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Feng S, Ding L, Wang M, Zhang J, Yuan Y, Zhang P, Bai X. Can similarity of autistic traits promote neural synchronization? Exp Brain Res 2024:10.1007/s00221-024-06919-3. [PMID: 39320438 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06919-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Accepted: 09/02/2024] [Indexed: 09/26/2024]
Abstract
People with similar levels of autistic traits are reported to exhibit better interactions than those with larger differences in autistic traits. However, whether this "similarity effect" exists at the neural level remains unclear. To address this gap, the present study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning technology to assess inter-brain synchronization (IBS) during naturalistic conversations among dyads with three types of autistic trait combinations (20 high-high, 22 high-low, and 18 low-low dyads). The results revealed that the high-high dyads exhibited significantly lower IBS in the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) region compared to the low-low dyads, with no significant differences observed between the high-low group and the other two groups. Moreover, though dyadic differences in conversation satisfaction were positively correlated with dyadic autistic trait differences, IBS only showed a significant negative correlation with the dyadic average autistic trait scores and no significant correlation with the dyadic difference scores of autistic traits. These findings suggest that dyads with high autistic traits may have shared feelings about conversations, but cannot produce IBS through successful mutual prediction and understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuyuan Feng
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Lin Ding
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Mingliang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Jianing Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Yuqing Yuan
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Peng Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
| | - Xuejun Bai
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
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2
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Chao ZC, Komatsu M, Matsumoto M, Iijima K, Nakagaki K, Ichinohe N. Erroneous predictive coding across brain hierarchies in a non-human primate model of autism spectrum disorder. Commun Biol 2024; 7:851. [PMID: 38992101 PMCID: PMC11239931 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06545-3] [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: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), atypical sensory experiences are often associated with irregularities in predictive coding, which proposes that the brain creates hierarchical sensory models via a bidirectional process of predictions and prediction errors. However, it remains unclear how these irregularities manifest across different functional hierarchies in the brain. To address this, we study a marmoset model of ASD induced by valproic acid (VPA) treatment. We record high-density electrocorticography (ECoG) during an auditory task with two layers of temporal control, and applied a quantitative model to quantify the integrity of predictive coding across two distinct hierarchies. Our results demonstrate a persistent pattern of sensory hypersensitivity and unstable predictions across two brain hierarchies in VPA-treated animals, and reveal the associated spatio-spectro-temporal neural signatures. Despite the regular occurrence of imprecise predictions in VPA-treated animals, we observe diverse configurations of underestimation or overestimation of sensory regularities within the hierarchies. Our results demonstrate the coexistence of the two primary Bayesian accounts of ASD: overly-precise sensory observations and weak prior beliefs, and offer a potential multi-layered biomarker for ASD, which could enhance our understanding of its diverse symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zenas C Chao
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, 113-0033, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Misako Komatsu
- Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 226-8503, Tokyo, Japan.
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, 351-0198, Wako, Japan.
- Department of Ultrastructural Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 187-8502, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Madoka Matsumoto
- Department of Preventive Intervention for Psychiatric Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 187-8553, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazuki Iijima
- Department of Preventive Intervention for Psychiatric Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 187-8553, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Keiko Nakagaki
- Department of Ultrastructural Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 187-8502, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Noritaka Ichinohe
- Department of Ultrastructural Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 187-8502, Tokyo, Japan.
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3
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Bianco V, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C. Contextual Priors Shape Action Understanding before and beyond the Unfolding of Movement Kinematics. Brain Sci 2024; 14:164. [PMID: 38391738 PMCID: PMC10887018 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14020164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that contextual information may aid in guessing the intention underlying others' actions in conditions of perceptual ambiguity. Here, we aimed to evaluate the temporal deployment of contextual influence on action prediction with increasing availability of kinematic information during the observation of ongoing actions. We used action videos depicting an actor grasping an object placed on a container to perform individual or interpersonal actions featuring different kinematic profiles. Crucially, the container could be of different colors. First, in a familiarization phase, the probability of co-occurrence between each action kinematics and color cues was implicitly manipulated to 80% and 20%, thus generating contextual priors. Then, in a testing phase, participants were asked to predict action outcome when the same action videos were occluded at five different timeframes of the entire movement, ranging from when the actor was still to when the grasp of the object was fully accomplished. In this phase, all possible action-contextual cues' associations were equally presented. The results showed that for all occlusion intervals, action prediction was more facilitated when action kinematics deployed in high- than low-probability contextual scenarios. Importantly, contextual priors shaped action prediction even in the latest occlusion intervals, where the kinematic cues clearly unveiled an action outcome that was previously associated with low-probability scenarios. These residual contextual effects were stronger in individuals with higher subclinical autistic traits. Our findings highlight the relative contribution of kinematic and contextual information to action understanding and provide evidence in favor of their continuous integration during action observation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Bianco
- Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | | | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, 33037 Udine, Italy
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4
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Arthur T, Vine S, Buckingham G, Brosnan M, Wilson M, Harris D. Testing predictive coding theories of autism spectrum disorder using models of active inference. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011473. [PMID: 37695796 PMCID: PMC10529610 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Several competing neuro-computational theories of autism have emerged from predictive coding models of the brain. To disentangle their subtly different predictions about the nature of atypicalities in autistic perception, we performed computational modelling of two sensorimotor tasks: the predictive use of manual gripping forces during object lifting and anticipatory eye movements during a naturalistic interception task. In contrast to some accounts, we found no evidence of chronic atypicalities in the use of priors or weighting of sensory information during object lifting. Differences in prior beliefs, rates of belief updating, and the precision weighting of prediction errors were, however, observed for anticipatory eye movements. Most notably, we observed autism-related difficulties in flexibly adapting learning rates in response to environmental change (i.e., volatility). These findings suggest that atypical encoding of precision and context-sensitive adjustments provide a better explanation of autistic perception than generic attenuation of priors or persistently high precision prediction errors. Our results did not, however, support previous suggestions that autistic people perceive their environment to be persistently volatile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Arthur
- School of Public Health and Sport Sciences, Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Sam Vine
- School of Public Health and Sport Sciences, Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Gavin Buckingham
- School of Public Health and Sport Sciences, Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Brosnan
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Wilson
- School of Public Health and Sport Sciences, Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - David Harris
- School of Public Health and Sport Sciences, Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
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Angeletos Chrysaitis N, Seriès P. 10 years of Bayesian theories of autism: A comprehensive review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 145:105022. [PMID: 36581168 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.105022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Ten years ago, Pellicano and Burr published one of the most influential articles in the study of autism spectrum disorders, linking them to aberrant Bayesian inference processes in the brain. In particular, they proposed that autistic individuals are less influenced by their brains' prior beliefs about the environment. In this systematic review, we investigate if this theory is supported by the experimental evidence. To that end, we collect all studies which included comparisons across diagnostic groups or autistic traits and categorise them based on the investigated priors. Our results are highly mixed, with a slight majority of studies finding no difference in the integration of Bayesian priors. We find that priors developed during the experiments exhibited reduced influences more frequently than priors acquired previously, with various studies providing evidence for learning differences between participant groups. Finally, we focus on the methodological and computational aspects of the included studies, showing low statistical power and often inconsistent approaches. Based on our findings, we propose guidelines for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikitas Angeletos Chrysaitis
- Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, United Kingdom.
| | - Peggy Seriès
- Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, United Kingdom.
