ECN of preschool ASD children caused by the 12-week MBTP.
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28
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Jodra M, García-Villamisar D. Transdiagnostic Predictors of Impaired Recognition of Facial Emotion Expression in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. Dev Neuropsychol 2021; 46:265-276. [PMID: 33938339 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2021.1914045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the predictive capacity of executive dysfunction and social adaptation in performance in facial emotion recognition. The sample consisted of 31 adults with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The variables that maintain significant correlations with emotional perception were taken as independent variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the predictors of the facial stimuli perception in population with ASD. The results demonstrated a relationship between social maturity and emotional perception. Better scores in communication, socialization and daily life skills predict better performance in the perception of facial stimuli, both emotional and non-emotional.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Jodra
- Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Psicología Clínica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, España
| | - Domingo García-Villamisar
- Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Psicología Clínica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, España
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29
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Xie Y, Zhang X, Liu F, Qin W, Fu J, Xue K, Yu C. Brain mRNA Expression Associated with Cortical Volume Alterations in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cell Rep 2021; 32:108137. [PMID: 32937121 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108137] [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] [Received: 02/01/2020] [Revised: 05/23/2020] [Accepted: 08/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies report abnormal cerebral cortex volume (CCV) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, genes related to CCV abnormalities in ASD remain largely unknown. Here, we identify genes associated with CCV alterations in ASD by performing spatial correlations between the gene expression of 6 donated brains and neuroimaging data from 1,404 ASD patients and 1,499 controls. Based on spatial correlations between gene expression and CCV differences from two independent meta-analyses and between gene expression and individual CCV distributions of 404 patients and 496 controls, we identify 417 genes associated with both CCV differences and individual CCV distributions. These genes are enriched for genetic association signals and genes downregulated in the ASD post-mortem brain. The expression patterns of these genes are correlated with brain activation patterns of language-related neural processes frequently impaired in ASD. These findings highlight a model whereby genetic risk impacts gene expression (downregulated), which leads to CCV alterations in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Xie
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Xue Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Feng Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Wen Qin
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Jilian Fu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Kaizhong Xue
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China
| | - Chunshui Yu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052 Tianjin, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P.R. China.
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30
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David-John B, Hosfelt D, Butler K, Jain E. A privacy-preserving approach to streaming eye-tracking data. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS 2021; 27:2555-2565. [PMID: 33750711 DOI: 10.1109/tvcg.2021.3067787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Eye-tracking technology is being increasingly integrated into mixed reality devices. Although critical applications are being enabled, there are significant possibilities for violating user privacy expectations. We show that there is an appreciable risk of unique user identification even under natural viewing conditions in virtual reality. This identification would allow an app to connect a user's personal ID with their work ID without needing their consent, for example. To mitigate such risks we propose a framework that incorporates gatekeeping via the design of the application programming interface and via software-implemented privacy mechanisms. Our results indicate that these mechanisms can reduce the rate of identification from as much as 85% to as low as 30%. The impact of introducing these mechanisms is less than 1.5° error in gaze position for gaze prediction. Gaze data streams can thus be made private while still allowing for gaze prediction, for example, during foveated rendering. Our approach is the first to support privacy-by-design in the flow of eye-tracking data within mixed reality use cases.
