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Zhao Y. Enhancing assessment and intervention for empathy deficits: the "zipper model of empathy" approach in neurodevelopmental disorders. PSYCHORADIOLOGY 2024; 4:kkae011. [PMID: 38957403 PMCID: PMC11217768 DOI: 10.1093/psyrad/kkae011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Yili Zhao
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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2
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Corluka N, Laycock R. The influence of dynamism and expression intensity on face emotion recognition in individuals with autistic traits. Cogn Emot 2024; 38:635-644. [PMID: 38349274 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2314982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2024]
Abstract
Face emotion recognition (FER) ability varies across the population, with autistic traits in the general population reported to contribute to this variation. Previous studies used photographs of posed facial expressions, while real social encounters involve dynamic expressions of varying intensity. We used static photographs and dynamic videos, showing peak and partial facial expressions to investigate the influence of dynamism and expression intensity on FER in non-clinical adults who varied in autistic traits. Those with high autistic traits had lower accuracy with both static peak and dynamic partial intensity expressions, when compared to low autistic trait participants. Furthermore, high autistic traits were linked to an accuracy advantage for dynamic compared with static stimuli in both partial and peak expression conditions, while those with low autistic traits demonstrated this dynamic advantage only for partial expressions. These findings reveal the differing importance of dynamism and expression intensity for FER across the non-clinical population and appear linked to self-reported social-communication skills. Furthermore, FER difficulties in autism might relate to the ability to integrate subtle, dynamic information, rather than static emotion categorisation alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Corluka
- School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Australia
| | - Robin Laycock
- School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Australia
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3
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Wang Y, Cao R, Chakravarthula PN, Yu H, Wang S. Atypical neural encoding of faces in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:172-186. [PMID: 38696606 PMCID: PMC11065108 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae060] [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: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience pervasive difficulties in processing social information from faces. However, the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments of faces in ASD remain largely unclear. Here, we comprehensively addressed this question by employing functional neuroimaging and parametrically generated faces that vary in facial trustworthiness and dominance. Behaviorally, participants with ASD exhibited reduced specificity but increased inter-rater variability in social trait judgments. Neurally, participants with ASD showed hypo-activation across broad face-processing areas. Multivariate analysis based on trial-by-trial face responses could discriminate participant groups in the majority of the face-processing areas. Encoding social traits in ASD engaged vastly different face-processing areas compared to controls, and encoding different social traits engaged different brain areas. Interestingly, the idiosyncratic brain areas encoding social traits in ASD were still flexible and context-dependent, similar to neurotypicals. Additionally, participants with ASD also showed an altered encoding of facial saliency features in the eyes and mouth. Together, our results provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Puneeth N Chakravarthula
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
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Harada Y, Ohyama J, Sano M, Ishii N, Maida K, Wada M, Wada M. Temporal characteristics of facial ensemble in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: examination from arousal and attentional allocation. Front Psychiatry 2024; 15:1328708. [PMID: 38439795 PMCID: PMC10910007 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1328708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show atypical recognition of facial emotions, which has been suggested to stem from arousal and attention allocation. Recent studies have focused on the ability to perceive an average expression from multiple spatially different expressions. This study investigated the effect of autistic traits on temporal ensemble, that is, the perception of the average expression from multiple changing expressions. Methods We conducted a simplified temporal-ensemble task and analyzed behavioral responses, pupil size, and viewing times for eyes of a face. Participants with and without diagnosis of ASD viewed serial presentations of facial expressions that randomly switched between emotional and neutral. The temporal ratio of the emotional expressions was manipulated. The participants estimated the intensity of the facial emotions for the overall presentation. Results We obtained three major results: (a) many participants with ASD were less susceptible to the ratio of anger expression for temporal ensembles, (b) they produced significantly greater pupil size for angry expressions (within-participants comparison) and smaller pupil size for sad expressions (between-groups comparison), and (c) pupil size and viewing time to eyes were not correlated with the temporal ensemble. Discussion These results suggest atypical temporal integration of anger expression and arousal characteristics in individuals with ASD; however, the atypical integration is not fully explained by arousal or attentional allocation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuki Harada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
- Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Junji Ohyama
- Human Augmentation Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
| | - Misako Sano
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
- Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
| | - Naomi Ishii
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
| | - Keiko Maida
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
| | - Megumi Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
- Graduate School of Contemporary Psychology, Rikkyo University, Niiza, Saitama, Japan
| | - Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
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5
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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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Jayashankar A, Aziz-Zadeh L. Disgust Processing and Potential Relationships with Behaviors in Autism. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2023; 25:465-478. [PMID: 37672122 PMCID: PMC10627949 DOI: 10.1007/s11920-023-01445-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW While there are reports of differences in emotion processing in autism, it is less understood whether the emotion of disgust, in particular, plays a significant role in these effects. Here, we review literature on potential disgust processing differences in autism and its possible associations with autistic traits. RECENT FINDINGS In autism, there is evidence for differences in physical disgust processing, pica behaviors, attention away from other's disgust facial expressions, and differences in neural activity related to disgust processing. In typically developing individuals, disgust processing is related to moral processing, but modulated by individual differences in interoception and alexithymia. Autistic individuals may experience atypical disgust, which may lead to difficulty avoiding contaminants and affect socio-emotional processing. In autism, such outcomes may lead to increased occurrences of illness, contribute to gastrointestinal issues, diminish vicarious learning of disgust expression and behaviors, and potentially contribute to differences in processes related to moral reasoning, though further research is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditya Jayashankar
- USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
- Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
- Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
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Beltzer ML, Daniel KE, Daros AR, Teachman BA. Examining social reinforcement learning in social anxiety. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2023; 80:101810. [PMID: 37247976 PMCID: PMC10227359 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Reinforcement learning biases have been empirically linked to anhedonia in depression and theoretically linked to social anhedonia in social anxiety disorder, but little work has directly assessed how socially anxious individuals learn from social reward and punishment. METHODS N = 157 individuals high and low in social anxiety symptoms completed a social probabilistic selection task that involved selecting between pairs of neutral faces with varying probabilities of changing to a happy or angry face. Computational modeling was performed to estimate learning rates. Accuracy in choosing the more rewarding face was also analyzed. RESULTS No significant group differences were found for learning rates. Contrary to hypotheses, participants high in social anxiety showed impaired punishment learning accuracy; they were more accurate at choosing the most rewarding face than they were at avoiding the most punishing face, and their punishment learning accuracy was lower than that of participants low in social anxiety. Secondary analyses found that high (vs. low) social anxiety participants were less accurate at selecting the more rewarding face on more (vs. less) punishing face pairs. LIMITATIONS Stimuli were static, White, facial images, which lack important social cues (e.g., movement, sound) and diversity, and participants were largely non-Hispanic, White undergraduates, whose social reinforcement learning may differ from individuals at different developmental stages and those holding more marginalized identities. CONCLUSIONS Socially anxious individuals may be less accurate at learning to avoid social punishment, which may maintain negative beliefs through an interpersonal stress generation process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miranda L Beltzer
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA; Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA.