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Friston K. Computational psychiatry: from synapses to sentience. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:256-268. [PMID: 36056173 PMCID: PMC7614021 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01743-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Revised: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
This review considers computational psychiatry from a particular viewpoint: namely, a commitment to explaining psychopathology in terms of pathophysiology. It rests on the notion of a generative model as underwriting (i) sentient processing in the brain, and (ii) the scientific process in psychiatry. The story starts with a view of the brain-from cognitive and computational neuroscience-as an organ of inference and prediction. This offers a formal description of neuronal message passing, distributed processing and belief propagation in neuronal networks; and how certain kinds of dysconnection lead to aberrant belief updating and false inference. The dysconnections in question can be read as a pernicious synaptopathy that fits comfortably with formal notions of how we-or our brains-encode uncertainty or its complement, precision. It then considers how the ensuing process theories are tested empirically, with an emphasis on the computational modelling of neuronal circuits and synaptic gain control that mediates attentional set, active inference, learning and planning. The opportunities afforded by this sort of modelling are considered in light of in silico experiments; namely, computational neuropsychology, computational phenotyping and the promises of a computational nosology for psychiatry. The resulting survey of computational approaches is not scholarly or exhaustive. Rather, its aim is to review a theoretical narrative that is emerging across subdisciplines within psychiatry and empirical scales of investigation. These range from epilepsy research to neurodegenerative disorders; from post-traumatic stress disorder to the management of chronic pain, from schizophrenia to functional medical symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
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7
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Spee BTM, Sladky R, Fingerhut J, Laciny A, Kraus C, Carls-Diamante S, Brücke C, Pelowski M, Treven M. Repeating patterns: Predictive processing suggests an aesthetic learning role of the basal ganglia in repetitive stereotyped behaviors. Front Psychol 2022; 13:930293. [PMID: 36160532 PMCID: PMC9497189 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.930293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recurrent, unvarying, and seemingly purposeless patterns of action and cognition are part of normal development, but also feature prominently in several neuropsychiatric conditions. Repetitive stereotyped behaviors (RSBs) can be viewed as exaggerated forms of learned habits and frequently correlate with alterations in motor, limbic, and associative basal ganglia circuits. However, it is still unclear how altered basal ganglia feedback signals actually relate to the phenomenological variability of RSBs. Why do behaviorally overlapping phenomena sometimes require different treatment approaches-for example, sensory shielding strategies versus exposure therapy for autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder, respectively? Certain clues may be found in recent models of basal ganglia function that extend well beyond action selection and motivational control, and have implications for sensorimotor integration, prediction, learning under uncertainty, as well as aesthetic learning. In this paper, we systematically compare three exemplary conditions with basal ganglia involvement, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parkinson's disease, and autism spectrum conditions, to gain a new understanding of RSBs. We integrate clinical observations and neuroanatomical and neurophysiological alterations with accounts employing the predictive processing framework. Based on this review, we suggest that basal ganglia feedback plays a central role in preconditioning cortical networks to anticipate self-generated, movement-related perception. In this way, basal ganglia feedback appears ideally situated to adjust the salience of sensory signals through precision weighting of (external) new sensory information, relative to the precision of (internal) predictions based on prior generated models. Accordingly, behavioral policies may preferentially rely on new data versus existing knowledge, in a spectrum spanning between novelty and stability. RSBs may then represent compensatory or reactive responses, respectively, at the opposite ends of this spectrum. This view places an important role of aesthetic learning on basal ganglia feedback, may account for observed changes in creativity and aesthetic experience in basal ganglia disorders, is empirically testable, and may inform creative art therapies in conditions characterized by stereotyped behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blanca T. M. Spee
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ronald Sladky
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Joerg Fingerhut
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Alice Laciny
- Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria
| | - Christoph Kraus
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Medical Neuroscience Cluster, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Christof Brücke
- Medical Neuroscience Cluster, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthew Pelowski
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marco Treven
- Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria
- Medical Neuroscience Cluster, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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8
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Andersen BP. Autistic-Like Traits and Positive Schizotypy as Diametric Specializations of the Predictive Mind. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 17:1653-1672. [PMID: 35816687 DOI: 10.1177/17456916221075252] [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] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
According to the predictive-processing framework, only prediction errors (rather than all sensory inputs) are processed by an organism's perceptual system. Prediction errors can be weighted such that errors from more reliable sources will be more influential in updating prior beliefs. It has previously been argued that autism-spectrum conditions can be understood as resulting from a predictive-processing mechanism in which an inflexibly high weight is given to sensory-prediction errors that results in overfitting their predictive models to the world. Deficits in executive functioning, theory of mind, and central coherence are all argued to flow naturally from this core underlying mechanism. The diametric model of autism and psychosis suggests a simple extension of this hypothesis. If people on the autism spectrum give an inflexibly high weight to sensory input, could it be that people with a predisposition to psychosis (i.e., people high in positive schizotypy) give an inflexibly low weight to sensory input? In this article I argue that evidence strongly supports this hypothesis. An inflexibly low weight given to sensory input can explain such disparate features of positive schizotypy as increased exploratory behavior, apophenia, hyper theory of mind, hyperactive imagination, attentional differences, and having idiosyncratic worldviews.
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9
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Goris J, Braem S, Van Herck S, Simoens J, Deschrijver E, Wiersema JR, Paton B, Brass M, Todd J. Reduced Primacy Bias in Autism during Early Sensory Processing. J Neurosci 2022; 42:3989-3999. [PMID: 35361705 PMCID: PMC9097775 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3088-20.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent theories of autism propose that a core deficit in autism would be a less context-sensitive weighting of prediction errors. There is also first support for this hypothesis on an early sensory level. However, an open question is whether this decreased context sensitivity is caused by faster updating of one's model of the world (i.e., higher weighting of new information), proposed by predictive coding theories, or slower model updating. Here, we differentiated between these two hypotheses by investigating how first impressions shape the mismatch negativity (MMN), reflecting early sensory prediction error processing. An autism and matched control group of human adults (both n = 27, 8 female) were compared on the multi-timescale MMN paradigm, in which tones were presented that were either standard (frequently occurring) or deviant (rare), and these roles reversed every block. A well-replicated observation is that the initial model (i.e., the standard and deviant sound in the first block) influences MMN amplitudes in later blocks. If autism is characterized by faster model updating, and thus a smaller primacy bias, we hypothesized (and demonstrate using a simple reinforcement learning model) that their MMN amplitudes should be less influenced by the initial context. In line with this hypothesis, we found that MMN responses in the autism group did not differ between the initial deviant and initial standard sounds as they did in the control group. These findings are consistent with the idea that autism is characterized by faster model updating during early sensory processing, as proposed by predictive coding accounts of autism.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent theories of autism propose that a core deficit in autism is that they are faster to update their models of the world based on new sensory information. Here, we tested this hypothesis by investigating how first impressions shape brain responses during early sensory processing, and hypothesized that individuals with autism would be less influenced by these first impressions. In line with earlier studies, our results show that early sensory processing was influenced by first impressions in a control group. However, this was not the case in an autism group. This suggests that individuals with autism are faster to abandon their initial model, and is consistent with the proposal that they are faster to update their models of the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Goris
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Senne Braem
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Shauni Van Herck
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium
| | - Jonas Simoens
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Eliane Deschrijver
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2033, Australia
| | - Jan R Wiersema
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Bryan Paton
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Marcel Brass
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10117, Germany
| | - Juanita Todd
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
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Umesawa Y, Ide M, Wada M. The relationship between the effect of hand visibility on visuotactile temporal resolution and autistic traits. Exp Brain Res 2022; 240:1557-1564. [PMID: 35391582 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06347-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have atypical sensory processing, particularly when sensory stimuli are delivered from different modalities with a temporal lag of subseconds. Previous studies have suggested that individuals with ASD require a longer temporal lag to judge temporal orders of successive audiovisual stimuli than neurotypical individuals; however, it remains unclear whether a lower temporal resolution in the visuotactile domain is associated with an individual's autistic traits. In addition, a previous study demonstrated that visuotactile temporal resolution degraded when the participants saw a hand image on a display. In this study, we investigated whether the temporal resolution of the visuotactile stimuli degrades when the participant's own hand or rubber hands are visible, and whether the effect of the hand's visibility on the temporal resolution decreases according to an individual's autistic traits. We used the temporal order judgment (TOJ) of the vibrotactile stimulus delivered to the participant's index finger and an LED attached above their own hand or rubber hand. Our findings suggest that when participants could not see their hand, temporal order judgment tended to be coarser in participants with higher autistic traits. However, this tendency was not observed when they could see both their own or the rubber hands. Moreover, temporal resolution degraded when the participants could see their own hands. These results indicate that autistic traits influence the temporal resolution of visuotactile stimuli if they are delivered as external signals in TOJ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yumi Umesawa
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1, Namiki, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan
| | - Masakazu Ide
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1, Namiki, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan.
| | - Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1, Namiki, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan
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11
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Vaquerizo-Serrano J, Salazar de Pablo G, Singh J, Santosh P. Autism Spectrum Disorder and Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Autism Dev Disord 2022; 52:1568-1586. [PMID: 33993403 PMCID: PMC8938385 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05046-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Psychotic experiences can occur in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Some of the ASD individuals with these experiences may fulfil Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis (CHR-P) criteria. A systematic literature search was performed to review the information on ASD and CHR-P. A meta-analysis of the proportion of CHR-P in ASD was conducted. The systematic review included 13 studies. The mean age of ASD individuals across the included studies was 11.09 years. The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome subgroup was the most frequently reported. Four studies were meta-analysed, showing that 11.6% of CHR-P individuals have an ASD diagnosis. Symptoms of prodromal psychosis may be present in individuals with ASD. The transition from CHR-P to psychosis is not affected by ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julio Vaquerizo-Serrano
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Centre for Interventional Paediatric Psychopharmacology and Rare Diseases (CIPPRD), National and Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Maudsley Hospital, London, UK
- Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Gonzalo Salazar de Pablo
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
- Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Maranón, Universidad Complutense, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jatinder Singh
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Centre for Interventional Paediatric Psychopharmacology and Rare Diseases (CIPPRD), National and Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Maudsley Hospital, London, UK
| | - Paramala Santosh
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
- Centre for Interventional Paediatric Psychopharmacology and Rare Diseases (CIPPRD), National and Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Maudsley Hospital, London, UK.