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31
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Roy D, Uddin LQ. Atypical core-periphery brain dynamics in autism. Netw Neurosci 2021; 5:295-321. [PMID: 34189366 PMCID: PMC8233106 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00181] [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: 09/02/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The intrinsic function of the human brain is dynamic, giving rise to numerous behavioral subtypes that fluctuate distinctively at multiple timescales. One of the key dynamical processes that takes place in the brain is the interaction between core-periphery brain regions, which undergoes constant fluctuations associated with developmental time frames. Core-periphery dynamical changes associated with macroscale brain network dynamics span multiple timescales and may lead to atypical behavior and clinical symptoms. For example, recent evidence suggests that brain regions with shorter intrinsic timescales are located at the periphery of brain networks (e.g., sensorimotor hand, face areas) and are implicated in perception and movement. On the contrary, brain regions with longer timescales are core hub regions. These hubs are important for regulating interactions between the brain and the body during self-related cognition and emotion. In this review, we summarize a large body of converging evidence derived from time-resolved fMRI studies in autism to characterize atypical core-periphery brain dynamics and how they relate to core and contextual sensory and cognitive profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dipanjan Roy
- Cognitive Brain Dynamics Lab, National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, India
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
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32
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He Q, Wang Q, Wu Y, Yi L, Wei K. Automatic classification of children with autism spectrum disorder by using a computerized visual-orienting task. Psych J 2021; 10:550-565. [PMID: 33847077 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.447] [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] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Early screening and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) primarily rely on behavioral observations by qualified clinicians whose decision process can benefit from the combination of machine learning algorithms and sensor data. We designed a computerized visual-orienting task with gaze-related or non-gaze-related directional cues, which triggered participants' gaze-following behavior. Based on their eye-movement data registered by an eye tracker, we applied the machine learning algorithms to classify high-functioning children with ASD (HFA), low-functioning children with ASD (LFA), and typically developing children (TD). We found that TD children had higher success rates in obtaining rewards than HFA children, and HFA children had higher rates than LFA children. Based on raw eye-tracking data, our machine learning algorithm could classify the three groups with an accuracy of 81.1% and relatively high sensitivity and specificity. Classification became worse if only data from the gaze or nongaze conditions were used, suggesting that "less-social" directional cues also carry useful information for distinguishing these groups. Our findings not only provide insights about visual-orienting deficits among children with ASD but also demonstrate the promise of combining classical behavioral paradigms with machine learning algorithms for aiding the screening for individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiao He
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Qiandong Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yaxue Wu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Li Yi
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Kunlin Wei
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
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33
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Chakraborty R, Vijay Kumar MJ, Clement JP. Critical aspects of neurodevelopment. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2021; 180:107415. [PMID: 33647449 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Organisms have the unique ability to adapt to their environment by making use of external inputs. In the process, the brain is shaped by experiences that go hand-in-hand with optimisation of neural circuits. As such, there exists a time window for the development of different brain regions, each unique for a particular sensory modality, wherein the propensity of forming strong, irreversible connections are high, referred to as a critical period of development. Over the years, this domain of neurodevelopmental research has garnered considerable attention from many scientists, primarily because of the intensive activity-dependent nature of development. This review discusses the cellular, molecular, and neurophysiological bases of critical periods of different sensory modalities, and the disorders associated in cases the regulators of development are dysfunctional. Eventually, the neurobiological bases of the behavioural abnormalities related to developmental pathologies are discussed. A more in-depth insight into the development of the brain during the critical period of plasticity will eventually aid in developing potential therapeutics for several neurodevelopmental disorders that are categorised under critical period disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ranabir Chakraborty
- Neuroscience Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bengaluru. Karnataka. India
| | - M J Vijay Kumar
- Neuroscience Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bengaluru. Karnataka. India
| | - James P Clement
- Neuroscience Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bengaluru. Karnataka. India.
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34