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8
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Batouli SAH, Razavi F, Sisakhti M, Oghabian Z, Ahmadzade H, Tehrani Doost M. Examining the Dominant Presence of Brain Grey Matter in Autism During Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Basic Clin Neurosci 2023; 14:585-604. [PMID: 38628837 PMCID: PMC11016874 DOI: 10.32598/bcn.2021.1774.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2021] [Revised: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms appearing from early childhood. Behavioral modifications, special education, and medicines are used to treat ASD; however, the effectiveness of the treatments depends on early diagnosis of the disorder. The primary approach in diagnosing ASD is based on clinical interviews and valid scales. Still, methods based on brain imaging could also be possible diagnostic biomarkers for ASD. Methods To identify the amount of information the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals on ASD, we reviewed 292 task-based fMRI studies on ASD individuals. This study is part of a systematic review with the registration number CRD42017070975. Results We observed that face perception, language, attention, and social processing tasks were mainly studied in ASD. In addition, 73 brain regions, nearly 83% of brain grey matter, showed an altered activation between the ASD and normal individuals during these four tasks, either in a lower or a higher activation. Conclusion Using imaging methods, such as fMRI, to diagnose and predict ASD is a great objective; research similar to the present study could be the initial step.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Foroogh Razavi
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Minoo Sisakhti
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Institute for Cognitive Sciences Studies, Tehran, Iran
| | - Zeinab Oghabian
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Haady Ahmadzade
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mehdi Tehrani Doost
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Research Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, Roozbeh Psychiatry Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Ortega J, Chen Z, Whitney D. Inferential Emotion Tracking reveals impaired context-based emotion processing in individuals with high Autism Quotient scores. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8093. [PMID: 37208368 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35371-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion perception is essential for successful social interactions and maintaining long-term relationships with friends and family. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience social communication deficits and have reported difficulties in facial expression recognition. However, emotion recognition depends on more than just processing face expression; context is critically important to correctly infer the emotions of others. Whether context-based emotion processing is impacted in those with Autism remains unclear. Here, we used a recently developed context-based emotion perception task, called Inferential Emotion Tracking (IET), and investigated whether individuals who scored high on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) had deficits in context-based emotion perception. Using 34 videos (including Hollywood movies, home videos, and documentaries), we tested 102 participants as they continuously tracked the affect (valence and arousal) of a blurred-out, invisible character. We found that individual differences in Autism Quotient scores were more strongly correlated with IET task accuracy than they are with traditional face emotion perception tasks. This correlation remained significant even when controlling for potential covarying factors, general intelligence, and performance on traditional face perception tasks. These findings suggest that individuals with ASD may have impaired perception of contextual information, it reveals the importance of developing ecologically relevant emotion perception tasks in order to better assess and treat ASD, and it provides a new direction for further research on context-based emotion perception deficits in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jefferson Ortega
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
| | - Zhimin Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - David Whitney
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Vision Science Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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Leipold S, Abrams DA, Karraker S, Phillips JM, Menon V. Aberrant Emotional Prosody Circuitry Predicts Social Communication Impairments in Children With Autism. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2023; 8:531-541. [PMID: 36635147 PMCID: PMC10973204 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.09.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Emotional prosody provides acoustical cues that reflect a communication partner's emotional state and is crucial for successful social interactions. Many children with autism have deficits in recognizing emotions from voices; however, the neural basis for these impairments is unknown. We examined brain circuit features underlying emotional prosody processing deficits and their relationship to clinical symptoms of autism. METHODS We used an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging task to measure neural activity and connectivity during processing of sad and happy emotional prosody and neutral speech in 22 children with autism and 21 matched control children (7-12 years old). We employed functional connectivity analyses to test competing theoretical accounts that attribute emotional prosody impairments to either sensory processing deficits in auditory cortex or theory of mind deficits instantiated in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). RESULTS Children with autism showed specific behavioral impairments for recognizing emotions from voices. They also showed aberrant functional connectivity between voice-sensitive auditory cortex and the bilateral TPJ during emotional prosody processing. Neural activity in the bilateral TPJ during processing of both sad and happy emotional prosody stimuli was associated with social communication impairments in children with autism. In contrast, activity and decoding of emotional prosody in auditory cortex was comparable between autism and control groups and did not predict social communication impairments. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support a social-cognitive deficit model of autism by identifying a role for TPJ dysfunction during emotional prosody processing. Our study underscores the importance of tuning in to vocal-emotional cues for building social connections in children with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Leipold
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
| | - Daniel A Abrams
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Shelby Karraker
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Jennifer M Phillips
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Vinod Menon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
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Harada Y, Ohyama J, Wada M. Effects of temporal properties of facial expressions on the perceived intensity of emotion. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:220585. [PMID: 36686551 PMCID: PMC9832291 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
A series of multiple facial expressions can be temporally perceived as an averaged facial expression in a process known as ensemble perception. This study examined the effect of temporal parameters on the perceived intensity of facial expression in each emotion, and how the effect varies with autistic traits in typically developing people. In the experiment, we presented facial expressions that switched from emotional to neutral expressions, and vice versa, for 3 s. Participants rated the overall perceived intensity of the facial emotions as a whole rather than rating individual items within the set. For the two tasks, a ratio of duration of emotional faces to duration of neutral faces (emotional ratio) and the timing for transitions were manipulated individually. The results showed that the intensity of facial emotion was perceived more strongly when the presentation ratio increased and when the emotional expression was presented last. The effects were different among the emotions (e.g. relatively weak in the anger expression). Moreover, the perceived intensity of angry expressions decreased with autistic traits. These results suggest that the properties and individual differences in the facial ensemble of each emotion affect emotional perceptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuki Harada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
- Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Junji Ohyama
- Human Augmentation Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Kashiwa, Japan
| | - Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
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12
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Yamamuro K. Near-infrared spectroscopy in child and adolescent neurodevelopmental disorders. PCN REPORTS : PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES 2022; 1:e59. [PMID: 38868653 PMCID: PMC11114441 DOI: 10.1002/pcn5.59] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2022] [Revised: 09/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a noninvasive optical technique that uses the near-infrared spectrum for functional neuroimaging by measuring oxygenation and hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex. The advantages of NIRS include its portability and ease of application, which allows for testing with the subject in natural positions, such as sitting or standing. Since 1994, NIRS has been increasingly used to conduct functional activation studies on different psychiatric disorders, most prominently schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, limited information on its use among child and adolescent patients is available. We herein review recent findings obtained using NIRS measurements of the brain during cognitive tasks in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette's disorder. This will facilitate evaluations of the causation and treatment of prefrontal cortex dysfunctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuhiko Yamamuro
- Department of PsychiatryNara Medical University School of MedicineKashiharaJapan
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13
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Ibrahim K, Kalvin C, Morand-Beaulieu S, He G, Pelphrey KA, McCarthy G, Sukhodolsky DG. Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity in children with maladaptive aggression is modulated by social impairment. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:4371-4385. [PMID: 35059702 PMCID: PMC9574236 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 11/25/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Aggressive behavior is common across childhood-onset psychiatric disorders and is associated with impairments in social cognition and communication. The present study examined whether amygdala connectivity and reactivity during face emotion processing in children with maladaptive aggression are moderated by social impairment. This cross-sectional study included a well-characterized transdiagnostic sample of 101 children of age 8-16 years old with clinically significant levels of aggressive behavior and 32 typically developing children without aggressive behavior. Children completed a face emotion perception task of fearful and calm faces during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Aggressive behavior and social functioning were measured by standardized parent ratings. Relative to controls, children with aggressive behavior showed reduced connectivity between the amygdala and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) during implicit emotion processing. In children with aggressive behavior, the association between reduced amygdala-ventrolateral PFC connectivity and greater severity of aggression was moderated by greater social impairment. Amygdala reactivity to fearful faces was also associated with severity of aggressive behavior for children without social deficits but not for children with social deficits. Social impairments entail difficulties in interpreting social cues and enacting socially appropriate responses to frustration or provocation, which increase the propensity for an aggressive response via diminished connectivity between the amygdala and the ventral PFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Address correspondence to Karim Ibrahim, PsyD, Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. ; Denis G. Sukhodolsky, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
| | - Carla Kalvin
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | | | - George He
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Kevin A Pelphrey
- Department of Neurology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
| | - Gregory McCarthy
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Denis G Sukhodolsky
- Address correspondence to Karim Ibrahim, PsyD, Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. ; Denis G. Sukhodolsky, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
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14