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12
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Tarasi L, Trajkovic J, Diciotti S, di Pellegrino G, Ferri F, Ursino M, Romei V. Predictive waves in the autism-schizophrenia continuum: A novel biobehavioral model. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:1-22. [PMID: 34774901 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The brain is a predictive machine. Converging data suggests a diametric predictive strategy from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to schizophrenic spectrum disorders (SSD). Whereas perceptual inference in ASD is rigidly shaped by incoming sensory information, the SSD population is prone to overestimate the precision of their priors' models. Growing evidence considers brain oscillations pivotal biomarkers to understand how top-down predictions integrate bottom-up input. Starting from the conceptualization of ASD and SSD as oscillopathies, we introduce an integrated perspective that ascribes the maladjustments of the predictive mechanism to dysregulation of neural synchronization. According to this proposal, disturbances in the oscillatory profile do not allow the appropriate trade-off between descending predictive signal, overweighted in SSD, and ascending prediction errors, overweighted in ASD. These opposing imbalances both result in an ill-adapted reaction to external challenges. This approach offers a neuro-computational model capable of linking predictive coding theories with electrophysiological findings, aiming to increase knowledge on the neuronal foundations of the two spectra features and stimulate hypothesis-driven rehabilitation/research perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy.
| | - Jelena Trajkovic
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Stefano Diciotti
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy; Alma Mater Research Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Francesca Ferri
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Mauro Ursino
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy.
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13
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Arthur T, Harris D, Buckingham G, Brosnan M, Wilson M, Williams G, Vine S. An examination of active inference in autistic adults using immersive virtual reality. Sci Rep 2021; 11:20377. [PMID: 34645899 PMCID: PMC8514518 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99864-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The integration of prior expectations, sensory information, and environmental volatility is proposed to be atypical in Autism Spectrum Disorder, yet few studies have tested these predictive processes in active movement tasks. To address this gap in the research, we used an immersive virtual-reality racquetball paradigm to explore how visual sampling behaviours and movement kinematics are adjusted in relation to unexpected, uncertain, and volatile changes in environmental statistics. We found that prior expectations concerning ball 'bounciness' affected sensorimotor control in both autistic and neurotypical participants, with all individuals using prediction-driven gaze strategies to track the virtual ball. However, autistic participants showed substantial differences in visuomotor behaviour when environmental conditions were more volatile. Specifically, uncertainty-related performance difficulties in these conditions were accompanied by atypical movement kinematics and visual sampling responses. Results support proposals that autistic people overestimate the volatility of sensory environments, and suggest that context-sensitive differences in active inference could explain a range of movement-related difficulties in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Arthur
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK.
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
| | - David Harris
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Gavin Buckingham
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Mark Brosnan
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Mark Wilson
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Genevieve Williams
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Sam Vine
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK.
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14
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Arthur T, Harris DJ, Allen K, Naylor CE, Wood G, Vine S, Wilson MR, Tsaneva-Atanasova K, Buckingham G. Visuo-motor attention during object interaction in children with developmental coordination disorder. Cortex 2021; 138:318-328. [PMID: 33780720 PMCID: PMC8064026 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 10/29/2022]
Abstract
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) describes a condition of poor motor performance in the absence of intellectual impairment. Despite being one of the most prevalent developmental disorders, little is known about how fundamental visuomotor processes might function in this group. One prevalent idea is children with DCD interact with their environment in a less predictive fashion than typically developing children. A metric of prediction which has not been examined in this group is the degree to which the hands and eyes are coordinated when performing manual tasks. To this end, we examined hand and eye movements during an object lifting task in a group of children with DCD (n = 19) and an age-matched group of children without DCD (n = 39). We observed no differences between the groups in terms of how well they coordinated their hands and eyes when lifting objects, nor in terms of the degree by which the eye led the hand. We thus find no evidence to support the proposition that children with DCD coordinate their hands and eyes in a non-predictive fashion. In a follow-up exploratory analysis we did, however, note differences in fundamental patterns of eye movements between the groups, with children in the DCD group showing some evidence of atypical visual sampling strategies and gaze anchoring behaviours during the task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Arthur
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK
| | - David J Harris
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Kate Allen
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK; Department of Health and Social Care, College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, UK
| | | | - Greg Wood
- Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Research Centre for Musculoskeletal Science and Sports Medicine, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
| | - Sam Vine
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Mark R Wilson
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova
- Department of Mathematics, College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, UK; Translational Research Exchange @ Exeter, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Gavin Buckingham
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK; Translational Research Exchange @ Exeter, University of Exeter, UK.
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15
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Arthur T, Vine S, Brosnan M, Buckingham G. Predictive sensorimotor control in autism. Brain 2021; 143:3151-3163. [PMID: 32974646 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder has been characterized by atypicalities in how predictions and sensory information are processed in the brain. To shed light on this relationship in the context of sensorimotor control, we assessed prediction-related measures of cognition, perception, gaze and motor functioning in a large general population (n = 92; Experiment 1) and in clinically diagnosed autistic participants (n = 29; Experiment 2). In both experiments perception and action were strongly driven by prior expectations of object weight, with large items typically predicted to weigh more than equally-weighted smaller ones. Interestingly, these predictive action models were used comparably at a sensorimotor level in both autistic and neurotypical individuals with varying levels of autistic-like traits. Specifically, initial fingertip force profiles and resulting action kinematics were both scaled according to participants' pre-lift heaviness estimates, and generic visual sampling behaviours were notably consistent across groups. These results suggest that the weighting of prior information is not chronically underweighted in autism, as proposed by simple Bayesian accounts of the disorder. Instead, our results cautiously implicate context-sensitive processing mechanisms, such as precision modulation and hierarchical volatility inference. Together, these findings present novel implications for both future scientific investigations and the autism community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Arthur
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK.,Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Sam Vine
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK
| | - Mark Brosnan
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Gavin Buckingham
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK
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16
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The effect of uncertainty on prediction error in the action perception loop. Cognition 2021; 210:104598. [PMID: 33497918 PMCID: PMC8085733 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Revised: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Among all their sensations, agents need to distinguish between those caused by themselves and those caused by external causes. The ability to infer agency is particularly challenging under conditions of uncertainty. Within the predictive processing framework, this should happen through active control of prediction error that closes the action-perception loop. Here we use a novel, temporally-sensitive, behavioural proxy for prediction error to show that it is minimised most quickly when volatility is high and when participants report agency, regardless of the accuracy of the judgement. We demonstrate broad effects of uncertainty on accuracy of agency judgements, movement, policy selection, and hypothesis switching. Measuring autism traits, we find differences in policy selection, sensitivity to uncertainty and hypothesis switching despite no difference in overall accuracy. Even under increasing uncertainty, participants can use varied actions to successfully test among their hypotheses of agency. Eye-tracking and movement data can be used to formulate a proxy for prediction error, which is modulated by participants. Under variability and volatility, participants vary policy selection to minimise prediction error and discern agency. Changing one's hypothesis about agency is preceded by increasing prediction error and followed by a rapid decrease. High autism traits are associated with more restricted policy use in lower volatility environments.