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Hirsch J, Tiede M, Zhang X, Noah JA, Salama-Manteau A, Biriotti M. Interpersonal Agreement and Disagreement During Face-to-Face Dialogue: An fNIRS Investigation. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 14:606397. [PMID: 33584223 PMCID: PMC7874076 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.606397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the neural systems that underlie spoken language are well-known, how they adapt to evolving social cues during natural conversations remains an unanswered question. In this work we investigate the neural correlates of face-to-face conversations between two individuals using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and acoustical analyses of concurrent audio recordings. Nineteen pairs of healthy adults engaged in live discussions on two controversial topics where their opinions were either in agreement or disagreement. Participants were matched according to their a priori opinions on these topics as assessed by questionnaire. Acoustic measures of the recorded speech including the fundamental frequency range, median fundamental frequency, syllable rate, and acoustic energy were elevated during disagreement relative to agreement. Consistent with both the a priori opinion ratings and the acoustic findings, neural activity associated with long-range functional networks, rather than the canonical language areas, was also differentiated by the two conditions. Specifically, the frontoparietal system including bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus showed increased activity while talking during disagreement. In contrast, talking during agreement was characterized by increased activity in a social and attention network including right supramarginal gyrus, bilateral frontal eye-fields, and left frontopolar regions. Further, these social and visual attention networks were more synchronous across brains during agreement than disagreement. Rather than localized modulation of the canonical language system, these findings are most consistent with a model of distributed and adaptive language-related processes including cross-brain neural coupling that serves dynamic verbal exchanges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joy Hirsch
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Tiede
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Xian Zhang
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - J Adam Noah
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Alexandre Salama-Manteau
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Maurice Biriotti
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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35
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Sotoodeh MS, Taheri-Torbati H, Hadjikhani N, Lassalle A. Preserved action recognition in children with autism spectrum disorders: Evidence from an EEG and eye-tracking study. Psychophysiology 2020; 58:e13740. [PMID: 33280150 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13740] [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] [Received: 03/08/2019] [Revised: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulties recognizing and understanding others' actions. The goal of the present study was to determine whether children with and without ASD show differences in the way they process stimuli depicting Biological Motion (BM). Thirty-two children aged 7-16 (16 ASD and 16 typically developing (TD) controls) participated in two experiments. In the first experiment, electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record low (8-10 Hz) and high (10-13 Hz) mu and beta (15-25 Hz) bands during the observation three different Point Light Displays (PLD) of action. In the second experiment, participants answered to action-recognition tests and their accuracy and response time were recorded, together with their eye-movements. There were no group differences in EEG data (first experiment), indicating that children with and without ASD do not differ in their mu suppression (8-13 Hz) and beta activity (15-25 Hz). However, behavioral data from second experiment revealed that children with ASD were less accurate and slower than TD children in their responses to an action recognition task. In addition, eye-tracking data indicated that children with ASD paid less attention to the body compared to the background when watching PLD stimuli. Our results indicate that the more the participants focused on the PLDs, the more they displayed mu suppressions. These results could challenge the results of previous studies that had not controlled for visual attention and found a possible deficit in MNS functions of individuals with ASD. We discuss possible mechanisms and interpretations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nouchine Hadjikhani
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Gillberg Neurospychiatry Center, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Amandine Lassalle
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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36
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Vandewouw MM, Choi EJ, Hammill C, Lerch JP, Anagnostou E, Taylor MJ. Changing Faces: Dynamic Emotional Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder Across Childhood and Adulthood. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2020; 6:825-836. [PMID: 33279458 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is classically associated with poor emotional face processing. Few studies, however, have used more ecological dynamic stimuli. We contrasted functional magnetic resonance imaging measures of dynamic emotional face processing in ASD and typically developing (TD) cohorts across a wide age range to determine if the processing and age-related trajectories differed between participants with and without ASD. METHODS Functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected from 200 participants (5-42 years old; 107 in ASD cohort, 93 in TD cohort) during the presentation of dynamic emotional faces (neutral-to-happy, neutral-to-angry) and dynamic flowers (closed-to-open) were analyzed. Group differences and group-by-age interactions in the faces versus flowers and between emotion contrasts were investigated. RESULTS Differences in activation between dynamic faces and flowers in occipital regions, including the fusiform gyri, were reduced in the ASD group. Contrasting the two emotions, ASD compared with TD participants showed increased engagement of the precentral, postcentral, and superior temporal gyri to happy faces and increased activation to angry faces occipitally. Emotion processing regions, such as insula, temporal pole, and frontal regions, showed increased recruitment with age to happy faces compared with both angry faces and flowers in the TD group, but decreased recruitment with age in the ASD group. CONCLUSIONS Using dynamic stimuli, we demonstrated that participants with ASD processed faces similarly to nonface stimuli, and age-related atypicalities were more pronounced to happy faces in participants with ASD. We demonstrated emotion-specific atypicalities in a large group of participants with ASD that underscore persistent difficulties from childhood into mid-adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlee M Vandewouw