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Zhu XW, Zhang LL, Zhu ZM, Wang LY, Ding ZX, Fang XM. Altered intrinsic brain activity and connectivity in unaffected parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorder: a resting-state fMRI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:997150. [PMID: 36248683 PMCID: PMC9563234 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.997150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a juvenile onset neurodevelopmental disorder with social impairment and stereotyped behavior as the main symptoms. Unaffected relatives may also exhibit similar ASD features due to genetic factors. Although previous studies have demonstrated atypical brain morphological features as well as task-state brain function abnormalities in unaffected parents with ASD children, it remains unclear the pattern of brain function in the resting state. Methods: A total of 42 unaffected parents of ASD children (pASD) and 39 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched controls were enrolled. Multiple resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) analyzing methods were applied, including amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), degree centrality (DC), and functional connectivity (FC), to reveal the functional abnormalities of unaffected parents in ASD-related brain regions. Spearman Rho correlation analysis between imaging metric values and the severity of ASD traits were evaluated as well. Results: ALFF, ReHo, and DC methods all revealed abnormal brain regions in the pASD group, such as the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and rectal gyrus (ROI-1), bilateral supplementary motor area (ROI-2), right caudate nucleus head and right amygdala/para-hippocampal gyrus (ROI-3). FC decreasing was observed between ROI-1 and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), ROI-2, and bilateral precuneus. FC enhancing was observed between ROI-3 and right anterior cerebellar lobe, left medial temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, right postcentral gyrus in pASD. In addition, ALFF values in ROI-1, DC values in ROI-3 were positively correlated with AQ scores in pASD (ρ1 = 0.298, P1 = 0.007; ρ2 = 0.220, P2 = 0.040), while FC values between ROI-1 and right ACC were negatively correlated with AQ scores (ρ3 = −0.334, P3 = 0.002). Conclusion: rsfMRI metrics could be used as biomarkers to reveal the underlying neurobiological feature of ASD for unaffected parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang-Wen Zhu
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Li-Li Zhang
- Department of Child Health Care, Wuxi Children’s Hospital, Wuxi, China
| | - Zong-Ming Zhu
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Wuxi People’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Luo-Yu Wang
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhong-Xiang Ding
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Zhong-Xiang Ding Xiang-Ming Fang
| | - Xiang-Ming Fang
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Wuxi People’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
- *Correspondence: Zhong-Xiang Ding Xiang-Ming Fang
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15
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Safar K, Vandewouw MM, Pang EW, de Villa K, Crosbie J, Schachar R, Iaboni A, Georgiades S, Nicolson R, Kelley E, Ayub M, Lerch JP, Anagnostou E, Taylor MJ. Shared and Distinct Patterns of Functional Connectivity to Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Children. Front Psychol 2022; 13:826527. [PMID: 35356352 PMCID: PMC8959934 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.826527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Impairments in emotional face processing are demonstrated by individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is associated with altered emotion processing networks. Despite accumulating evidence of high rates of diagnostic overlap and shared symptoms between ASD and ADHD, functional connectivity underpinning emotion processing across these two neurodevelopmental disorders, compared to typical developing peers, has rarely been examined. The current study used magnetoencephalography to investigate whole-brain functional connectivity during the presentation of happy and angry faces in 258 children (5–19 years), including ASD, ADHD and typically developing (TD) groups to determine possible differences in emotion processing. Data-driven clustering was also applied to determine whether the patterns of connectivity differed among diagnostic groups. We found reduced functional connectivity in the beta band in ASD compared to TD, and a further reduction in the ADHD group compared to the ASD and the TD groups, across emotions. A group-by-emotion interaction in the gamma frequency band was also observed. Greater connectivity to happy compared to angry faces was found in the ADHD and TD groups, while the opposite pattern was seen in ASD. Data-driven subgrouping identified two distinct subgroups: NDD-dominant and TD-dominant; these subgroups demonstrated emotion- and frequency-specific differences in connectivity. Atypicalities in specific brain networks were strongly correlated with the severity of diagnosis-specific symptoms. Functional connectivity strength in the beta network was negatively correlated with difficulties in attention; in the gamma network, functional connectivity strength to happy faces was positively correlated with adaptive behavioural functioning, but in contrast, negatively correlated to angry faces. Our findings establish atypical frequency- and emotion-specific patterns of functional connectivity between NDD and TD children. Data-driven clustering further highlights a high degree of comorbidity and symptom overlap between the ASD and ADHD children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Safar
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Marlee M Vandewouw
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Elizabeth W Pang
- Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Division of Neurology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Kathrina de Villa
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jennifer Crosbie
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Russell Schachar
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Alana Iaboni
- Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Stelios Georgiades
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Robert Nicolson
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Elizabeth Kelley
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry,Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Muhammed Ayub
- Department of Psychiatry,Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Jason P Lerch
- Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Mouse Imaging Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Evdokia Anagnostou
- Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Margot J Taylor
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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16
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McKechanie AG, Lawrie SM, Whalley HC, Stanfield AC. A functional MRI facial emotion-processing study of autism in individuals with special educational needs. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2022; 320:111426. [PMID: 34911009 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the functional imaging associations of autism in individuals with special educational needs and demonstrate the feasibility of such research. The study included 18 individuals (3 female,15 male; mean age 24.3; mean IQ 69.7) with special educational needs (SEN), of whom 9 met criteria for autism. The task examined the Blood-oxygen-level dependant response to fearful and neutral faces. Individuals in the autism group had 2 clusters of significantly reduced activity centred on the left superior frontal gyrus and left angular gyrus compared to those with SEN alone in response to the fearful faces. In the response to neutral faces, individuals in the autism group also had a cluster of significantly greater activity centred on the right precentral gyrus compared to those with SEN alone. We suggest that autistic characteristics in individuals with SEN are associated with changes in fearful facial emotion processing analogous to those previously reported in autistic individuals without SEN, and who are of average or above average cognitive ability. The finding of enhanced response to neutral facial stimuli needs further investigation, although we speculate this may relate to reports of the experience of 'hyper-mentalisation' in social situations as reported by some autistic individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew G McKechanie
- Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
| | - Stephen M Lawrie
- Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Heather C Whalley
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew C Stanfield
- Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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17
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Xu L, Zheng X, Yao S, Li J, Fu M, Li K, Zhao W, Li H, Becker B, Kendrick KM. The mirror neuron system compensates for amygdala dysfunction - associated social deficits in individuals with higher autistic traits. Neuroimage 2022; 251:119010. [PMID: 35182751 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Revised: 02/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is a core node in the social brain which exhibits structural and functional abnormalities in Autism spectrum disorder and there is evidence that the mirror neuron system (MNS) can functionally compensate for impaired emotion processing following amygdala lesions. In the current study, we employed an fMRI paradigm in 241 subjects investigating MNS and amygdala responses to observation, imagination and imitation of dynamic facial expressions and whether these differed in individuals with higher (n = 77) as opposed to lower (n = 79) autistic traits. Results indicated that individuals with higher compared to lower autistic traits showed worse recognition memory for fearful faces, smaller real-life social networks, and decreased left basolateral amygdala (BLA) responses to imitation. Additionally, functional connectivity between the left BLA and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) as well as some other MNS regions was increased in individuals with higher autistic traits, especially during imitation of fearful expressions. The left BLA-IFG connectivity significantly moderated the autistic group differences on recognition memory for fearful faces, indicating that increased amygdala-MNS connectivity could diminish the social behavioral differences between higher and lower autistic trait groups. Overall, findings demonstrate decreased imitation-related amygdala activity in individuals with higher autistic traits in the context of increased amygdala-MNS connectivity which may functionally compensate for amygdala dysfunction and social deficits. Training targeting the MNS may capitalize on this compensatory mechanism for therapeutic benefits in Autism spectrum disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Xu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China; Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Zheng
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China; Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute (BCBDI), Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shuxia Yao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Jialin Li
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Meina Fu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Keshuang Li
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China; School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Weihua Zhao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Hong Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
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18
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Metcalfe D, McKenzie K, McCarty K, Pollet TV, Murray G. An exploration of the impact of contextual information on the emotion recognition ability of autistic adults. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 57:433-442. [PMID: 35157320 PMCID: PMC9302678 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Studies of non‐autistic individuals and people with an intellectual disability show that contextual information impacts positively on emotion recognition ability, however, this area is not well researched with autistic adults. We investigated this using a static emotion recognition task. Participants completed an emotion recognition task in person or online. In total, 46 autistic participants and 379 non‐autistic participants completed the task. A linear mixed model showed that autistic adults had significantly lower accuracy when identifying emotions across all contexts, compared to control participants, even when contextual information was present. No significant effect of context was found in either group, nor was gender shown to be an influential variable. A supplementary analysis showed that higher scores on the Autism‐Spectrum Quotient led to lower scores on the emotion recognition task; no effect of context was found here either. This research adds to the limited work investigating the influence of contextual factors in emotion recognition in autistic adults. Overall, it shows that context may not aid emotion recognition in this group in the same way as it does for non‐autistic individuals.
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19
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The structural neural correlates of atypical facial expression recognition in autism spectrum disorder. Brain Imaging Behav 2022; 16:1428-1440. [PMID: 35048265 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-021-00626-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are worse at recognizing facial expressions than are typically developing (TD) individuals. The present study investigated the differences in structural neural correlates of emotion recognition between individuals with and without ASD using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We acquired structural MRI data from 27 high-functioning adults with ASD and 27 age- and sex-matched TD individuals. The ability to recognize facial expressions was measured using a label-matching paradigm featuring six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). The behavioural task did not find deficits of emotion recognition in ASD after controlling for intellectual ability. However, the VBM analysis for the region of interest showed a positive correlation between the averaged percent accuracy across six basic emotions and the grey matter volume of the right inferior frontal gyrus in TD individuals, but not in individuals with ASD. The VBM for the whole brain region under each emotion condition revealed a positive correlation between the percent accuracy for disgusted faces and the grey matter volume of the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in individuals with ASD, but not in TD individuals. The different pattern of correlations suggests that individuals with and without ASD use different processing mechanisms for recognizing others' facial expressions.