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17
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Noel JP, Failla MD, Quinde-Zlibut JM, Williams ZJ, Gerdes M, Tracy JM, Zoltowski AR, Foss-Feig JH, Nichols H, Armstrong K, Heckers SH, Blake RR, Wallace MT, Park S, Cascio CJ. Visual-Tactile Spatial Multisensory Interaction in Adults With Autism and Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:578401. [PMID: 33192716 PMCID: PMC7644602 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.578401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SZ) exhibit multisensory processing difficulties and social impairments, with growing evidence that the former contributes to the latter. However, this work has largely reported on separate cohorts, introducing method variance as a barrier to drawing broad conclusions across studies. Further, very few studies have addressed touch, resulting in sparse knowledge about how these two clinical groups may integrate somatic information with other senses. Methods: In this study, we compared adults with ASD (n = 29), SZ (n = 24), and typical developmental histories (TD, n = 37) on two tasks requiring visual-tactile spatial multisensory processing. In the first task (crossmodal congruency), participants judged the location of a tactile stimulus in the presence or absence of simultaneous visual input that was either spatially congruent or incongruent, with poorer performance for incongruence an index of spatial multisensory interaction. In the second task, participants reacted to touch in the presence or absence of dynamic visual stimuli that appeared to approach or recede from the body. Within a certain radius around the body, defined as peripersonal space (PPS), an approaching visual or auditory stimulus reliably speeds reaction times (RT) to touch; outside of this radius, in extrapersonal space (EPS), there is no multisensory effect. PPS can be defined both by its size (radius) and slope (sharpness of the PPS-EPS boundary). Clinical measures were administered to explore relations with visual-tactile processing. Results: Neither clinical group differed from controls on the crossmodal congruency task. The ASD group had significantly smaller and more sharply-defined PPSs compared to the other two groups. Small PPS size was related to social symptom severity across groups, but was largely driven by the TD group, without significant effects in either clinical group. Conclusions: These results suggest that: (1) spatially static visual-tactile facilitation is intact in adults with ASD and SZ, (2) spatially dynamic visual-tactile facilitation impacting perception of the body boundary is affected in ASD but not SZ, and (3) body boundary perception is related to social-emotional function, but not in a way that maps on to clinical status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Michelle D. Failla
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | | | - Zachary J. Williams
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Madison Gerdes
- School of Criminology and Justice Policty, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | - Alisa R. Zoltowski
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Jennifer H. Foss-Feig
- Department of Psychiatry and Seaver Center for Autism Research, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, United States
| | - Heathman Nichols
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Kristan Armstrong
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Stephan H. Heckers
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Randolph R. Blake
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Mark T. Wallace
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Vanderbilt Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Sohee Park
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Carissa J. Cascio
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Vanderbilt Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Nashville, TN, United States
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18
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Bianco V, Finisguerra A, Betti S, D’Argenio G, Urgesi C. Autistic Traits Differently Account for Context-Based Predictions of Physical and Social Events. Brain Sci 2020; 10:E418. [PMID: 32630346 PMCID: PMC7407668 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10070418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism is associated with difficulties in making predictions based on contextual cues. Here, we investigated whether the distribution of autistic traits in the general population, as measured through the Autistic Quotient (AQ), is associated with alterations of context-based predictions of social and non-social stimuli. Seventy-eight healthy participants performed a social task, requiring the prediction of the unfolding of an action as interpersonal (e.g., to give) or individual (e.g., to eat), and a non-social task, requiring the prediction of the appearance of a moving shape as a short (e.g., square) or a long (e.g., rectangle) figure. Both tasks consisted of (i) a familiarization phase, in which the association between each stimulus type and a contextual cue was manipulated with different probabilities of co-occurrence, and (ii) a testing phase, in which visual information was impoverished by early occlusion of video display, thus forcing participants to rely on previously learned context-based associations. Findings showed that the prediction of both social and non-social stimuli was facilitated when embedded in high-probability contexts. However, only the contextual modulation of non-social predictions was reduced in individuals with lower 'Attention switching' abilities. The results provide evidence for an association between weaker context-based expectations of non-social events and higher autistic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Bianco
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy; (V.B.); (S.B.); GIULIA.D' (G.D.)
| | | | - Sonia Betti
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy; (V.B.); (S.B.); GIULIA.D' (G.D.)
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Giulia D’Argenio
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy; (V.B.); (S.B.); GIULIA.D' (G.D.)
- PhD Program in Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34128 Trieste, Italy
| | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy; (V.B.); (S.B.); GIULIA.D' (G.D.)
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, 33037 Udine, Italy;
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19
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Lu H, Yi L, Zhang H. Autistic traits influence the strategic diversity of information sampling: Insights from two-stage decision models. PLoS Comput Biol 2019; 15:e1006964. [PMID: 31790391 PMCID: PMC6907874 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Revised: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Information sampling can reduce uncertainty in future decisions but is often costly. To maximize reward, people need to balance sampling cost and information gain. Here we aimed to understand how autistic traits influence the optimality of information sampling and to identify the particularly affected cognitive processes. Healthy human adults with different levels of autistic traits performed a probabilistic inference task, where they could sequentially sample information to increase their likelihood of correct inference and may choose to stop at any moment. We manipulated the cost and evidence associated with each sample and compared participants’ performance to strategies that maximize expected gain. We found that participants were overall close to optimal but also showed autistic-trait-related differences. Participants with higher autistic traits had a higher efficiency of winning rewards when the sampling cost was zero but a lower efficiency when the cost was high and the evidence was more ambiguous. Computational modeling of participants’ sampling choices and decision times revealed a two-stage decision process, with the second stage being an optional second thought. Participants may consider cost in the first stage and evidence in the second stage, or in the reverse order. The probability of choosing to stop sampling at a specific stage increases with increasing cost or increasing evidence. Surprisingly, autistic traits did not influence the decision in either stage. However, participants with higher autistic traits inclined to consider cost first, while those with lower autistic traits considered cost or evidence first in a more balanced way. This would lead to the observed autistic-trait-related advantages or disadvantages in sampling optimality, depending on whether the optimal sampling strategy is determined only by cost or jointly by cost and evidence. Children with autism can spend hours practicing lining up toys or learning all about cars or lighthouses. This kind of behaviors, we think, may reflect suboptimal information sampling strategies, that is, a failure to balance the gain of information with the cost (time, energy, or money) of information sampling. We hypothesized that suboptimal information sampling is a general characteristic of people with autism or high level of autistic traits. In our experiment, we tested how participants may adjust their sampling strategies with the change of sampling cost and information gain in the environment. Though all participants were healthy young adults who had similar IQs, higher autistic traits were associated with higher or lower efficiency of winning rewards under different conditions. Counterintuitively, participants with different levels of autistic traits did not differ in the general tendency of oversampling or undersampling, or in the decision they would reach when a specific set of sampling cost or information gain was considered. Instead, participants with higher autistic traits consistently considered sampling cost first and only weighed information gain during a second thought, while those with lower autistic traits had more diverse sampling strategies that consequently better balanced sampling cost and information gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoyang Lu
- Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Li Yi
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- * E-mail: (YL); (HZ)
| | - Hang Zhang
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China
- * E-mail: (YL); (HZ)
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20
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Parr T, Corcoran AW, Friston KJ, Hohwy J. Perceptual awareness and active inference. Neurosci Conscious 2019; 2019:niz012. [PMID: 31528360 PMCID: PMC6734140 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niz012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 07/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual awareness depends upon the way in which we engage with our sensorium. This notion is central to active inference, a theoretical framework that treats perception and action as inferential processes. This variational perspective on cognition formalizes the notion of perception as hypothesis testing and treats actions as experiments that are designed (in part) to gather evidence for or against alternative hypotheses. The common treatment of perception and action affords a useful interpretation of certain perceptual phenomena whose active component is often not acknowledged. In this article, we start by considering Troxler fading - the dissipation of a peripheral percept during maintenance of fixation, and its recovery during free (saccadic) exploration. This offers an important example of the failure to maintain a percept without actively interrogating a visual scene. We argue that this may be understood in terms of the accumulation of uncertainty about a hypothesized stimulus when free exploration is disrupted by experimental instructions or pathology. Once we take this view, we can generalize the idea of using bodily (oculomotor) action to resolve uncertainty to include the use of mental (attentional) actions for the same purpose. This affords a useful way to think about binocular rivalry paradigms, in which perceptual changes need not be associated with an overt movement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Parr
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Andrew W Corcoran
- Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Karl J Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Jakob Hohwy
- Cognition & Philosophy Laboratory, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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21
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Lu H, Li P, Fang J, Yi L. The Perceived Social Context Modulates Rule Learning in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:4698-4706. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04174-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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22
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Crespi B, Dinsdale N. Autism and psychosis as diametrical disorders of embodiment. Evol Med Public Health 2019; 2019:121-138. [PMID: 31402979 PMCID: PMC6682708 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoz021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 07/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans have evolved an elaborate system of self-consciousness, self-identity, self-agency, and self-embodiment that is grounded in specific neurological structures including an expanded insula. Instantiation of the bodily self has been most-extensively studied via the 'rubber hand illusion', whereby parallel stimulation of a hidden true hand, and a viewed false hand, leads to the felt belief that the false hand is one's own. Autism and schizophrenia have both long been regarded as conditions centrally involving altered development of the self, but they have yet to be compared directly with regard to the self and embodiment. Here, we synthesize the embodied cognition literature for these and related conditions, and describe evidence that these two sets of disorders exhibit opposite susceptibilities from typical individuals to the rubber hand illusion: reduced on the autism spectrum and increased in schizophrenia and other psychotic-affective conditions. Moreover, the opposite illusion effects are mediated by a consilient set of associated phenomena, including empathy, interoception, anorexia risk and phenotypes, and patterns of genetic correlation. Taken together, these findings: (i) support the diametric model of autism and psychotic-affective disorders, (ii) implicate the adaptive human system of self-embodiment, and its neural bases, in neurodevelopmental disorders, and suggest new therapies and (iii) experimentally ground Bayesian predictive coding models with regard to autism compared with psychosis. Lay summary: Humans have evolved a highly developed sense of self and perception of one's own body. The 'rubber hand illusion' can be used to test individual variation in sense of self, relative to connection with others. We show that this illusion is reduced in autism spectrum disorders, and increased in psychotic and mood disorders. These findings have important implications for understanding and treatment of mental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernard Crespi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Natalie Dinsdale
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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23
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Arthur T, Vine S, Brosnan M, Buckingham G. Exploring how material cues drive sensorimotor prediction across different levels of autistic-like traits. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:2255-2267. [PMID: 31250036 PMCID: PMC6675774 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05586-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Recent research proposes that sensorimotor difficulties, such as those experienced by many autistic people, may arise from atypicalities in prediction. Accordingly, we examined the relationship between non-clinical autistic-like traits and sensorimotor prediction in the material-weight illusion, where prior expectations derived from material cues typically bias one’s perception and action. Specifically, prediction-related tendencies in perception of weight, gaze patterns, and lifting actions were probed using a combination of self-report, eye-tracking, motion-capture, and force-based measures. No prediction-related associations between autistic-like traits and sensorimotor control emerged for any of these variables. Follow-up analyses, however, revealed that greater autistic-like traits were correlated with reduced adaptation of gaze with changes in environmental uncertainty. These findings challenge proposals of gross predictive atypicalities in autistic people, but suggest that the dynamic integration of prior information and environmental statistics may be related to autistic-like traits. Further research into this relationship is warranted in autistic populations, to assist the development of future movement-based coaching methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Arthur
- Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Sam Vine
- Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK
| | - Mark Brosnan
- Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Gavin Buckingham
- Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, Devon, UK.