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Autism Research Center, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabiliation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Eun Jung Choi
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Autism Research Center, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabiliation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Christopher Hammill
- Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jason P Lerch
- Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Evdokia Anagnostou
- Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Autism Research Center, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabiliation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Margot J Taylor
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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37
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Jiang J, von Kriegstein K, Jiang J. Brain mechanisms of eye contact during verbal communication predict autistic traits in neurotypical individuals. Sci Rep 2020; 10:14602. [PMID: 32884087 PMCID: PMC7471895 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71547-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2017] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Atypical eye contact in communication is a common characteristic in autism spectrum disorders. Autistic traits vary along a continuum extending into the neurotypical population. The relation between autistic traits and brain mechanisms underlying spontaneous eye contact during verbal communication remains unexplored. Here, we used simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging and eye tracking to investigate this relation in neurotypical people within a naturalistic verbal context. Using multiple regression analyses, we found that brain response in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and its connectivity with the fusiform face area (FFA) during eye contact with a speaker predicted the level of autistic traits measured by Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ). Further analyses for different AQ subclusters revealed that these two predictors were negatively associated with attention to detail. The relation between FFA–pSTS connectivity and the attention to detail ability was mediated by individuals’ looking preferences for speaker’s eyes. This study identified the role of an individual eye contact pattern in the relation between brain mechanisms underlying natural eye contact during verbal communication and autistic traits in neurotypical people. The findings may help to increase our understanding of the mechanisms of atypical eye contact behavior during natural communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Jiang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. .,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. .,Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany. .,Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Katharina von Kriegstein
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489, Berlin, Germany.,Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, 01187, Dresden, Germany
| | - Jiefeng Jiang
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
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38
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Stephani T, Kirk Driller K, Dimigen O, Sommer W. Eye contact in active and passive viewing: Event-related brain potential evidence from a combined eye tracking and EEG study. Neuropsychologia 2020; 143:107478. [PMID: 32360476 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Eye contact is a salient social cue, which is assumed to influence already early neural correlates of face perception. Specifically, the N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) has often been found to be larger for faces with an averted gaze as compared to faces that directly look at the observer. In most existing ERP studies, effects of eye contact were investigated under comparatively artificial conditions where participants were instructed to maintain a steady fixation while they passively observed gaze changes in the stimulus face. It is therefore unclear to what extent neural correlates of eye contact generalize to more naturalistic situations that involve a continuous interplay between directed and averted gaze between the communication partners. To start bridging this gap, the present study compared the passive viewing of gaze changes to an active condition in which the participant's own gaze (measured online with an eye tracker) interacted with the gaze position of a continuously presented stimulus face. We also investigated whether eye contact effects were modulated by the face's emotional expression. In both the passive and the active viewing condition, N170 amplitudes were larger when the gaze of the stimulus faces was averted rather than directed towards the participant. Furthermore, eye contact decreased P300 amplitudes in both conditions. The emotional expression of the face also modulated the N170, but this effect did not interact with that of gaze direction. We conclude that the neural correlates of gaze perception during active gaze interactions are comparable to those found during passive viewing, encouraging the further study of eye contact effects in more naturalistic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Stephani
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
| | - K Kirk Driller
- Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 11, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - O Dimigen
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany
| | - W Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
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39