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20
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McPartland JC, Lerner MD, Bhat A, Clarkson T, Jack A, Koohsari S, Matuskey D, McQuaid GA, Su WC, Trevisan DA. Looking Back at the Next 40 Years of ASD Neuroscience Research. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:4333-4353. [PMID: 34043128 PMCID: PMC8542594 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05095-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
During the last 40 years, neuroscience has become one of the most central and most productive approaches to investigating autism. In this commentary, we assemble a group of established investigators and trainees to review key advances and anticipated developments in neuroscience research across five modalities most commonly employed in autism research: magnetic resonance imaging, functional near infrared spectroscopy, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Broadly, neuroscience research has provided important insights into brain systems involved in autism but not yet mechanistic understanding. Methodological advancements are expected to proffer deeper understanding of neural circuitry associated with function and dysfunction during the next 40 years.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Matthew D Lerner
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Anjana Bhat
- Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Tessa Clarkson
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Allison Jack
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - Sheida Koohsari
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - David Matuskey
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Goldie A McQuaid
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - Wan-Chun Su
- Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
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21
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Hiris E, Conway S, McLoughlin W, Yang G. Individual Observer Differences in the Use of Form and Motion to Perceive the Actor's Sex in Biological Motion Displays. Percept Mot Skills 2021; 129:5-32. [PMID: 34743638 DOI: 10.1177/00315125211052923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Recent research has shown that the perception of biological motion may be influenced by aspects of the observer's personality. In this study, we sought to determine how participant characteristics (including demographics, response inhibition, autism spectrum quotient, empathy, social anxiety, and motion imagery) might influence the use of form and motion to identify the actor's sex in biological motion displays. We varied the degree of form and motion in biological motion displays and correlated 76 young adult participants' performances for identifying the actor's sex in these varied conditions with their individual differences on variables of interest. Differences in the separate use of form and motion cues were predictive of participant performance generally, with use of form most predictive of performance. Female participants relied primarily on form information, while male participants relied primarily on motion information. Participants less able to visualize movement tended to be better at using form information in the biological motion task. Overall, our findings suggest that similar group level performances across participants in identifying the sex of the actor in a biological motion task may result from quite different individual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Hiris
- Department of Psychology, 14750University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
| | - Sean Conway
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 14707University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
| | | | - Gaokhia Yang
- Department of Biology, 14750University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
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22
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Peinemann F, Tendal B, Bölte S. Digital serious games for emotional recognition in people with autism spectrum disorder. Hippokratia 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/14651858.cd014673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frank Peinemann
- Pediatric Oncology and Hematology; Children's Hospital, University of Cologne; Cologne Germany
| | - Britta Tendal
- The Nordic Cochrane Centre; Rigshospitalet; Copenhagen Denmark
| | - Sven Bölte
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research; Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm; Stockholm Sweden
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm; Stockholm Sweden
- Curtin Autism Research Group, Curtin School of Allied Health; Curtin University; Perth Australia
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23
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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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24
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Babo-Rebelo M, Puce A, Bullock D, Hugueville L, Pestilli F, Adam C, Lehongre K, Lambrecq V, Dinkelacker V, George N. Visual Information Routes in the Posterior Dorsal and Ventral Face Network Studied with Intracranial Neurophysiology and White Matter Tract Endpoints. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:342-366. [PMID: 34339495 PMCID: PMC8754371 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Occipitotemporal regions within the face network process perceptual and socioemotional information, but the dynamics and information flow between different nodes of this network are still debated. Here, we analyzed intracerebral EEG from 11 epileptic patients viewing a stimulus sequence beginning with a neutral face with direct gaze. The gaze could avert or remain direct, while the emotion changed to fearful or happy. N200 field potential peak latencies indicated that face processing begins in inferior occipital cortex and proceeds anteroventrally to fusiform and inferior temporal cortices, in parallel. The superior temporal sulcus responded preferentially to gaze changes with augmented field potential amplitudes for averted versus direct gaze, and large effect sizes relative to other network regions. An overlap analysis of posterior white matter tractography endpoints (from 1066 healthy brains) relative to active intracerebral electrodes in the 11 patients showed likely involvement of both dorsal and ventral posterior white matter pathways. Overall, our data provide new insight into the timing of face and social cue processing in the occipitotemporal brain and anchor the superior temporal cortex in dynamic gaze processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Babo-Rebelo
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche, CENIR, Centre MEG-EEG and STIM Platform, Paris F-75013, France.,Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Experimental Neurosurgery Team, Paris F-75013, France.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, UK
| | - A Puce
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Programs in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA
| | - D Bullock
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Programs in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA
| | - L Hugueville
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche, CENIR, Centre MEG-EEG and STIM Platform, Paris F-75013, France
| | - F Pestilli
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Programs in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA
| | - C Adam
- Neurophysiology Department, AP-HP, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, Paris F-75013, France
| | - K Lehongre
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche, CENIR, Centre MEG-EEG and STIM Platform, Paris F-75013, France
| | - V Lambrecq
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche, CENIR, Centre MEG-EEG and STIM Platform, Paris F-75013, France.,Neurophysiology Department, AP-HP, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, Paris F-75013, France
| | - V Dinkelacker
- Department of Neurology, Rothschild Foundation, Paris F-75019, France
| | - N George
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche, CENIR, Centre MEG-EEG and STIM Platform, Paris F-75013, France.,Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Experimental Neurosurgery Team, Paris F-75013, France
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25
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Zhang Q, Wu R, Zhu S, Le J, Chen Y, Lan C, Yao S, Zhao W, Kendrick KM. Facial emotion training as an intervention in autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Autism Res 2021; 14:2169-2182. [PMID: 34286900 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2020] [Revised: 06/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
A large number of computer-based training programs have been developed as an intervention to help individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) improve their facial emotion recognition ability, as well as social skills. However, it is unclear to what extent these facial emotion training programs can produce beneficial, long-lasting, and generalizable results. Using standard meta-analytic techniques, we investigated the effects of facial emotion training including generalization and maintenance restricted to randomized control trial studies comprising a total of 595 individuals with ASD. Our findings revealed that the intervention resulted in a robust improvement in emotion recognition for individuals receiving training compared with controls. However, while there was also some evidence for generalization of training effects, the small number of studies which conducted follow-ups and assessed social skills reported that improvements were not maintained and there was no evidence for general improvement in social skills. Overall, the analysis revealed a medium effect size in training improvement indicating that facial emotion training may be an effective method for enhancing emotion recognition skills in ASD although more studies are required to assess maintenance of effects and possible general improvements in social skills. LAY SUMMARY: Facial emotion training as an intervention may be a potential way to help improve emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however robust empirical support for its efficacy has not been sufficiently established. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of previous studies to summarize the effects of facial emotion training on ASD. Our results show that the training produces a robust improvement in subsequent emotion recognition, while maintenance and generalization effects still need further investigation. To date, no experimentally verified improvements in social skills have been reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qianqian Zhang
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Renjing Wu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Siyu Zhu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Jiao Le
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuanshu Chen
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Chunmei Lan
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Shuxia Yao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Weihua Zhao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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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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27
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Mazzoni N, Ricciardelli P, Actis-Grosso R, Venuti P. Difficulties in Recognising Dynamic but not Static Emotional Body Movements in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:1092-1105. [PMID: 33866488 PMCID: PMC8854267 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05015-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated whether the difficulties in body motion (BM) perception may led to deficit in emotion recognition in Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To this aim, individuals with high-functioning ASD were asked to recognise fearful, happy, and neutral BM depicted as static images or dynamic point-light and full-light displays. Results showed slower response times in participants with ASD only in recognising dynamic stimuli, but no group differences in accuracy. This suggests that i) a deficit in action chaining mechanism in ASD may prevent the recognition of dynamic BM automatically and rapidly, ii) individuals with ASD and high cognitive resources can develop alternative—but equally successful—strategies to recognise emotional body expressions. Implications for treatment are discussed
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemi Mazzoni
- OFDLab - Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Via Matteo del Ben, 5B, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Paola Ricciardelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Rossana Actis-Grosso
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Paola Venuti
- OFDLab - Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Via Matteo del Ben, 5B, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
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28
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Subsequent to Apparent Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Cogn Behav Neurol 2021; 34:26-37. [PMID: 33652467 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is prevalent among veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, the relationship between TBI and PTSD is not well understood. We present the case of a 31-year-old male veteran with PTSD who reported TBI before entering the military. The reported injury appeared to be mild: He was struck on the head by a baseball, losing consciousness for ∼10 seconds. Years later, he developed severe PTSD after combat exposure. He was not receiving clinical services for these issues but was encountered in the context of a research study. We conducted cognitive, autonomic, and MRI assessments to assess brain function, structure, and neurophysiology. Next, we compared amygdala volume, uncinate fasciculus diffusion, functional connectivity, facial affect recognition, and baroreceptor coherence with those of a control group of combat veterans (n = 23). Our veteran's MRI revealed a large right medial-orbital prefrontal lesion with surrounding atrophy, which the study neuroradiologist interpreted as likely caused by traumatic injury. Comparison with controls indicated disrupted structural and functional connectivity of prefrontal-limbic structures and impaired emotional, cognitive, and autonomic responses. Detection of this injury before combat would have been unlikely in a clinical context because our veteran had reported a phenomenologically mild injury, and PTSD is a simple explanation for substance abuse, sleep impairment, and psychosocial distress. However, it may be that right prefrontal-limbic disruption imparted vulnerability for the development of PTSD and exacerbated our veteran's emotional response to, and recovery from, PTSD.
