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Stefanou ME, Dundon NM, Bestelmeyer PEG, Biscaldi M, Smyrnis N, Klein C. The dissociating effects of fear and disgust on multisensory integration in autism: evidence from evoked potentials. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1390696. [PMID: 39161654 PMCID: PMC11330835 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1390696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Deficits in Multisensory Integration (MSI) in ASD have been reported repeatedly and have been suggested to be caused by altered long-range connectivity. Here we investigate behavioral and ERP correlates of MSI in ASD using ecologically valid videos of emotional expressions. Methods In the present study, we set out to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of audiovisual MSI in young autistic and neurotypical adolescents. We employed dynamic stimuli of high ecological validity (500 ms clips produced by actors) that depicted fear or disgust in unimodal (visual and auditory), and bimodal (audiovisual) conditions. Results We report robust MSI effects at both the behavioral and electrophysiological levels and pronounced differences between autistic and neurotypical participants. Specifically, neurotypical controls showed robust behavioral MSI for both emotions as seen through a significant speed-up of bimodal response time (RT), confirmed by Miller's Race Model Inequality (RMI), with greater MSI effects for fear than disgust. Adolescents with ASD, by contrast, showed behavioral MSI only for fear. At the electrophysiological level, the bimodal condition as compared to the unimodal conditions reduced the amplitudes of the visual P100 and auditory P200 and increased the amplitude of the visual N170 regardless of group. Furthermore, a cluster-based analysis across all electrodes revealed that adolescents with ASD showed an overall delayed and spatially constrained MSI effect compared to controls. Conclusion Given that the variables we measured reflect attention, our findings suggest that MSI can be modulated by the differential effects on attention that fear and disgust produce. We also argue that the MSI deficits seen in autistic individuals can be compensated for at later processing stages by (a) the attention-orienting effects of fear, at the behavioral level, and (b) at the electrophysiological level via increased attentional effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Elena Stefanou
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Neil M. Dundon
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | | | - Monica Biscaldi
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Nikolaos Smyrnis
- Second Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital “Attikon”, Athens, Greece
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute “COSTAS STEFANIS”, Athens, Greece
| | - Christoph Klein
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Second Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital “Attikon”, Athens, Greece
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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2
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Vos S, Collignon O, Boets B. The Sound of Emotion: Pinpointing Emotional Voice Processing Via Frequency Tagging EEG. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020162. [PMID: 36831705 PMCID: PMC9954097 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Successfully engaging in social communication requires efficient processing of subtle socio-communicative cues. Voices convey a wealth of social information, such as gender, identity, and the emotional state of the speaker. We tested whether our brain can systematically and automatically differentiate and track a periodic stream of emotional utterances among a series of neutral vocal utterances. We recorded frequency-tagged EEG responses of 20 neurotypical male adults while presenting streams of neutral utterances at a 4 Hz base rate, interleaved with emotional utterances every third stimulus, hence at a 1.333 Hz oddball frequency. Four emotions (happy, sad, angry, and fear) were presented as different conditions in different streams. To control the impact of low-level acoustic cues, we maximized variability among the stimuli and included a control condition with scrambled utterances. This scrambling preserves low-level acoustic characteristics but ensures that the emotional character is no longer recognizable. Results revealed significant oddball EEG responses for all conditions, indicating that every emotion category can be discriminated from the neutral stimuli, and every emotional oddball response was significantly higher than the response for the scrambled utterances. These findings demonstrate that emotion discrimination is fast, automatic, and is not merely driven by low-level perceptual features. Eventually, here, we present a new database for vocal emotion research with short emotional utterances (EVID) together with an innovative frequency-tagging EEG paradigm for implicit vocal emotion discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silke Vos
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +32-16-37-76-83
| | - Olivier Collignon
- Institute of Research in Psychology & Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
- School of Health Sciences, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, The Sense Innovation and Research Center, 1007 Lausanne and 1950 Sion, Switzerland
| | - Bart Boets
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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3
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Strong Relationship Between Rapid Auditory Processing and Affective Prosody Recognition Among Adults with High Autistic Traits. J Autism Dev Disord 2022:10.1007/s10803-022-05600-4. [PMID: 35654923 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05600-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/01/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether individuals with high autistic traits rely on psychoacoustic abilities in affective prosody recognition (APR). In 94 college students, Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and psychoacoustic abilities were measured. Results indicated that higher AQ, higher rapid auditory processing (RAP), and maleness were associated with a lower APR accuracy for low-intensity prosodies. There was a strong positive association between RAP and APR for participants with high AQ, whereas low-AQ participants showed no such pattern. The findings suggest a reliance on psychoacoustic abilities as compensatory mechanism for deficits in higher-order processing of emotional signals in social interactions, and imply potential benefits of auditory interventions in improving APR among individuals with high autistic traits.