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24
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Perrykkad K, Hohwy J. Modelling Me, Modelling You: the Autistic Self. REVIEW JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40489-019-00173-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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25
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A Protective Mechanism against Illusory Perceptions Is Amygdala-Dependent. J Neurosci 2019; 39:3301-3308. [PMID: 30804094 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2577-18.2019] [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] [Received: 10/05/2018] [Revised: 01/17/2019] [Accepted: 02/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Most people have a clear sense of body ownership, preserving them from physical harm. However, perceptual body illusions - famously the rubber hand illusion (RHI) - can be elicited experimentally in healthy individuals. We hypothesize that the amygdala, a core component of neural circuits of threat processing, is involved in protective mechanisms against disturbed body perceptions. To test this hypothesis, we started by investigating two monozygotic human twin sisters with focal bilateral amygdala damage due to Urbach-Wiethe disease. Relative to 20 healthy women, the twins exhibited, on two occasions 1 year apart, augmented RHI responses in form of faster illusion onset and increased vividness ratings. Following up on these findings, we conducted a volumetric brain morphometry study involving an independent, gender-mixed sample of 57 healthy human volunteers (36 female, 21 male). Our results revealed a positive correlation between amygdala volume and RHI onset, i.e., the smaller the amygdala, the less time it took the RHI to emerge. This raised the question of whether a similar phenotype would result from experimental amygdala inhibition. To dampen amygdala reactivity, we intranasally administered the peptide hormone oxytocin to the same 57 individuals in a randomized trial before conducting the RHI. Compared with placebo, oxytocin treatment yielded enhanced RHI responses, again evident in accelerated illusion onset and increased vividness ratings. Together, the present series of experiments provides converging evidence for the amygdala's unprecedented role in reducing susceptibility to the RHI, thus protecting the organism from the potentially fatal threats of a distorted bodily self.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Compelling evidence indicates that the amygdala is of vital importance for danger detection and fear processing. However, lethal threats can arise not only from menacing external stimuli but also from distortions in bodily self-perception. Intriguingly, the amygdala's modulatory role in such illusory body perceptions is still elusive. To probe the amygdala's involvement in illusory body experiences, we conducted a multi-methodological series of experiments in a rare human amygdala lesion model, complemented by a morphological and pharmaco-modulatory experiment in healthy volunteers. Our findings convergently suggest that the amygdala's integrity is indispensable for maintaining an unbiased, precise perception of our bodily self. Hence, the amygdala might shield us against distortions in self-perception and the resultant loss of behavioral control of our organism.
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26
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Parr T, Friston KJ. The Anatomy of Inference: Generative Models and Brain Structure. Front Comput Neurosci 2018; 12:90. [PMID: 30483088 PMCID: PMC6243103 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2018.00090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
To infer the causes of its sensations, the brain must call on a generative (predictive) model. This necessitates passing local messages between populations of neurons to update beliefs about hidden variables in the world beyond its sensory samples. It also entails inferences about how we will act. Active inference is a principled framework that frames perception and action as approximate Bayesian inference. This has been successful in accounting for a wide range of physiological and behavioral phenomena. Recently, a process theory has emerged that attempts to relate inferences to their neurobiological substrates. In this paper, we review and develop the anatomical aspects of this process theory. We argue that the form of the generative models required for inference constrains the way in which brain regions connect to one another. Specifically, neuronal populations representing beliefs about a variable must receive input from populations representing the Markov blanket of that variable. We illustrate this idea in four different domains: perception, planning, attention, and movement. In doing so, we attempt to show how appealing to generative models enables us to account for anatomical brain architectures. Ultimately, committing to an anatomical theory of inference ensures we can form empirical hypotheses that can be tested using neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and electrophysiological experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Parr
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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27
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Amoruso L, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C. Autistic traits predict poor integration between top-down contextual expectations and movement kinematics during action observation. Sci Rep 2018; 8:16208. [PMID: 30385765 PMCID: PMC6212496 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33827-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism is associated with difficulties in predicting and understanding other people’s actions. There is evidence that autistic traits are distributed across a spectrum and that subclinical forms of autistic impairments can also be measured in the typical population. To investigate the association between autistic traits and motor responses to others’ actions, we quantified these traits and measured cortico-spinal excitability modulations in M1 during the observation of actions embedded in congruent, incongruent and ambiguous contexts. In keeping with previous studies, we found that actions observed in congruent contexts elicited an early facilitation of M1 responses, and actions observed in incongruent contexts, resulted in a later inhibition. Correlational analysis revealed no association between autistic traits and the facilitation for congruent contexts. However, we found a significant correlation between motor inhibition and autistic traits, specifically related to social skills and attention to details. Importantly, the influence of these factors was independent from each other, and from the observer’s gender. Thus, results suggest that individuals with higher social deficits and greater detail-processing style are more impaired in suppressing action simulation in M1 when a mismatch between kinematics and context occurs. This points to difficult integration between kinematics and contextual representations in the autistic-like brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Amoruso
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy. .,Basque Center of Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.
| | - A Finisguerra
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy
| | - C Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.,Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy
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28
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Gao X, Yu H, Sáez I, Blue PR, Zhu L, Hsu M, Zhou X. Distinguishing neural correlates of context-dependent advantageous- and disadvantageous-inequity aversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:E7680-E7689. [PMID: 30061413 PMCID: PMC6099874 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1802523115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans can integrate social contextual information into decision-making processes to adjust their responses toward inequity. This context dependency emerges when individuals receive more (i.e., advantageous inequity) or less (i.e., disadvantageous inequity) than others. However, it is not clear whether context-dependent processing of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity involves differential neurocognitive mechanisms. Here, we used fMRI to address this question by combining an interactive game that modulates social contexts (e.g., interpersonal guilt) with computational models that enable us to characterize individual weights on inequity aversion. In each round, the participant played a dot estimation task with an anonymous coplayer. The coplayer would receive pain stimulation with 50% probability when either of them responded incorrectly. At the end of each round, the participant completed a variant of dictator game, which determined payoffs for him/herself and the coplayer. Computational modeling demonstrated the context dependency of inequity aversion: when causing pain to the coplayer (i.e., guilt context), participants cared more about the advantageous inequity and became more tolerant of the disadvantageous inequity, compared with other conditions. Consistently, neuroimaging results suggested the two types of inequity were associated with differential neurocognitive substrates. While the context-dependent processing of advantageous inequity was associated with social- and mentalizing-related processes, involving left anterior insula, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the context-dependent processing of disadvantageous inequity was primarily associated with emotion- and conflict-related processes, involving left posterior insula, right amygdala, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These results extend our understanding of decision-making processes related to inequity aversion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Gao
- Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom
| | - Ignacio Sáez
- Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Philip R Blue
- Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Lusha Zhu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking University-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ming Hsu
- Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- Center for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking University-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Institute of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang 321004, China
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29
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Goris J, Braem S, Nijhof AD, Rigoni D, Deschrijver E, Van de Cruys S, Wiersema JR, Brass M. Sensory Prediction Errors Are Less Modulated by Global Context in Autism Spectrum Disorder. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2018; 3:667-674. [PMID: 29628433 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 02/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent predictive coding accounts of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggest that a key deficit in ASD concerns the inflexibility in modulating local prediction errors as a function of global top-down expectations. As a direct test of this central hypothesis, we used electroencephalography to investigate whether local prediction error processing was less modulated by global context (i.e., global stimulus frequency) in ASD. METHODS A group of 18 adults with ASD was compared with a group of 24 typically developed adults on a well-validated hierarchical auditory oddball task in which participants listened to short sequences of either five identical sounds (local standard) or four identical sounds and a fifth deviant sound (local deviant). The latter condition is known to generate the mismatch negativity (MMN) component, believed to reflect early sensory prediction error processing. Crucially, previous studies have shown that in blocks with a higher frequency of local deviant sequences, top-down expectations seem to attenuate the MMN. We predicted that this modulation by global context would be less pronounced in the ASD group. RESULTS Both groups showed an MMN that was modulated by global context. However, this effect was smaller in the ASD group as compared with the typically developed group. In contrast, the P3b, as an electroencephalographic marker of conscious expectation processes, did not differ across groups. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that people with ASD are less flexible in modulating their local predictions (reflected in MMN), thereby confirming the central hypothesis of contemporary predictive coding accounts of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Goris
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Senne Braem
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Annabel D Nijhof
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Davide Rigoni
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Sander Van de Cruys
- Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan R Wiersema
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marcel Brass
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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30
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Maurer C, Chambon V, Bourgeois-Gironde S, Leboyer M, Zalla T. The influence of prior reputation and reciprocity on dynamic trust-building in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder. Cognition 2017; 172:1-10. [PMID: 29197230 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Revised: 11/20/2017] [Accepted: 11/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of reputational priors and direct reciprocity on the dynamics of trust building in adults with (N = 17) and without (N = 25) autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a multi-round Trust Game (MTG). On each round, participants, who played as investors, were required to maximize their benefits by updating their prior expectations (the partner's positive or negative reputation), based on the partner's directed reciprocity, and adjusting their own investment decisions accordingly. Results showed that reputational priors strongly oriented the initial decision to trust, operationalized as the amount of investment the investor shares with the counterpart. However, while typically developed participants were mainly affected by the direct reciprocity, and rapidly adopted the optimal Tit-for-Tat strategy, participants with ASD continued to rely on reputational priors throughout the game, even when experience of the counterpart's actual behavior contradicted their prior-based expectations. In participants with ASD, the effect of the reputational prior never disappeared, and affected judgments of trustworthiness and reciprocity of the partner even after completion of the game. Moreover, the weight of prior reputation positively correlated with the severity of the ASD participant's social impairments while the reciprocity score negatively correlated with the severity of repetitive and stereotyped behaviors, as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). In line with Bayesian theoretical accounts, the present findings indicate that individuals with ASD have difficulties encoding incoming social information and using it to revise and flexibly update prior social expectations, and that this deficit might severely hinder social learning and everyday life interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelius Maurer
- Institut Jean Nicod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Valerian Chambon
- Institut Jean Nicod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde
- Institut Jean Nicod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France; Laboratoire d'Economie Mathématique et de Microéconomie Appliquée (LEMMA), Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas, Paris, France
| | - Marion Leboyer
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Psychiatrie Translationnelle, Créteil, France; Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France
| | - Tiziana Zalla
- Institut Jean Nicod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure & PSL Research University, Paris, France; Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France.