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29
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Spencer APC, Brooks JCW, Masuda N, Byrne H, Lee-Kelland R, Jary S, Thoresen M, Tonks J, Goodfellow M, Cowan FM, Chakkarapani E. Disrupted brain connectivity in children treated with therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal encephalopathy. Neuroimage Clin 2021; 30:102582. [PMID: 33636541 PMCID: PMC7906894 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Therapeutic hypothermia following neonatal encephalopathy due to birth asphyxia reduces death and cerebral palsy. However, school-age children without cerebral palsy treated with therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal encephalopathy still have reduced performance on cognitive and motor tests, attention difficulties, slower reaction times and reduced visuo-spatial processing abilities compared to typically developing controls. We acquired diffusion-weighted imaging data from school-age children without cerebral palsy treated with therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal encephalopathy at birth, and a matched control group. Voxelwise analysis (33 cases, 36 controls) confirmed reduced fractional anisotropy in widespread areas of white matter in cases, particularly in the fornix, corpus callosum, anterior and posterior limbs of the internal capsule bilaterally and cingulum bilaterally. In structural brain networks constructed using probabilistic tractography (22 cases, 32 controls), graph-theoretic measures of strength, local and global efficiency, clustering coefficient and characteristic path length were found to correlate with IQ in cases but not controls. Network-based statistic analysis implicated brain regions involved in visuo-spatial processing and attention, aligning with previous behavioural findings. These included the precuneus, thalamus, left superior parietal gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus. Our findings demonstrate that, despite the manifest successes of therapeutic hypothermia, brain development is impaired in these children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur P C Spencer
- Clinical Research and Imaging Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Jonathan C W Brooks
- Clinical Research and Imaging Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Naoki Masuda
- Department of Mathematics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States; Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering Program, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States
| | - Hollie Byrne
- Clinical Research and Imaging Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Lee-Kelland
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Sally Jary
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Marianne Thoresen
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - James Tonks
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Marc Goodfellow
- Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Biomedical Modelling and Analysis, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom; EPSRC Centre for Predictive Modelling in Healthcare, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom; College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Frances M Cowan
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Department of Paediatrics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ela Chakkarapani
- Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, St Michael's Hospital, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom.
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30
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Alterations in Rapid Social Evaluations in Individuals with High Autism Traits. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:3575-3585. [PMID: 33394240 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04795-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Typically developing adults with low and high Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores made rapid social evaluations of neutral faces when these were primed by briefly presented emotional faces. High AQ participants rated neutral faces as more threatening than low AQ participants, regardless of the prime condition. Both groups rated target neutral faces as more threatening with fearful compared with neutral primes, while neither group demonstrated an effect of happy primes on the ratings of neutral target faces. These results demonstrate subtle anomalies in rapid visual processing of emotional faces across the broader autism spectrum. They suggest that higher autism traits may be associated with a generalized threat bias in rapid social evaluations.
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31
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Hendriks MHA, Dillen C, Vettori S, Vercammen L, Daniels N, Steyaert J, Op de Beeck H, Boets B. Neural processing of facial identity and expression in adults with and without autism: A multi-method approach. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 29:102520. [PMID: 33338966 PMCID: PMC7750419 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The ability to recognize faces and facial expressions is a common human talent. It has, however, been suggested to be impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of this study was to compare the processing of facial identity and emotion between individuals with ASD and neurotypicals (NTs). Behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 46 young adults (aged 17-23 years, NASD = 22, NNT = 24) was analysed. During fMRI data acquisition, participants discriminated between short clips of a face transitioning from a neutral to an emotional expression. Stimuli included four identities and six emotions. We performed behavioural, univariate, multi-voxel, adaptation and functional connectivity analyses to investigate potential group differences. The ASD-group did not differ from the NT-group on behavioural identity and expression processing tasks. At the neural level, we found no differences in average neural activation, neural activation patterns and neural adaptation to faces in face-related brain regions. In terms of functional connectivity, we found that amygdala seems to be more strongly connected to inferior occipital cortex and V1 in individuals with ASD. Overall, the findings indicate that neural representations of facial identity and expression have a similar quality in individuals with and without ASD, but some regions containing these representations are connected differently in the extended face processing network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle H A Hendriks
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Claudia Dillen
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sofie Vettori
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Laura Vercammen
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nicky Daniels
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jean Steyaert
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hans Op de Beeck
- Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - bus 3714, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bart Boets
- Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7 blok h - bus 7001, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research Consortium, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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32
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Ammons CJ, Winslett ME, Kana RK. Neural responses to viewing human faces in autism spectrum disorder: A quantitative meta-analysis of two decades of research. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107694. [PMID: 33249169 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 11/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The human face communicates a wealth of socially relevant information such as person identity, emotion, and intention. A consistent behavioral finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is reduced attention to or difficulty drawing meaning from faces. However, neuroimaging research into the neural correlates of face processing differences in ASD has returned mixed results. While many studies find hypo-activation or hypo-connectivity of core and extended face network regions, others show hyper-activation, equal activation, or even activation shifted to object-selective fusiform gyrus (FG) regions in ASD during face processing. This study consolidates two decades of literature to reveal common and consistent patterns of brain activation when viewing human faces in ASD. It also addresses whether face processing in ASD is routinely shifted to object-centric regions of the FG. To do so, we conducted an extensive search of the neuroimaging literature according to PRISMA guidelines. Peak activation coordinates from a final set of 23 studies, yielding a sample of 713 participants (338 ASD), were included for quantitative meta-analysis using Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE). ASD within-group results across studies revealed a single activation cluster in the left FG, which presented laterally to the mid-fusiform sulcus (MFS). Typically developing groups displayed common activations across core and extended face network regions. Exploratory analysis of between group findings from the literature did not yield significant results. Overall, our results suggest that individuals with ASD consistently activate at least one typical face network region, the left FG, when processing faces and this activation is not routinely shifted to object-centric areas of the FG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla J Ammons
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Department of Neuropsychology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, USA; Emory University School of Medicine, USA.
| | | | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Department of Psychology and the Center for Innovative Research in Autism, University of Alabama, USA.