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4
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Zhang M, Chen Y, Lin Y, Ding H, Zhang Y. Multichannel Perception of Emotion in Speech, Voice, Facial Expression, and Gesture in Individuals With Autism: A Scoping Review. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:1435-1449. [PMID: 35316079 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-21-00438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Numerous studies have identified individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with deficits in unichannel emotion perception and multisensory integration. However, only limited research is available on multichannel emotion perception in ASD. The purpose of this review was to seek conceptual clarification, identify knowledge gaps, and suggest directions for future research. METHOD We conducted a scoping review of the literature published between 1989 and 2021, following the 2005 framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Data relating to study characteristics, task characteristics, participant information, and key findings on multichannel processing of emotion in ASD were extracted for the review. RESULTS Discrepancies were identified regarding multichannel emotion perception deficits, which are related to participant age, developmental level, and task demand. Findings are largely consistent regarding the facilitation and compensation of congruent multichannel emotional cues and the interference and disruption of incongruent signals. Unlike controls, ASD individuals demonstrate an overreliance on semantics rather than prosody to decode multichannel emotion. CONCLUSIONS The existing literature on multichannel emotion perception in ASD is limited, dispersed, and disassociated, focusing on a variety of topics with a wide range of methodologies. Further research is necessary to quantitatively examine the impact of methodological choice on performance outcomes. An integrated framework of emotion, language, and cognition is needed to examine the mutual influences between emotion and language as well as the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19386176.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minyue Zhang
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yu Chen
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yi Lin
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis
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5
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Leung FYN, Sin J, Dawson C, Ong JH, Zhao C, Veić A, Liu F. Emotion recognition across visual and auditory modalities in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2021.101000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE The ability to recognize others' emotions is a central aspect of socioemotional functioning. Emotion recognition impairments are well documented in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, but it is less understood whether they are also present in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Results on facial emotion recognition are mixed, and crucially, it remains unclear whether the potential impairments are specific to faces or extend across sensory modalities. METHOD In the current study, 32 MCI patients and 33 cognitively intact controls completed a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and two forced-choice emotion recognition tasks, including visual and auditory stimuli. The emotion recognition tasks required participants to categorize emotions in facial expressions and in nonverbal vocalizations (e.g., laughter, crying) expressing neutrality, anger, disgust, fear, happiness, pleasure, surprise, or sadness. RESULTS MCI patients performed worse than controls for both facial expressions and vocalizations. The effect was large, similar across tasks and individual emotions, and it was not explained by sensory losses or affective symptomatology. Emotion recognition impairments were more pronounced among patients with lower global cognitive performance, but they did not correlate with the ability to perform activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that MCI is associated with emotion recognition difficulties and that such difficulties extend beyond vision, plausibly reflecting a failure at supramodal levels of emotional processing. This highlights the importance of considering emotion recognition abilities as part of standard neuropsychological testing in MCI, and as a target of interventions aimed at improving social cognition in these patients.