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31
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Deschrijver E, Wiersema JR, Brass M. Action-based touch observation in adults with high functioning autism: Can compromised self-other distinction abilities link social and sensory everyday problems? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2017; 12:273-282. [PMID: 27613781 PMCID: PMC5390705 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2015] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Next to social problems, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often report severe sensory difficulties. Altered processing of touch is however a stronger mediator of social symptoms' severity than altered processing of for instance vision or audition. Why is this the case? We reasoned that sensory difficulties may be linked to social problems in ASD through insufficient self-other distinction centred on touch. We investigated by means of EEG whether the brain of adults with ASD adequately signals when a tactile consequence of an observed action does not match own touch, as compared to the brain of matched controls. We employed the action-based somatosensory congruency paradigm. Participants observed a human or wooden hand touching a surface, combined with a tap-like tactile sensation that either matched or mismatched the tactile consequence of the observed movement. The ASD group showed a diminished congruency effect for human hands only in the P3-complex, suggesting difficulties with signalling observed action-based touch of others that does not match own touch experiences. Crucially, this effect reliably correlated with self-reported social and sensory everyday difficulties in ASD. The findings might denote a novel theoretical link between sensory and social impairments in the autism spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jan R Wiersema
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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32
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van Schalkwyk GI, Volkmar FR, Corlett PR. A Predictive Coding Account of Psychotic Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2017; 47:1323-1340. [PMID: 28185044 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3065-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The co-occurrence of psychotic and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms represents an important clinical challenge. Here we consider this problem in the context of a computational psychiatry approach that has been applied to both conditions-predictive coding. Some symptoms of schizophrenia have been explained in terms of a failure of top-down predictions or an enhanced weighting of bottom-up prediction errors. Likewise, autism has been explained in terms of similar perturbations. We suggest that this theoretical overlap may explain overlapping symptomatology. Experimental evidence highlights meaningful distinctions and consistencies between these disorders. We hypothesize individuals with ASD may experience some degree of delusions without the presence of any additional impairment, but that hallucinations are likely indicative of a distinct process.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fred R Volkmar
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Philip R Corlett
- Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
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33
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O’Reilly C, Lewis JD, Elsabbagh M. Is functional brain connectivity atypical in autism? A systematic review of EEG and MEG studies. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0175870. [PMID: 28467487 PMCID: PMC5414938 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 176] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 03/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although it is well recognized that autism is associated with altered patterns of over- and under-connectivity, specifics are still a matter of debate. Little has been done so far to synthesize available literature using whole-brain electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings. OBJECTIVES 1) To systematically review the literature on EEG/MEG functional and effective connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 2) to synthesize and critically appraise findings related with the hypothesis that ASD is characterized by long-range underconnectivity and local overconnectivity, and 3) to provide, based on the literature, an analysis of tentative factors that are likely to mediate association between ASD and atypical connectivity (e.g., development, topography, lateralization). METHODS Literature reviews were done using PubMed and PsychInfo databases. Abstracts were screened, and only relevant articles were analyzed based on the objectives of this paper. Special attention was paid to the methodological characteristics that could have created variability in outcomes reported between studies. RESULTS Our synthesis provides relatively strong support for long-range underconnectivity in ASD, whereas the status of local connectivity remains unclear. This observation was also mirrored by a similar relationship with lower frequencies being often associated with underconnectivity and higher frequencies being associated with both under- and over-connectivity. Putting together these observations, we propose that ASD is characterized by a general trend toward an under-expression of lower-band wide-spread integrative processes compensated by more focal, higher-frequency, locally specialized, and segregated processes. Further investigation is, however, needed to corroborate the conclusion and its generalizability across different tasks. Of note, abnormal lateralization in ASD, specifically an elevated left-over-right EEG and MEG functional connectivity ratio, has been also reported consistently across studies. CONCLUSIONS The large variability in study samples and methodology makes a systematic quantitative analysis (i.e. meta-analysis) of this body of research impossible. Nevertheless, a general trend supporting the hypothesis of long-range functional underconnectivity can be observed. Further research is necessary to more confidently determine the status of the hypothesis of short-range overconnectivity. Frequency-band specific patterns and their relationships with known symptoms of autism also need to be further clarified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian O’Reilly
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, 6875 Boulevard Lasalle, Verdun, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 1033 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - John D. Lewis
- McGill Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Street, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Mayada Elsabbagh
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, 6875 Boulevard Lasalle, Verdun, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 1033 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, Canada
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34
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van Schalkwyk GI, Volkmar FR, Corlett PR. A Predictive Coding Account of Psychotic Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2017. [PMID: 28185044 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3065-928185044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
The co-occurrence of psychotic and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms represents an important clinical challenge. Here we consider this problem in the context of a computational psychiatry approach that has been applied to both conditions-predictive coding. Some symptoms of schizophrenia have been explained in terms of a failure of top-down predictions or an enhanced weighting of bottom-up prediction errors. Likewise, autism has been explained in terms of similar perturbations. We suggest that this theoretical overlap may explain overlapping symptomatology. Experimental evidence highlights meaningful distinctions and consistencies between these disorders. We hypothesize individuals with ASD may experience some degree of delusions without the presence of any additional impairment, but that hallucinations are likely indicative of a distinct process.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fred R Volkmar
- Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Philip R Corlett
- Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
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35
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Ide M, Wada M. Salivary Oxytocin Concentration Associates with the Subjective Feeling of Body Ownership during the Rubber Hand Illusion. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:166. [PMID: 28439234 PMCID: PMC5383663 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2017] [Accepted: 03/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxytocin is a hormone of the posterior pituitary that promotes lactation, maternal bonding, and birth. Recent studies have shown that oxytocin may modulate social recognition in both sexes, and thus it may be related to empathy. Brain regions that are associated with social recognition and empathy (e.g., the insular cortex) are activated in the rubber hand illusion (RHI), which involves illusory ownership of a rubber hand caused by brush strokes applied synchronously to both a rubber hand and one of the participant's hand, which is hidden from view. It is intriguing to examine whether oxytocin modulates plastic changes in body representation, such as the changes occurring in the RHI. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between salivary oxytocin concentration and the feeling of rubber hand ownership. Brush strokes were applied synchronously or asynchronously to the participant's hand and a rubber hand on different days. Salivary oxytocin was measured before and after the behavioral tasks. We found that participants who had high concentrations of salivary oxytocin tended to feel strong ownership of the rubber hand. We also found that the participants with a high autism spectrum quotient (AQ) score who particularly felt difficulties in social skills and communications tended to feel weak rubber hand ownership. We observed that illusory body ownership was closely linked to social communications and a related neuroendocrine basis. The results of the present study suggest that an individual's salivary oxytocin concentration can predict the extent to which the individual experiences the RHI; furthermore, oxytocin might modulate the sensation of body ownership.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masakazu Ide
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with DisabilitiesTokorozawa, Japan.,Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceTokyo, Japan
| | - Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with DisabilitiesTokorozawa, Japan
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36
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Van der Hallen R, Lemmens L, Steyaert J, Noens I, Wagemans J. Ensemble perception in autism spectrum disorder: Member-identification versus mean-discrimination. Autism Res 2017; 10:1291-1299. [PMID: 28266801 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Revised: 01/12/2017] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
To efficiently represent the outside world our brain compresses sets of similar items into a summarized representation, a phenomenon known as ensemble perception. While most studies on ensemble perception investigate this perceptual mechanism in typically developing (TD) adults, more recently, researchers studying perceptual organization in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have turned their attention toward ensemble perception. The current study is the first to investigate the use of ensemble perception for size in children with and without ASD (N = 42, 8-16 years). We administered a pair of tasks pioneered by Ariely [2001] evaluating both member-identification and mean-discrimination. In addition, we varied the distribution types of our sets to allow a more detailed evaluation of task performance. Results show that, overall, both groups performed similarly in the member-identification task, a test of "local perception," and similarly in the mean identification task, a test of "gist perception." However, in both tasks performance of the TD group was affected more strongly by the degree of stimulus variability in the set, than performance of the ASD group. These findings indicate that both TD children and children with ASD use ensemble statistics to represent a set of similar items, illustrating the fundamental nature of ensemble coding in visual perception. Differences in sensitivity to stimulus variability between both groups are discussed in relation to recent theories of information processing in ASD (e.g., increased sampling, decreased priors, increased precision). Autism Res 2017. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1291-1299. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Van der Hallen