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33
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Kovarski K, Caetta F, Mermillod M, Peyrin C, Perez C, Granjon L, Delorme R, Cartigny A, Zalla T, Chokron S. Emotional face recognition in autism and in cerebral visual impairments: In search for specificity. J Neuropsychol 2020; 15:235-252. [PMID: 32920927 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in the social domain, but also by hyper- and hypo-reactivity. Atypical visual behaviours and processing have often been observed. Nevertheless, several similar signs are also identified in other clinical conditions including cerebral visual impairments (CVI). In the present study, we investigated emotional face categorization in groups of children with ASD and CVI by comparing each group to typically developing individuals (TD) in two tasks. Stimuli were either non-filtered or filtered by low- and high-spatial frequencies (LSF and HSF). All participants completed the autism spectrum quotient score (AQ) and a complete neurovisual evaluation. The results show that while both clinical groups presented difficulties in the emotional face recognition tasks and atypical processing of filtered stimuli, they did not differ from one another. Additionally, autistic traits were observed in the CVI group and symmetrically, some visual disturbances were present in the ASD group as measured via the AQ score and a neurovisual evaluation, respectively. The present study suggests the relevance of comparing ASD to CVI by showing that emotional face categorization difficulties should not be solely considered as autism-specific but merit investigation for potential dysfunction of the visual processing neural network. These results are of interest in both clinical and research perspectives, indicating that systematic visual examination is warranted for individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klara Kovarski
- Institut de Neuropsychologie, Neurovision et Neurocognition, Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Paris, France.,Université de Paris, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France, Paris, France
| | - Florent Caetta
- Institut de Neuropsychologie, Neurovision et Neurocognition, Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Paris, France
| | - Martial Mermillod
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
| | - Carole Peyrin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
| | - Céline Perez
- Institut de Neuropsychologie, Neurovision et Neurocognition, Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Paris, France
| | - Lionel Granjon
- Université de Paris, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France, Paris, France
| | - Richard Delorme
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Robert Debré Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Ariane Cartigny
- Institut de Neuropsychologie, Neurovision et Neurocognition, Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Paris, France.,Université de Paris, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France, Paris, France
| | - Tiziana Zalla
- Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
| | - Sylvie Chokron
- Institut de Neuropsychologie, Neurovision et Neurocognition, Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Paris, France.,Université de Paris, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France, Paris, France
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34
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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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35
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Aguillon-Hernandez N, Mofid Y, Latinus M, Roché L, Bufo MR, Lemaire M, Malvy J, Martineau J, Wardak C, Bonnet-Brilhault F. The pupil: a window on social automatic processing in autism spectrum disorder children. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2020; 61:768-778. [PMID: 31823380 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Faces are crucial social stimuli, eliciting automatic processing associated with increased physiological arousal in observers. The level of arousal can be indexed by pupil diameter (the 'Event-Related Pupil Dilation', ERPD). However, many parameters could influence the arousal evoked by a face and its social saliency (e.g. virtual vs. real, neutral vs. emotional, static vs. dynamic). A few studies have shown an atypical ERPD in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients using several kinds of faces but no study has focused on identifying which parameter of the stimulus is the most interfering with face processing in ASD. METHODS In order to disentangle the influence of these parameters, we propose an original paradigm including stimuli along an ecological social saliency gradient: from static objects to virtual faces to dynamic emotional faces. This strategy was applied to 186 children (78 ASD and 108 typically developing (TD) children) in two pupillometric studies (22 ASD and 47 TD children in the study 1 and 56 ASD and 61 TD children in the study 2). RESULTS Strikingly, the ERPD in ASD children is insensitive to any of the parameters tested: the ERPD was similar for objects, static faces or dynamic faces. On the opposite, the ERPD in TD children is sensitive to all the parameters tested: the humanoid, biological, dynamic and emotional quality of the stimuli. Moreover, ERPD had a good discriminative power between ASD and TD children: ASD had a larger ERPD than TD in response to virtual faces, while TD had a larger ERPD than ASD for dynamic faces. CONCLUSIONS This novel approach evidences an abnormal physiological adjustment to socially relevant stimuli in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yassine Mofid
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France
| | | | - Laetitia Roché
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France
| | - Maria Rosa Bufo
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France
| | - Mathieu Lemaire
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France.,Child Psychiatry Center, University Hospital of Tours, Tours, France
| | - Joëlle Malvy
- Child Psychiatry Center, University Hospital of Tours, Tours, France
| | | | - Claire Wardak
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France
| | - Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault
- UMR 1253, iBrain, University of Tours,, Inserm, Tours, France.,Child Psychiatry Center, University Hospital of Tours, Tours, France
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36
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Chung S, Son JW. Visual Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Neuroimaging Studies. Soa Chongsonyon Chongsin Uihak 2020; 31:105-120. [PMID: 32665755 PMCID: PMC7350544 DOI: 10.5765/jkacap.200018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social impairments, patients with ASD frequently manifest atypical sensory behaviors. Recently, atypical sensory perception in ASD has received much attention, yet little is known about its cause or neurobiology. Herein, we review the findings from neuroimaging studies related to visual perception in ASD. Specifically, we examined the neural underpinnings of visual detection, motion perception, and face processing in ASD. Results from neuroimaging studies indicate that atypical visual perception in ASD may be influenced by attention or higher order cognitive mechanisms, and atypical face perception may be affected by disrupted social brain network. However, there is considerable evidence for atypical early visual processing in ASD. It is likely that visual perceptual abnormalities are independent of deficits of social functions or cognition. Importantly, atypical visual perception in ASD may enhance difficulties in dealing with complex and subtle social stimuli, or improve outstanding abilities in certain fields in individuals with Savant syndrome. Thus, future research is required to elucidate the characteristics and neurobiology of autistic visual perception to effectively apply these findings in the interventions of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seungwon Chung
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Jung-Woo Son
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
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37
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Marshall CR, Hardy CJD, Russell LL, Bond RL, Sivasathiaseelan H, Greaves C, Moore KM, Agustus JL, van Leeuwen JEP, Wastling SJ, Rohrer JD, Kilner JM, Warren JD. The functional neuroanatomy of emotion processing in frontotemporal dementias. Brain 2020; 142:2873-2887. [PMID: 31321407 PMCID: PMC7959336 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awz204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Revised: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 05/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Impaired processing of emotional signals is a core feature of frontotemporal dementia syndromes, but the underlying neural mechanisms have proved challenging to characterize and measure. Progress in this field may depend on detecting functional changes in the working brain, and disentangling components of emotion processing that include sensory decoding, emotion categorization and emotional contagion. We addressed this using functional MRI of naturalistic, dynamic facial emotion processing with concurrent indices of autonomic arousal, in a cohort of patients representing all major frontotemporal dementia syndromes relative to healthy age-matched individuals. Seventeen patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia [four female; mean (standard deviation) age 64.8 (6.8) years], 12 with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia [four female; 66.9 (7.0) years], nine with non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia [five female; 67.4 (8.1) years] and 22 healthy controls [12 female; 68.6 (6.8) years] passively viewed videos of universal facial expressions during functional MRI acquisition, with simultaneous heart rate and pupillometric recordings; emotion identification accuracy was assessed in a post-scan behavioural task. Relative to healthy controls, patient groups showed significant impairments (analysis of variance models, all P < 0.05) of facial emotion identification (all syndromes) and cardiac (all syndromes) and pupillary (non-fluent variant only) reactivity. Group-level functional neuroanatomical changes were assessed using statistical parametric mapping, thresholded at P < 0.05 after correction for multiple comparisons over the whole brain or within pre-specified regions of interest. In response to viewing facial expressions, all participant groups showed comparable activation of primary visual cortex while patient groups showed differential hypo-activation of fusiform and posterior temporo-occipital junctional cortices. Bi-hemispheric, syndrome-specific activations predicting facial emotion identification performance were identified (behavioural variant, anterior insula and caudate; semantic variant, anterior temporal cortex; non-fluent variant, frontal operculum). The semantic and non-fluent variant groups additionally showed complex profiles of central parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic involvement that overlapped signatures of emotional visual and categorization processing and extended (in the non-fluent group) to brainstem effector pathways. These findings open a window on the functional cerebral mechanisms underpinning complex socio-emotional phenotypes of frontotemporal dementia, with implications for novel physiological biomarker development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles R Marshall
- Preventive Neurology Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.,Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK.,Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Christopher J D Hardy
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Lucy L Russell
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Rebecca L Bond
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Harri Sivasathiaseelan
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Caroline Greaves
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Katrina M Moore
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Jennifer L Agustus
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Janneke E P van Leeuwen
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Stephen J Wastling
- Department of Neuroradiology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK
| | - Jonathan D Rohrer
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - James M Kilner
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Jason D Warren
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
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38
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The possible use of precision tinted lenses to improve social cognition in children with autism spectrum disorders. Vision Res 2020; 170:53-59. [PMID: 32259647 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2019] [Revised: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 03/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
A masked randomised control design compared the effectiveness of precision ophthalmic tints in improving the recognition of emotion in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Fourteen children aged 10-14 with ASD and 14 control children matched on verbal and non-verbal IQ, wore spectacles with coloured lenses to complete two tasks that involved the observation of coloured video sequences in which social interactions were depicted. On one occasion (randomly first or second) the coloured lenses provided light of a colour that the child had one month previously selected as optimal for the clarity of text. On the other occasion the lenses differed in CIE UCS chromaticity by 0.077. Performance in the ASD group was superior in both social interaction tasks with the lenses that provided the optimal colour of light.