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Yaxu Y, Ren Z, Ward J, Jiang Q. Atypical Brain Structures as a Function of Gray Matter Volume (GMV) and Gray Matter Density (GMD) in Young Adults Relating to Autism Spectrum Traits. Front Psychol 2020; 11:523. [PMID: 32322224 PMCID: PMC7158890 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autistic traits are those who present in the normal population with characteristics of social, communication, personality, and cognitive impairments but do not meet the clinical threshold for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most studies have focused on the abnormalities in ASD patients rather than on individuals with autistic traits. In this study, we focused on the behaviors of a large sample (N = 401) of Chinese individuals with different levels of autistic traits, measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient, and applied voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to determine their association to differences in brain structure. The results mainly showed that the correlation between gray matter volume (GMV) and gray matter density of the brain and the Autism Spectrum Quotient was significant in these regions: the right middle frontal gyrus, which are involved in social processing and social reasoning; the left parahippocampal gyrus, which is involved in socioemotional behaviors and unconscious relational memory encoding; and the right superior parietal lobule, which are involved in cognitive control and the ability to show attention to detail. These findings reveal that people with autistic traits in the normal population have atypical development in GMV and gray matter density, which may affect their social functioning and communication ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Yaxu
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China
| | - Zhiting Ren
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China
| | - Jamie Ward
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Qiu Jiang
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China
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40
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Yasuno F, Makinodan M, Takahashi M, Matsuoka K, Yoshikawa H, Kitamura S, Ishida R, Kishimoto N, Miyasaka T, Kichikawa K, Kishimoto T. Microstructural Anomalies Evaluated by Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging Are Related to Deficits in Facial Emotional Recognition via Perceptual-Binding Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Res 2020; 13:729-740. [PMID: 32048810 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The integration of visual features is important for recognizing objects as a coherent whole, a key domain of difficulty in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested the hypothesis that ASD patients exhibit difficulties in facial emotional recognition via perceptual binding difficulties due to weak coherence. We assessed 18 ASD and 27 typically developing individuals for their ability to identify emotional expressions from faces in pictures moving behind a narrow vertical and horizontal slit. In this task, only a single local piece of facial information was provided at any one time through the slit. Using a voxel-based analysis of neurite-orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI), we examined the relationship between NODDI index values at each voxel and the behavioral performance of ASD patients in the slit-viewing paradigm. ASD patients demonstrated impaired recognition of facial emotional expression only in horizontal slit-viewing. This deficit was associated with deficits in communication ability. Voxel-based analysis revealed significant negative correlations between behavioral deficits in horizontal slit-viewing and NODDI index values in clusters including the ventral occipital complex region, superior temporal/parietal association areas, and forceps major of the corpus callosum. Our results indicated deficits for the first time in perceptual integration of facial expression across hemispheres in ASD patients due to microstructural disturbances in the corpus callosum and areas related to viewing of the human face. This may underscore the difficulties faced by ASD patients in understanding the emotions of other people, contributing to impairments in communication ability in ASD patients. Autism Res 2020, 13: 729-740. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We assessed ASD and typically developing individuals for their ability to identify emotional expressions from faces in pictures moving behind a narrow vertical and horizontal slit. ASD patients demonstrated impaired recognition of facial emotional expression only in horizontal slit-viewing. Voxel-based analysis revealed significant negative correlations between behavioral deficits and NODDI index values in clusters including the corpus callosum. Our results indicated deficits in perceptual integration of facial expression across hemispheres in ASD patients potentially resulting from microstructural disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fumihiko Yasuno
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.,Department of Psychiatry, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan
| | - Manabu Makinodan
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan
| | - Masato Takahashi
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan
| | - Kiwamu Matsuoka
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan
| | | | | | - Rio Ishida
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan
| | - Naoko Kishimoto
- Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan
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41
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Noah JA, Zhang X, Dravida S, Ono Y, Naples A, McPartland JC, Hirsch J. Real-Time Eye-to-Eye Contact Is Associated With Cross-Brain Neural Coupling in Angular Gyrus. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:19. [PMID: 32116606 PMCID: PMC7016046 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Direct eye contact between two individuals is a salient social behavior known to initiate and promote interpersonal interaction. However, the neural processes that underlie these live interactive behaviors and eye-to-eye contact are not well understood. The Dynamic Neural Coupling Hypothesis presents a general theoretical framework proposing that shared interactive behaviors are represented by cross-brain signal coherence. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) adapted for hyper scanning, we tested this hypothesis specifically for neural mechanisms associated with eye-to-eye gaze between human participants compared to similar direct eye-gaze at a dynamic video of a face and predicted that the coherence of neural signals between the two participants during reciprocal eye-to-eye contact would be greater than coherence observed during direct eye-gaze at a dynamic video for those signals originating in social and face processing systems. Consistent with this prediction cross-brain coherence was increased for signals within the angular gyrus (AG) during eye-to-eye contact relative to direct eye-gaze at a dynamic face video (p < 0.01). Further, activity in the right temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) was increased in the real eye-to-eye condition (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). Together, these findings advance a functional and mechanistic understanding of the AG and cross-brain neural coupling associated with real-time eye-to-eye contact.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Adam Noah