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7
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Icht M, Zukerman G, Ben-Itzchak E, Ben-David BM. Keep it simple: Identification of basic versus complex emotions in spoken language in individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability: A meta-analysis study. Autism Res 2021; 14:1948-1964. [PMID: 34101373 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 03/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Daily functioning involves identifying emotions in spoken language, a fundamental aspect of social interactions. To date, there is inconsistent evidence in the literature on whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-without-ID) experience difficulties in identification of spoken emotions. We conducted a meta-analysis (literature search following the PRISMA guidelines), with 26 data sets (taken from 23 peer-reviewed journal articles) comparing individuals with ASD-without-ID (N = 614) and typically-developed (TD) controls (N = 640), from nine countries and in seven languages (published until February 2020). In our analyses there was no sufficient evidence to suggest that individuals with HF-ASD differ from matched controls in the identification of simple prosodic emotions (e.g., sadness, happiness). However, individuals with ASD-without-ID were found to perform significantly worse than controls in identification of complex prosodic emotions (e.g., envy and boredom). The level of the semantic content of the stimuli presented (e.g., sentences vs. strings of digits) was not found to have an impact on the results. In conclusion, the difference in findings between simple and complex emotions calls for a new-look on emotion processing in ASD-without-ID. Intervention programs may rely on the intact abilities of individuals with ASD-without-ID to process simple emotions and target improved performance with complex emotions. LAY SUMMARY: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-without-ID) do not differ from matched controls in the identification of simple prosodic emotions (e.g., sadness, happiness). However, they were found to perform significantly worse than controls in the identification of complex prosodic emotions (e.g., envy, boredom). This was found in a meta-analysis of 26 data sets with 1254 participants from nine countries and in seven languages. Intervention programs may rely on the intact abilities of individuals with ASD-without-ID to process simple emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Icht
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Gil Zukerman
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Esther Ben-Itzchak
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.,The Bruckner Center for Research in Autism, Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Boaz M Ben-David
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel.,Department of Speech-Language Pathology, and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Networks (UHN), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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8
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Zhang M, Xu S, Chen Y, Lin Y, Ding H, Zhang Y. Recognition of affective prosody in autism spectrum conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2021; 26:798-813. [PMID: 33722094 DOI: 10.1177/1362361321995725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Differences in understanding others' emotions and attitudes through features in speech (e.g. intonation) have been observed in individuals with autism spectrum conditions, which contribute greatly to their social communication challenges. However, some studies reported that individuals with autism spectrum condition performed comparably to typically developing individuals on affective prosody recognition. Here, we provide a comprehensive review with statistical analysis of 23 existing studies on this topic to examine potential factors that could explain the discrepancies. Compared with typically developing individuals, autism spectrum condition participants generally appeared to encounter more difficulties in affective prosody recognition. But this finding was likely due to the tendency of the existing research to overly focus on deficits in autism. The affective prosody recognition performance in individuals with autism spectrum condition was closely related to the number of answer options offered to them. Moreover, the degree of difficulty in affective prosody recognition encountered by individuals with autism spectrum condition varied across emotions. The findings of this systematic review highlighted the need for further research on affective prosody recognition in autism (e.g. studies that include tonal language speakers and autism spectrum condition individuals with lower cognitive or verbal abilities).
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Affiliation(s)
- Minyue Zhang
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Suyun Xu
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu Chen
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Lin
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN, USA
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9
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Charpentier J, Latinus M, Andersson F, Saby A, Cottier JP, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Houy-Durand E, Gomot M. Brain correlates of emotional prosodic change detection in autism spectrum disorder. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 28:102512. [PMID: 33395999 PMCID: PMC8481911 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Revised: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We used an oddball paradigm with vocal stimuli to record hemodynamic responses. Brain processing of vocal change relies on STG, insula and lingual area. Activity of the change processing network can be modulated by saliency and emotion. Brain processing of vocal deviancy/novelty appears typical in adults with autism.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is currently diagnosed by the joint presence of social impairments and restrictive, repetitive patterns of behaviors. While the co-occurrence of these two categories of symptoms is at the core of the pathology, most studies investigated only one dimension to understand underlying physiopathology. In this study, we analyzed brain hemodynamic responses in neurotypical adults (CTRL) and adults with autism spectrum disorder during an oddball paradigm allowing to explore brain responses to vocal changes with different levels of saliency (deviancy or novelty) and different emotional content (neutral, angry). Change detection relies on activation of the supratemporal gyrus and insula and on deactivation of the lingual area. The activity of these brain areas involved in the processing of deviancy with vocal stimuli was modulated by saliency and emotion. No group difference between CTRL and ASD was reported for vocal stimuli processing or for deviancy/novelty processing, regardless of emotional content. Findings highlight that brain processing of voices and of neutral/ emotional vocal changes is typical in adults with ASD. Yet, at the behavioral level, persons with ASD still experience difficulties with those cues. This might indicate impairments at latter processing stages or simply show that alterations present in childhood might have repercussions at adult age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Agathe Saby
- Centre universitaire de pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | | | | | - Emmanuelle Houy-Durand
- UMR 1253 iBrain, Inserm, Université de Tours, Tours, France; Centre universitaire de pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Marie Gomot
- UMR 1253 iBrain, Inserm, Université de Tours, Tours, France.