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain and cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Child Psychiatry, UPC-KU Leuven, Belgium.,Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lisa Lemmens
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain and cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jean Steyaert
- Department of Child Psychiatry, UPC-KU Leuven, Belgium.,Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ilse Noens
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Johan Wagemans
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain and cognition, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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37
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Mash LE, Schauder KB, Cochran C, Park S, Cascio CJ. Associations Between Interoceptive Cognition and Age in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 16:23-37. [PMID: 29152038 DOI: 10.1891/1945-8959.16.1.23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Interoceptive awareness is linked to emotional and social cognition, which are impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is unknown how this ability is associated with age in either typical or atypical development. We used a standard test of interoceptive accuracy (IA) to investigate these questions in children and adults with and without ASD. Perceived number of heartbeats over 4 time intervals was compared with actual heart rate to determine IA. Effects of group, age, IQ, heart rate, and mental counting ability on accuracy were assessed using multiple regression. Post hoc correlations were performed to clarify significant interactions. Age was unrelated to IA in both groups when IQ ≥115. When IQ <115, this relationship was positive in typical development and negative in ASD. These results suggest that cognitive ability moderates the effect of age on IA differently in autism and typical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa E Mash
- San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology
| | - Kimberly B Schauder
- University of Rochester, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology
| | - Channing Cochran
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Waco, Texas
| | - Sohee Park
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Carissa J Cascio
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Nashville, Tennessee
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Perepelkina O, Boboleva M, Arina G, Nikolaeva V. Higher Emotional Intelligence Is Associated With a Stronger Rubber Hand Illusion. Multisens Res 2017. [DOI: 10.1163/22134808-00002577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate how emotion information processing factors, such as alexithymia and emotional intelligence, modulate body ownership and influence multisensory integration during the ‘rubber hand illusion’ (RHI) task. It was previously shown that alexithymia correlates with RHI, and we suggested that emotional intelligence should also be a top-down factor of body ownership, since it was not shown in previous experiments. We elaborated the study of Grynberg and Pollatos [Front. Hum. Neurosci.9(2015) 357] with an additional measure of emotional intelligence, and propose an explanation for the interrelation of emotion and body ownership processing. Eighty subjects took part in the RHI experiment and completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Only MSCEIT was detected to be a significant predictor of the subjective measure of the RHI. There were no significant correlations between alexithymia scores and the test statements of the RHI or the proprioceptive drift, thus we did not replicate the results of Grynberg and Pollatos. However, alexithymia correlated with the control statements of subjective reports of the illusion, which might be explained as a disruption of the ability to discriminate and describe bodily experience. Therefore, (1) alexithymia seems to be connected with difficulties in conscious or verbal processing of body-related information, and (2) higher emotional intelligence might improve multisensory integration of body-related signals and reflect better predictive models of self-processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Perepelkina
- Psychology Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 125009, Russia
| | - Maria Boboleva
- Psychology Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 125009, Russia
| | - Galina Arina
- Psychology Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 125009, Russia
| | - Valentina Nikolaeva
- Psychology Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 125009, Russia
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39
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Brugada-Ramentol V, de Polavieja GG, Román ÁC. Toward a Molecular Profile of Self-Representation. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:602. [PMID: 27965556 PMCID: PMC5124566 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Feeling embodiment over our body or body part has a major role in the understanding of the self and control of self-actions. Even though it is crucial in our daily life, embodiment is not an homogenous phenotype across population, as quantified by implicit and explicit measures (i.e., neuroimaging or self-reports). Studies have shown differences in neuropathological conditions compared to healthy controls, but also across healthy individuals. We discuss examples of self-perception differences, and the molecular origin of embodiment, focusing on clinical cases, during the first and second section. We then discuss two important questions in this molecular-to-embodiment relationship: (i) which are the molecular levels (and their associated techniques) that can be relevant to embodiment, and (ii) which are the most adequate experiments to correlate molecular profiles and embodiment quantification across individuals. Potential answers for both questions will be outlined during the third and fourth sections, respectively, in order to design a framework to study the molecular profile of body embodiment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ángel-Carlos Román
- Collective Behavior Lab, Champalimaud Research, Fundaçao Champalimaud Lisboa, Portugal
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40
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Van de Cruys S, Van der Hallen R, Wagemans J. Disentangling signal and noise in autism spectrum disorder. Brain Cogn 2016; 112:78-83. [PMID: 27651171 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2015] [Revised: 08/11/2016] [Accepted: 08/11/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Predictive coding has recently been welcomed as a fruitful framework to understand autism spectrum disorder. Starting from an account centered on deficient differential weighting of prediction errors (based in so-called precision estimation), we illustrate that individuals with autism have particular difficulties with separating signal from noise, across different tasks. Specifically, we discuss how deficient precision-setting is detrimental for learning in unstable environments, for context-dependent assignment of salience to inputs, and for robustness in perception, as illustrated in coherent motion paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sander Van de Cruys
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain & Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Ruth Van der Hallen
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain & Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UPC KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Johan Wagemans
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain & Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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41
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Dunlop WA, Enticott PG, Rajan R. Speech Discrimination Difficulties in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder Are Likely Independent of Auditory Hypersensitivity. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:401. [PMID: 27555814 PMCID: PMC4977299 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2016] [Accepted: 07/26/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), characterized by impaired communication skills and repetitive behaviors, can also result in differences in sensory perception. Individuals with ASD often perform normally in simple auditory tasks but poorly compared to typically developed (TD) individuals on complex auditory tasks like discriminating speech from complex background noise. A common trait of individuals with ASD is hypersensitivity to auditory stimulation. No studies to our knowledge consider whether hypersensitivity to sounds is related to differences in speech-in-noise discrimination. We provide novel evidence that individuals with high-functioning ASD show poor performance compared to TD individuals in a speech-in-noise discrimination task with an attentionally demanding background noise, but not in a purely energetic noise. Further, we demonstrate in our small sample that speech-hypersensitivity does not appear to predict performance in the speech-in-noise task. The findings support the argument that an attentional deficit, rather than a perceptual deficit, affects the ability of individuals with ASD to discriminate speech from background noise. Finally, we piloted a novel questionnaire that measures difficulty hearing in noisy environments, and sensitivity to non-verbal and verbal sounds. Psychometric analysis using 128 TD participants provided novel evidence for a difference in sensitivity to non-verbal and verbal sounds, and these findings were reinforced by participants with ASD who also completed the questionnaire. The study was limited by a small and high-functioning sample of participants with ASD. Future work could test larger sample sizes and include lower-functioning ASD participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- William A. Dunlop
- Neuroscience Program Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Physiology, Monash UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Peter G. Enticott
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin UniversityGeelong, VIC, Australia
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Monash UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Ramesh Rajan
- Neuroscience Program Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Physiology, Monash UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia
- Ear Sciences Institute of AustraliaPerth, WA, Australia
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42
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Fusaroli R, Lambrechts A, Bang D, Bowler DM, Gaigg SB. “Is voice a marker for Autism spectrum disorder? A systematic review and meta-analysis”. Autism Res 2016; 10:384-407. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2016] [Revised: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 07/01/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Dan Bang
- The Interacting Minds Centre; Aarhus University; Aarhus Denmark
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging; Institute of Neurology, University College London; London UK
- Calleva Research Centre for Evolution and Human Sciences; Magdalen College, University of Oxford; Oxford UK
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43