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Xian Zhang
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Swethasri Dravida
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Yumie Ono
- Department of Electronics and Bioinformatics, School of Science and Technology, Meiji University, Kawasaki, Japan
| | - Adam Naples
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - James C McPartland
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Joy Hirsch
- Brain Function Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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42
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Ramot M, Walsh C, Reimann GE, Martin A. Distinct neural mechanisms of social orienting and mentalizing revealed by independent measures of neural and eye movement typicality. Commun Biol 2020; 3:48. [PMID: 31996763 PMCID: PMC6989525 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-0771-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Extensive study of typically developing individuals and those on the autism spectrum has identified a large number of brain regions associated with our ability to navigate the social world. Although it is widely appreciated that this so-called "social brain" is composed of distinct, interacting systems, these component parts have yet to be clearly elucidated. Here we used measures of eye movement and neural typicality-based on the degree to which subjects deviated from the norm-while typically developing (N = 62) and individuals with autism (N = 36) watched a large battery of movies depicting social interactions. Our findings provide clear evidence for distinct, but overlapping, neural systems underpinning two major components of the "social brain," social orienting, and inferring the mental state of others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Ramot
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
| | - Catherine Walsh
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Gabrielle Elise Reimann
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Alex Martin
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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43
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Yoshida H, Cirino P, Mire SS, Burling JM, Lee S. Parents' gesture adaptations to children with autism spectrum disorder. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2020; 47:205-224. [PMID: 31588888 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000919000497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The present study focused on parents' social cue use in relation to young children's attention. Participants were ten parent-child dyads; all children were 36 to 60 months old and were either typically developing (TD) or were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children wore a head-mounted camera that recorded the proximate child view while their parent played with them. The study compared the following between the TD and ASD groups: (a) frequency of parent's gesture use; (b) parents' monitoring of their child's face; and (c) how children looked at parents' gestures. Results from Bayesian estimation indicated that, compared to the TD group, parents of children with ASD produced more gestures, more closely monitored their children's faces, and provided more scaffolding for their children's visual experiences. Our findings suggest the importance of further investigating parents' visual and gestural scaffolding as a potential developmental mechanism for children's early learning, including for children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paul Cirino
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, USA
| | - Sarah S Mire
- Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, USA
| | | | - Sunbok Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, USA
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44
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Caldani S, Steg S, Lefebvre A, Atzori P, Peyre H, Delorme R, Bucci MP. Oculomotor behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2019; 24:670-679. [PMID: 31680545 DOI: 10.1177/1362361319882861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
To identify quantitative indicators of social communication dysfunctions, we explored the oculomotor performances in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. Discordant findings in the literature have been reported for oculomotor behavior in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. This study aimed to explore reflexive and voluntary saccadic performance in a group of 32 children with autism spectrum disorders (mean age: 12.1 ± 0.5 years) compared to 32 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched typically developing children (control group). We used different types of reflexive and voluntary saccades: gap, step, overlap, and anti-saccades. Eye movements were recorded using an eye tracker (Mobile EBT®) and we measured latency, percentage of anticipatory and express saccades, errors of anti-saccades and gain. Children with autism spectrum disorders reported similar latency values with respect to typically developing children for reflexive and voluntary saccades; in contrast, they made more express and anticipatory saccades overall, as shown in paradigm testing (gap, step, overlap, and anti-saccades). Our findings support previous evidence of the atypicality of the cortical network, which is involved in saccade triggering and attentional processes in children with autism spectrum disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simona Caldani
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France
| | - Sarah Steg
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France
| | - Aline Lefebvre
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France
| | - Paola Atzori
- Robert Debré Hospital, France.,FondaMental Foundation, France
| | - Hugo Peyre
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France.,FondaMental Foundation, France
| | - Richard Delorme