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39
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Borowiak K, Maguinness C, von Kriegstein K. Dorsal-movement and ventral-form regions are functionally connected during visual-speech recognition. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:952-972. [PMID: 31749219 PMCID: PMC7267922 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Revised: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces convey social information such as emotion and speech. Facial emotion processing is supported via interactions between dorsal-movement and ventral-form visual cortex regions. Here, we explored, for the first time, whether similar dorsal-ventral interactions (assessed via functional connectivity), might also exist for visual-speech processing. We then examined whether altered dorsal-ventral connectivity is observed in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a disorder associated with impaired visual-speech recognition. We acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data with concurrent eye tracking in pairwise matched control and ASD participants. In both groups, dorsal-movement regions in the visual motion area 5 (V5/MT) and the temporal visual speech area (TVSA) were functionally connected to ventral-form regions (i.e., the occipital face area [OFA] and the fusiform face area [FFA]) during the recognition of visual speech, in contrast to the recognition of face identity. Notably, parts of this functional connectivity were decreased in the ASD group compared to the controls (i.e., right V5/MT-right OFA, left TVSA-left FFA). The results confirmed our hypothesis that functional connectivity between dorsal-movement and ventral-form regions exists during visual-speech processing. Its partial dysfunction in ASD might contribute to difficulties in the recognition of dynamic face information relevant for successful face-to-face communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamila Borowiak
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt University of BerlinBerlinGermany
| | - Corrina Maguinness
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
| | - Katharina von Kriegstein
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
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40
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Sato W, Uono S, Kochiyama T. Neurocognitive Mechanisms Underlying Social Atypicalities in Autism: Weak Amygdala's Emotional Modulation Hypothesis. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:864. [PMID: 33088275 PMCID: PMC7500257 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition associated with atypicalities in social interaction. Although psychological and neuroimaging studies have revealed divergent impairments in psychological processes (e.g., emotion and perception) and neural activity (e.g., amygdala, superior temporal sulcus, and inferior frontal gyrus) related to the processing of social stimuli, it remains difficult to integrate these findings. In an effort to resolve this issue, we review our psychological and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings and present a hypothetical neurocognitive model. Our psychological study showed that emotional modulation of reflexive joint attention is impaired in individuals with ASD. Our fMRI study showed that modulation from the amygdala to the neocortex during observation of dynamic facial expressions is reduced in the ASD group. Based on these findings and other evidence, we hypothesize that weak modulation from the amygdala to the neocortex-through which emotion rapidly modulates various types of perceptual, cognitive, and motor processing functions-underlies the social atypicalities in individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Psychological Process Team, BZP, RIKEN, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Shota Uono
- Organization for Promoting Neurodevelopmental Disorder Research, Kyoto, Japan.,Department of Developmental Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan
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41
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Tang JSY, Chen NTM, Falkmer M, Bӧlte S, Girdler S. Atypical Visual Processing but Comparable Levels of Emotion Recognition in Adults with Autism During the Processing of Social Scenes. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:4009-4018. [PMID: 31209741 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04104-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the underlying visual scanning patterns of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during the processing of complex emotional scenes remains limited. This study compared the complex emotion recognition performance of adults with ASD (n = 23) and matched neurotypical participants (n = 25) using the Reading the Mind in Films Task. Behaviourally, both groups exhibited similar emotion recognition accuracy. Visual fixation time towards key social regions of each stimuli was examined via eye tracking. Individuals with ASD demonstrated significantly longer fixation time towards the non-social areas. No group differences were evident for the facial and body regions of all characters in the social scenes. The findings provide evidence of the heterogeneity associated with complex emotion processing in individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia S Y Tang
- School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, WA, Australia. .,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket Brisbane, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia.
| | - Nigel T M Chen
- School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, WA, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket Brisbane, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia.,School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Marita Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, WA, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket Brisbane, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia.,School of Education and Communication, CHILD, Swedish Institute of Disability Research, Jӧnkӧping University, Jӧnkӧping County, Sweden
| | - Sven Bӧlte
- School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, WA, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket Brisbane, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia.,Division of Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopment Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden.,Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm County, Sweden
| | - Sonya Girdler
- School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, WA, Australia.,Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket Brisbane, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia
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42
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McKechanie AG, Campbell S, Eley SEA, Stanfield AC. Autism in Fragile X Syndrome; A Functional MRI Study of Facial Emotion-Processing. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:genes10121052. [PMID: 31861230 PMCID: PMC6947308 DOI: 10.3390/genes10121052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Revised: 11/25/2019] [Accepted: 12/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, and among those with fragile X syndrome, approximately 1/3rd meet a threshold for an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Previous functional imaging studies of fragile X syndrome have typically focused on those with fragile X syndrome compared to either neurotypical or autism spectrum disorder control groups. Further, the majority of previous studies have tended to focus on those who are more intellectually able than is typical for fragile X syndrome. In this study, we examine the impact of autistic traits in individuals with fragile X syndrome on a paradigm looking at facial emotion processing. The study included 17 individuals with fragile X syndrome, of whom 10 met criteria for autism as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Prior to the scan, participants rehearsed on a mock scanner to help acclimatize to the scanner environment and thus allow more severely affected individuals to participate. The task examined the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response to fearful and neutral faces taken from the Ekman faces series. Individuals in the autism group had a region of significantly reduced activity centered on the left superior temporal gyrus, compared to those with FXS alone, in response to the fearful faces. We suggest that autism in individuals with fragile X syndrome is associated with similar changes in the neurobiology of facial emotion processing as seen in idiopathic autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew G. McKechanie
- The Patrick Wild Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK; (S.C.); (S.E.A.E.); (A.C.S.)
- NHS Lothian, Edinburgh EH1 3EG, UK
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +44-131-537-6000
| | - Sonya Campbell
- The Patrick Wild Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK; (S.C.); (S.E.A.E.); (A.C.S.)
| | - Sarah E. A. Eley
- The Patrick Wild Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK; (S.C.); (S.E.A.E.); (A.C.S.)
| | - Andrew C. Stanfield
- The Patrick Wild Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UK; (S.C.); (S.E.A.E.); (A.C.S.)
- NHS Lothian, Edinburgh EH1 3EG, UK
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43
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English MCW, Maybery MT, Visser TAW. Autistic-traits, not anxiety, modulate implicit emotional guidance of attention in neurotypical adults. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18376. [PMID: 31804549 PMCID: PMC6895229 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54813-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Although autistic and anxious traits are positively correlated, high levels of autistic traits are associated with poorer emotional guidance of attention (EGA) whilst high levels of anxious traits are associated with greater EGA. In order to better understand how these two trait dimensions influence EGA, we simultaneously examined the effects of anxiety and autistic traits in neurotypical adults on target identification in an attentional blink task. Analyses indicated that implicit EGA is attenuated in individuals with higher levels of autistic traits, but largely unaffected by variation in anxious traits. Our results suggest that anxiety plays a comparatively limited role in modulating implicit EGA and reinforces the importance of disentangling correlated individual differences when exploring the effects of personality, including emotional predisposition, on attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C W English
- University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, Australia.