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Manning C, Kilner J, Neil L, Karaminis T, Pellicano E. Children on the autism spectrum update their behaviour in response to a volatile environment. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [PMID: 27496590 PMCID: PMC5600083 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2015] [Accepted: 03/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Typical adults can track reward probabilities across trials to estimate the volatility of the environment and use this information to modify their learning rate (Behrens et al., 2007). In a stable environment, it is advantageous to take account of outcomes over many trials, whereas in a volatile environment, recent experience should be more strongly weighted than distant experience. Recent predictive coding accounts of autism propose that autistic individuals will demonstrate atypical updating of their behaviour in response to the statistics of the reward environment. To rigorously test this hypothesis, we administered a developmentally appropriate version of Behrens et al.'s (2007) task to 34 cognitively able children on the autism spectrum aged between 6 and 14 years, 32 age- and ability-matched typically developing children and 19 typical adults. Participants were required to choose between a green and a blue pirate chest, each associated with a randomly determined reward value between 0 and 100 points, with a combined total of 100 points. On each trial, the reward was given for one stimulus only. In the stable condition, the ratio of the blue or green response being rewarded was fixed at 75:25. In the volatile condition, the ratio alternated between 80:20 and 20:80 every 20 trials. We estimated the learning rate for each participant by fitting a delta rule model and compared this rate across conditions and groups. All groups increased their learning rate in the volatile condition compared to the stable condition. Unexpectedly, there was no effect of group and no interaction between group and condition. Thus, autistic children used information about the statistics of the reward environment to guide their decisions to a similar extent as typically developing children and adults. These results help constrain predictive coding accounts of autism by demonstrating that autism is not characterized by uniform differences in the weighting of prediction error.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - James Kilner
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK
| | - Louise Neil
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK
| | - Themelis Karaminis
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK
| | - Elizabeth Pellicano
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK.,School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia
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44
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45
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Kellermann T, Scholle R, Schneider F, Habel U. Decreasing predictability of visual motion enhances feed-forward processing in visual cortex when stimuli are behaviorally relevant. Brain Struct Funct 2016; 222:849-866. [PMID: 27334340 PMCID: PMC5334427 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-016-1251-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2016] [Accepted: 06/06/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Recent views of information processing in the (human) brain emphasize the hierarchical structure of the central nervous system, which is assumed to form the basis of a functional hierarchy. Hierarchical predictive processing refers to the notion that higher levels try to predict activity in lower areas, while lower levels transmit a prediction error up the hierarchy whenever the predictions fail. The present study aims at testing hypothetical modulatory effects of unpredictable visual motion on forward connectivities within the visual cortex. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was acquired from 35 healthy volunteers while viewing a moving ball under three different levels of predictability. In two different runs subjects were asked to attend to direction changes in the ball's motion, where a button-press was required in one of these runs only. Dynamic causal modeling was applied to a network comprising V1, V5 and posterior parietal cortex in the right hemisphere. The winning model of a Bayesian model selection indicated an enhanced strength in the forward connection from V1 to V5 with decreasing predictability for the run requiring motor response. These results support the notion of hierarchical predictive processing in the sense of an augmented bottom-up transmission of prediction error with increasing uncertainty about motion direction. This finding may be of importance for promoting our understanding of trait characteristics in psychiatric disorders, as an increased forward propagation of prediction error is assumed to underlie schizophrenia and may be observable at early stages of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thilo Kellermann
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
- JARA-BRAIN Institute 1: Structure Function Relationship, 52428, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Ruben Scholle
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- JARA-BRAIN Institute 1: Structure Function Relationship, 52428, Jülich, Germany
| | - Frank Schneider
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- JARA-BRAIN Institute 1: Structure Function Relationship, 52428, Jülich, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- JARA-BRAIN Institute 1: Structure Function Relationship, 52428, Jülich, Germany
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46
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Haker H, Schneebeli M, Stephan KE. Can Bayesian Theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder Help Improve Clinical Practice? Front Psychiatry 2016; 7:107. [PMID: 27378955 PMCID: PMC4911361 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Diagnosis and individualized treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represent major problems for contemporary psychiatry. Tackling these problems requires guidance by a pathophysiological theory. In this paper, we consider recent theories that re-conceptualize ASD from a "Bayesian brain" perspective, which posit that the core abnormality of ASD resides in perceptual aberrations due to a disbalance in the precision of prediction errors (sensory noise) relative to the precision of predictions (prior beliefs). This results in percepts that are dominated by sensory inputs and less guided by top-down regularization and shifts the perceptual focus to detailed aspects of the environment with difficulties in extracting meaning. While these Bayesian theories have inspired ongoing empirical studies, their clinical implications have not yet been carved out. Here, we consider how this Bayesian perspective on disease mechanisms in ASD might contribute to improving clinical care for affected individuals. Specifically, we describe a computational strategy, based on generative (e.g., hierarchical Bayesian) models of behavioral and functional neuroimaging data, for establishing diagnostic tests. These tests could provide estimates of specific cognitive processes underlying ASD and delineate pathophysiological mechanisms with concrete treatment targets. Written with a clinical audience in mind, this article outlines how the development of computational diagnostics applicable to behavioral and functional neuroimaging data in routine clinical practice could not only fundamentally alter our concept of ASD but eventually also transform the clinical management of this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helene Haker
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Maya Schneebeli
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Klaas Enno Stephan
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
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47
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Ide M, Wada M. Periodic Visuotactile Stimulation Slowly Enhances the Rubber Hand Illusion in Individuals with High Autistic Traits. Front Integr Neurosci 2016; 10:21. [PMID: 27375441 PMCID: PMC4899459 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2016.00021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
In a rubber hand illusion (RHI) task, synchronous brush stroking of a rubber hand and a participant's hidden hand induces body ownership of the rubber hand. The effects of spatial distances and temporal lags on the RHI have been extensively examined; however, the effect of periodicity of the stimuli on illusory body ownership has not been examined. Meanwhile, the occurrence of RHI tends to be weak in individuals with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) and high autistic traits. Preference for stimulus having regularity of tempo is generally observed in individuals with ASD, and thus, periodic stimulation might be more effective to elicit the body ownership illusion in individuals with high autistic traits. Hence, we investigated whether stimulus periodicity influenced RHI as well as its association with participant's autistic traits. Brush strokes were applied to a participant's own hand and the rubber hand periodically (2 s) or non-periodically (1-3 s), either synchronously or asynchronously. Two blocks were performed in each condition. We found that periodic stimulation enhanced the spatial updating of tactile sensation induced by RHI in the subsequent block in participants with high autistic traits, whereas both periodic and non-periodic stimulation strongly elicited RHI in blocks 1 and 2. These results indicate that the periodicity of stimulation has different effects based on an individual's autistic traits. Since individuals with ASD are known to sustain their focus on interoceptive sensations (heartbeats), a periodic stimulation that is potentially correlated with heartbeats might be effective to enhance the visuotactile integration during RHI in individuals with high autistic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masakazu Ide
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with DisabilitiesSaitama, Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceTokyo, Japan
| | - Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with DisabilitiesSaitama, Japan
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48
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Skewes JC, Gebauer L. Brief Report: Suboptimal Auditory Localization in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Support for the Bayesian Account of Sensory Symptoms. J Autism Dev Disord 2016; 46:2539-47. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2774-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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49
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Casartelli L, Molteni M, Ronconi L. So close yet so far: Motor anomalies impacting on social functioning in autism spectrum disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 63:98-105. [PMID: 26855233 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2015] [Revised: 01/29/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Difficulties in the social domain and motor anomalies have been widely investigated in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, they have been generally considered as independent, and therefore tackled separately. Recent advances in neuroscience have hypothesized that the cortical motor system can play a role not only as a controller of elementary physical features of movement, but also in a complex domain as social cognition. Here, going beyond previous studies on ASD that described difficulties in the motor and in the social domain separately, we focus on the impact of motor mechanisms anomalies on social functioning. We consider behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroimaging findings supporting the idea that motor cognition is a critical "intermediate phenotype" for ASD. Motor cognition anomalies in ASD affect the processes of extraction, codification and subsequent translation of "external" social information into the motor system. Intriguingly, this alternative "motor" approach to the social domain difficulties in ASD may be promising to bridge the gap between recent experimental findings and clinical practice, potentially leading to refined preventive approaches and successful treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Casartelli
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea Bosisio Parini, Italy; Developmental Psychopathology Unit, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy.
| | - Massimo Molteni
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Luca Ronconi
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea Bosisio Parini, Italy; Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Italy.
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50
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The felt presence of other minds: Predictive processing, counterfactual predictions, and mentalising in autism. Conscious Cogn 2015; 36:376-89. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2014] [Revised: 03/28/2015] [Accepted: 04/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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