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France.,FondaMental Foundation, France
| | - Maria Pia Bucci
- Paris Diderot University, France.,Robert Debré Hospital, France
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45
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Tietze FA, Hundertmark L, Roy M, Zerr M, Sinke C, Wiswede D, Walter M, Münte TF, Szycik GR. Auditory Deficits in Audiovisual Speech Perception in Adult Asperger's Syndrome: fMRI Study. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2286. [PMID: 31649597 PMCID: PMC6795762 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Audiovisual (AV) integration deficits have been proposed to underlie difficulties in speech perception in Asperger’s syndrome (AS). It is not known, if the AV deficits are related to alterations in sensory processing at the level of unisensory processing or at levels of conjoint multisensory processing. Functional Magnetic-resonance images (MRI) was performed in 16 adult subjects with AS and 16 healthy controls (HC) matched for age, gender, and verbal IQ as they were exposed to disyllabic AV congruent and AV incongruent nouns. A simple semantic categorization task was used to ensure subjects’ attention to the stimuli. The left auditory cortex (BA41) showed stronger activation in HC than in subjects with AS with no interaction regarding AV congruency. This suggests that alterations in auditory processing in unimodal low-level areas underlie AV speech perception deficits in AS. Whether this is signaling a difficulty in the deployment of attention remains to be demonstrated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian-Alexander Tietze
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Laura Hundertmark
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Mandy Roy
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany.,Asklepios Clinic North - Ochsenzoll, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Michael Zerr
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Christopher Sinke
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Daniel Wiswede
- Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Martin Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas F Münte
- Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Gregor R Szycik
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
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46
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A novel fiber Bragg grating system for eye tracking. J Adv Res 2019; 16:25-34. [PMID: 30899586 PMCID: PMC6412818 DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2018.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2018] [Revised: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Eye movement evaluation is vital for diagnosis of various ophthalmological and neurological disorders. The present study proposes a novel, noninvasive, wearable device to acquire the eye movement based on a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) Sensor. The proposed Fiber Bragg Grating Eye Tracker (FBGET) can capture the displacement of the eyeball during its movements in the form of strain variations on a cantilever. The muscular displacement generated by the eyeball over the lower eyelid, by its swiveling action while moving the gaze on a target object, is converted into strain variations on a cantilever. The developed FBGET is investigated for dynamic tracking of the eye-gaze movement for various actions of the eye such as fixations, saccades and main sequence. This approach was validated by recording the eye movement using the developed FBGET as well as conventional camera-based eye tracker methodology simultaneously. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and the real-time applicability of the proposed FBGET as an eye tracking device. In conclusion, the present study illustrates a novel methodology involving displacement of lower eyelid for eye tracking application along with the employment of FBG sensors to carry out the same. The proposed FBGET can be utilized in both clinical and hospital environment for diagnostic purposes owing to its advantages of wear-ability and ease of implementation making it a point of care device.
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Kilroy E, Aziz-Zadeh L, Cermak S. Ayres Theories of Autism and Sensory Integration Revisited: What Contemporary Neuroscience Has to Say. Brain Sci 2019; 9:brainsci9030068. [PMID: 30901886 PMCID: PMC6468444 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9030068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Revised: 03/15/2019] [Accepted: 03/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Abnormal sensory-based behaviors are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Dr. A. Jean Ayres was the first occupational therapist to conceptualize Sensory Integration (SI) theories and therapies to address these deficits. Her work was based on neurological knowledge of the 1970’s. Since then, advancements in neuroimaging techniques make it possible to better understand the brain areas that may underlie sensory processing deficits in ASD. In this article, we explore the postulates proposed by Ayres (i.e., registration, modulation, motivation) through current neuroimaging literature. To this end, we review the neural underpinnings of sensory processing and integration in ASD by examining the literature on neurophysiological responses to sensory stimuli in individuals with ASD as well as structural and network organization using a variety of neuroimaging techniques. Many aspects of Ayres’ hypotheses about the nature of the disorder were found to be highly consistent with current literature on sensory processing in children with ASD but there are some discrepancies across various methodological techniques and ASD development. With additional characterization, neurophysiological profiles of sensory processing in ASD may serve as valuable biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic interventions, such as SI therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Kilroy
- Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Sharon Cermak
- Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