| | - Murray T Maybery
- University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, Australia
| | - Troy A W Visser
- University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, Australia
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44
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Peterson JL, Earl R, Fox EA, Ma R, Haidar G, Pepper M, Berliner L, Wallace A, Bernier R. Trauma and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Review, Proposed Treatment Adaptations and Future Directions. JOURNAL OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT TRAUMA 2019; 12:529-547. [PMID: 31819782 PMCID: PMC6901292 DOI: 10.1007/s40653-019-00253-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Empirical investigations of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are lacking despite indications of increased risk for exposure to potentially traumatic events in this population. Research on the treatment of traumatic stress psychopathology in ASD is even more limited and suggests a critical need for guidance in the area of ASD-specific treatment adaptations. The current paper provides preliminary recommendations for adapting current evidenced-based, trauma-specific interventions, specifically trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), for individuals with ASD based on well-established and evidence-based practices for working with this population. These adaptations highlight the need to incorporate treatment goals related to ASD core symptoms and associated characteristics during treatment targeting traumatic stress symptoms. Future directions are discussed, including the development of instruments measuring trauma reactions in ASD, empirical investigations of modified trauma interventions for children with ASD to evaluate effectiveness, and collaboration between professionals specializing in ASD and trauma/PTSD to advance research and facilitate effective care for this community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica L Peterson
- Seattle Children's Autism Center, , 4909 25th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105, M/S CAC, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA 98145-5005
| | - Rachel Earl
- University of Washington, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences / Seattle Children's Hospital
| | - Emily A Fox
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA / Seattle Children's Hospital, M/S CAC PO Box 5371, 508.851.0996
| | - Ruqian Ma
- University of Washington College of Education and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Ghina Haidar
- University of Washington College of Education & Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Micah Pepper
- University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Lucy Berliner
- University of Washington Medicine, Mailing Address: 325 Ninth Avenue, MS 359947 Seattle, WA 98104, 206 744-1600 (main line)
| | - Arianne Wallace
- University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Raphael Bernier
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, ,
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45
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Ibrahim K, Eilbott JA, Ventola P, He G, Pelphrey KA, McCarthy G, Sukhodolsky DG. Reduced Amygdala-Prefrontal Functional Connectivity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Co-occurring Disruptive Behavior. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2019; 4:1031-1041. [PMID: 30979647 PMCID: PMC7173634 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2018] [Revised: 01/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Disruptive behaviors are prevalent in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and often cause substantial impairments. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of disruptive behaviors remain poorly understood in ASD. In children without ASD, disruptive behavior is associated with amygdala hyperactivity and reduced connectivity with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). This study examined amygdala reactivity and connectivity in children with ASD with and without co-occurring disruptive behavior disorders. We also investigated differential contributions of externalizing behaviors and callous-unemotional traits to variance in amygdala connectivity and reactivity. METHODS This cross-sectional study involved behavioral assessments and neuroimaging in three groups of children 8 to 16 years of age: 18 children had ASD and disruptive behavior, 20 children had ASD without disruptive behavior, and 19 children were typically developing control participants matched for age, gender, and IQ. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants completed an emotion perception task of fearful versus calm faces. Task-specific changes in amygdala reactivity and connectivity were examined using whole-brain, psychophysiological interaction, and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS Children with ASD and disruptive behavior showed reduced amygdala-vlPFC connectivity compared with children with ASD without disruptive behavior. Externalizing behaviors and callous-unemotional traits were associated with amygdala reactivity to fearful faces in children with ASD after controlling for suppressor effects. CONCLUSIONS Reduced amygdala-vlPFC connectivity during fear processing may differentiate children with ASD and disruptive behavior from children with ASD without disruptive behavior. The presence of callous-unemotional traits may have implications for identifying differential patterns of amygdala activity associated with increased risk of aggression in ASD. These findings suggest a neural mechanism of emotion dysregulation associated with disruptive behavior in children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
| | - Jeffrey A Eilbott
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Pamela Ventola
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - George He
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Kevin A Pelphrey
- Department of Neurology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia
| | - Gregory McCarthy
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Denis G Sukhodolsky
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
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46
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Sato W, Kochiyama T, Uono S, Yoshimura S, Kubota Y, Sawada R, Sakihama M, Toichi M. Atypical Amygdala-Neocortex Interaction During Dynamic Facial Expression Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:351. [PMID: 31680906 PMCID: PMC6813184 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Atypical reciprocal social interactions involving emotional facial expressions are a core clinical feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that some social brain regions, including subcortical (e.g., amygdala) and neocortical regions (e.g., fusiform gyrus, FG) are less activated during the processing of facial expression stimuli in individuals with ASD. However, the functional networking patterns between the subcortical and cortical regions in processing emotional facial expressions remain unclear. We investigated this issue in ASD (n = 31) and typically developing (TD; n = 31) individuals using fMRI. Participants viewed dynamic facial expressions of anger and happiness and their corresponding mosaic images. Regional brain activity analysis revealed reduced activation of several social brain regions, including the amygdala, in the ASD group compared with the TD group in response to dynamic facial expressions vs. dynamic mosaics (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.19). Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) analyses were then used to compare models with forward, backward, and bi-directional effective connectivity between the amygdala and neocortical networks. The results revealed that: (1) the model with effective connectivity from the amygdala to the neocortex best fit the data of both groups; and (2) the same model best accounted for group differences. Coupling parameter (i.e., effective connectivity) analyses showed that the modulatory effects of dynamic facial processing were substantially weaker in the ASD group than in the TD group. These findings suggest that atypical modulation from the amygdala to the neocortex underlies impairment in social interaction involving dynamic facial expressions in individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Shota Uono
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Sayaka Yoshimura
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yasutaka Kubota
- Health and Medical Services Center, Shiga University, Hikone, Japan
| | - Reiko Sawada
- Faculty of Human Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,The Organization for Promoting Developmental Disorder Research, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Motomi Toichi
- Faculty of Human Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,The Organization for Promoting Developmental Disorder Research, Kyoto, Japan
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47
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Pitcher D, Ianni G, Ungerleider LG. A functional dissociation of face-, body- and scene-selective brain areas based on their response to moving and static stimuli. Sci Rep 2019; 9:8242. [PMID: 31160680 PMCID: PMC6546694 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44663-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The human brain contains areas that respond selectively to faces, bodies and scenes. Neuroimaging studies have shown that a subset of these areas preferentially respond more to moving than static stimuli, but the reasons for this functional dissociation remain unclear. In the present study, we simultaneously mapped the responses to motion in face-, body- and scene-selective areas in the right hemisphere using moving and static stimuli. Participants (N = 22) were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing videos containing bodies, faces, objects, scenes or scrambled objects, and static pictures from the beginning, middle and end of each video. Results demonstrated that lateral areas, including face-selective areas in the posterior and anterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), the extrastriate body area (EBA) and the occipital place area (OPA) responded more to moving than static stimuli. By contrast, there was no difference between the response to moving and static stimuli in ventral and medial category-selective areas, including the fusiform face area (FFA), occipital face area (OFA), amygdala, fusiform body area (FBA), retrosplenial complex (RSC) and parahippocampal place area (PPA). This functional dissociation between lateral and ventral/medial brain areas that respond selectively to different visual categories suggests that face-, body- and scene-selective networks may be functionally organized along a common dimension.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Pitcher
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO105DD, UK.
| | - Geena Ianni
- Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, New York, 10065, USA.,Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Leslie G Ungerleider
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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48
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Sato W, Kochiyama T, Uono S, Sawada R, Kubota Y, Yoshimura S, Toichi M. Widespread and lateralized social brain activity for processing dynamic facial expressions. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:3753-3768. [PMID: 31090126 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2019] [Revised: 04/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Dynamic facial expressions of emotions constitute natural and powerful means of social communication in daily life. A number of previous neuroimaging studies have explored the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of dynamic facial expressions, and indicated the activation of certain social brain regions (e.g., the amygdala) during such tasks. However, the activated brain regions were inconsistent across studies, and their laterality was rarely evaluated. To investigate these issues, we measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a relatively large sample (n = 51) during the observation of dynamic facial expressions of anger and happiness and their corresponding dynamic mosaic images. The observation of dynamic facial expressions, compared with dynamic mosaics, elicited stronger activity in the bilateral posterior cortices, including the inferior occipital gyri, fusiform gyri, and superior temporal sulci. The dynamic facial expressions also activated bilateral limbic regions, including the amygdalae and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, more strongly versus mosaics. In the same manner, activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left cerebellum. Laterality analyses comparing original and flipped images revealed right hemispheric dominance in the superior temporal sulcus and IFG and left hemispheric dominance in the cerebellum. These results indicated that the neural mechanisms underlying processing of dynamic facial expressions include widespread social brain regions associated with perceptual, emotional, and motor functions, and include a clearly lateralized (right cortical and left cerebellar) network like that involved in language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Shota Uono
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Reiko Sawada
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yasutaka Kubota
- Health and Medical Services Center, Shiga University, Hikone, Shiga, Japan
| | - Sayaka Yoshimura
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Motomi Toichi
- Faculty of Human Health Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,The Organization for Promoting Neurodevelopmental Disorder Research, Kyoto, Japan
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49
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Hashiya K, Meng X, Uto Y, Tajiri K. Overt congruent facial reaction to dynamic emotional expressions in 9–10-month-old infants. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 54:48-56. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 11/30/2018] [Accepted: 12/09/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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50
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Odriozola P, Dajani DR, Burrows CA, Gabard-Durnam LJ, Goodman E, Baez AC, Tottenham N, Uddin LQ, Gee DG. Atypical frontoamygdala functional connectivity in youth with autism. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018; 37:100603. [PMID: 30581125 PMCID: PMC6570504 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Revised: 11/11/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional connectivity (FC) between the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex underlies socioemotional functioning, a core domain of impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although frontoamygdala circuitry undergoes dynamic changes throughout development, little is known about age-related changes in frontoamygdala networks in ASD. Here we characterize frontoamygdala resting-state FC in a cross-sectional sample (ages 7–25) of 58 typically developing (TD) individuals and 53 individuals with ASD. Contrary to hypotheses, individuals with ASD did not show different age-related patterns of frontoamygdala FC compared with TD individuals. However, overall group differences in frontoamygdala FC were observed. Specifically, relative to TD individuals, individuals with ASD showed weaker frontoamygdala FC between the right basolateral (BL) amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). These findings extend prior work to a broader developmental range in ASD, and indicate ASD-related differences in frontoamygdala FC that may underlie core socioemotional impairments in children and adolescents with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Odriozola
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA.
| | - Dina R Dajani
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
| | | | | | - Emma Goodman
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Adriana C Baez
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
| | - Nim Tottenham
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA; Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami FL, 33136, USA
| | - Dylan G Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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