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Cañigueral R, Hamilton AFDC. The Role of Eye Gaze During Natural Social Interactions in Typical and Autistic People. Front Psychol 2019; 10:560. [PMID: 30930822 PMCID: PMC6428744 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions involve complex exchanges of a variety of social signals, such as gaze, facial expressions, speech and gestures. Focusing on the dual function of eye gaze, this review explores how the presence of an audience, communicative purpose and temporal dynamics of gaze allow interacting partners to achieve successful communication. First, we focus on how being watched modulates social cognition and behavior. We then show that the study of interpersonal gaze processing, particularly gaze temporal dynamics, can provide valuable understanding of social behavior in real interactions. We propose that the Interpersonal Gaze Processing model, which combines both sensing and signaling functions of eye gaze, provides a framework to make sense of gaze patterns in live interactions. Finally, we discuss how autistic individuals process the belief in being watched and interpersonal dynamics of gaze, and suggest that systematic manipulation of factors modulating gaze signaling can reveal which aspects of social eye gaze are challenging in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roser Cañigueral
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Jasmin K, Gotts SJ, Xu Y, Liu S, Riddell CD, Ingeholm JE, Kenworthy L, Wallace GL, Braun AR, Martin A. Overt social interaction and resting state in young adult males with autism: core and contextual neural features. Brain 2019; 142:808-822. [PMID: 30698656 PMCID: PMC6391610 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awz003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2018] [Revised: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Conversation is an important and ubiquitous social behaviour. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (autism) without intellectual disability often have normal structural language abilities but deficits in social aspects of communication like pragmatics, prosody, and eye contact. Previous studies of resting state activity suggest that intrinsic connections among neural circuits involved with social processing are disrupted in autism, but to date no neuroimaging study has examined neural activity during the most commonplace yet challenging social task: spontaneous conversation. Here we used functional MRI to scan autistic males (n = 19) without intellectual disability and age- and IQ-matched typically developing control subjects (n = 20) while they engaged in a total of 193 face-to-face interactions. Participants completed two kinds of tasks: conversation, which had high social demand, and repetition, which had low social demand. Autistic individuals showed abnormally increased task-driven interregional temporal correlation relative to controls, especially among social processing regions and during high social demand. Furthermore, these increased correlations were associated with parent ratings of participants' social impairments. These results were then compared with previously-acquired resting state data (56 autism, 62 control subjects). While some interregional correlation levels varied by task or rest context, others were strikingly similar across both task and rest, namely increased correlation among the thalamus, dorsal and ventral striatum, somatomotor, temporal and prefrontal cortex in the autistic individuals, relative to the control groups. These results suggest a basic distinction. Autistic cortico-cortical interactions vary by context, tending to increase relative to controls during task and decrease during test. In contrast, striato- and thalamocortical relationships with socially engaged brain regions are increased in both task and rest, and may be core to the condition of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Jasmin
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, UK
| | - Stephen J Gotts
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Yisheng Xu
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Siyuan Liu
- Developmental Neurogenomics Unit, Human Genetics Branch, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Cameron D Riddell
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - John E Ingeholm
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Lauren Kenworthy
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, USA
| | - Gregory L Wallace
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Allen R Braun
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Alex Martin
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
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50
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Binetti N, Cheng T, Mareschal I, Brumby D, Julier S, Bianchi-Berthouze N. Assumptions about the positioning of virtual stimuli affect gaze direction estimates during Augmented Reality based interactions. Sci Rep 2019; 9:2566. [PMID: 30796287 PMCID: PMC6384932 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39311-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated gaze direction determination in dyadic interactions mediated by an Augmented Reality (AR) head-mounted-display. With AR, virtual content is overlaid on top of the real-world scene, offering unique data visualization and interaction opportunities. A drawback of AR however is related to uncertainty regarding the AR user’s focus of attention in social-collaborative settings: an AR user looking in our direction might either be paying attention to us or to augmentations positioned somewhere in between. In two psychophysical experiments, we assessed what impact assumptions concerning the positioning of virtual content attended by an AR user have on other people’s sensitivity to their gaze direction. In the first experiment we found that gaze discrimination was better when the participant was aware that the AR user was focusing on stimuli positioned on their depth plane as opposed to being positioned halfway between the AR user and the participant. In the second experiment, we found that this modulatory effect was explained by participants’ assumptions concerning which plane the AR user was focusing on, irrespective of these being correct. We discuss the significance of AR reduced gaze determination in social-collaborative settings as well as theoretical implications regarding the impact of this technology on social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Binetti
- UCL Interaction Centre, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Tianchang Cheng
- UCL Interaction Centre, University College London, London, UK
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Duncan Brumby
- UCL Interaction Centre, University College London, London, UK
| | - Simon Julier
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
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