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Scheerer NE, Shafai F, Stevenson RA, Iarocci G. Affective Prosody Perception and the Relation to Social Competence in Autistic and Typically Developing Children. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 48:965-975. [PMID: 32285352 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-020-00644-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty perceiving and expressing emotions. Since prosodic changes in speech (i.e. changes in intonation, stress, rhythm, etc.) are crucial for extracting information about the emotional state of a speaker, an inability to perceive and interpret these prosodic changes may be related to impairments in social communication. This study used non-verbal emotional voice-clips to examine the ability of autistic and typically-developing children (7-13 years old) to extract affect from changes in prosody. This research also explored whether difficulty extracting affective intent from changes in prosody may be related to social competence. Autistic (n = 26) and typically-developing (n = 26) children accurately matched emotional voice-clips to emotion words, suggesting autistic children can accurately extract the affective meaning conveyed by changes in prosody. Autistic children were less accurate at matching the voice-clips to emotional faces, suggesting that autistic children may struggle to make use of prosodic information in a social context. Across both autistic and typically-developing children, prosody-face matching accuracy was found to predict overall social competence, as well as social inferencing abilities, suggesting that the inability to utilize affective information derived from a speaker's voice may interfere with effective social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nichole E Scheerer
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Fakhri Shafai
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Ryan A Stevenson
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Grace Iarocci
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
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Ben-David BM, Ben-Itzchak E, Zukerman G, Yahav G, Icht M. The Perception of Emotions in Spoken Language in Undergraduates with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preserved Social Skill. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 50:741-756. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04297-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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12
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Abstract
We propose a novel feedforward neural network (FFNN)-based speech emotion recognition system built on three layers: A base layer where a set of speech features are evaluated and classified; a middle layer where a speech matrix is built based on the classification scores computed in the base layer; a top layer where an FFNN- and a rule-based classifier are used to analyze the speech matrix and output the predicted emotion. The system offers 80.75% accuracy for predicting the six basic emotions and surpasses other state-of-the-art methods when tested on emotion-stimulated utterances. The method is robust and the fastest in the literature, computing a stable prediction in less than 78 s and proving attractive for replacing questionnaire-based methods and for real-time use. A set of correlations between several speech features (intensity contour, speech rate, pause rate, and short-time energy) and the evaluated emotions is determined, which enhances previous similar studies that have not analyzed these speech features. Using these correlations to improve the system leads to a 6% increase in accuracy. The proposed system can be used to improve human–computer interfaces, in computer-mediated education systems, for accident prevention, and for predicting mental disorders and physical diseases.
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13
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Velikonja T, Fett AK, Velthorst E. Patterns of Nonsocial and Social Cognitive Functioning in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry 2019; 76:135-151. [PMID: 30601878 PMCID: PMC6439743 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Many studies have investigated impairments in cognitive domains in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, to date, a comprehensive overview on the patterns of cognitive functioning is lacking. OBJECTIVE To provide an overview of nonsocial and social cognitive functioning in various domains in adults with ASD, allowing for comparison of the severity of deficits between different domains. DATA SOURCES A literature search performed in an academic medical setting was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and Medline databases with the combination of the following free-text and Medical Subject Headings where applicable: [cogniti* OR neurocogniti* OR neuropsycholog* OR executive function* OR IQ OR intelligence quotient OR social cognition OR emotion perception OR affect perception OR emotion recognition OR attribution OR ToM OR mentalising OR mentalizing OR prosody OR social knowledge OR mind reading OR social cue OR social judgment] AND [autis* OR ASD OR Asperger OR Asperger's OR PDD OR pervasive developmental disorder]. The search was further limited to studies published between 1980 (first inclusion of autism diagnosis in the DSM-III) and July 2018. STUDY SELECTION Studies included were published as a primary peer-reviewed research article in English, included individuals with ASD 16 years or older, and assessed at least 1 domain of neurocognitive functioning or social cognition using standard measures. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Of 9892 articles identified and screened, 75 met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review and meta-analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Hedges g effect sizes were computed, and random-effects models were used for all analyses. Moderators of between-study variability in effect sizes were assessed using meta-regressions. RESULTS The systematic review and meta-analysis included 75 studies, with a combined sample of 3361 individuals with ASD (mean [SD] age, 32.0 [9.3] years; 75.9% male) and 5344 neurotypical adults (mean [SD] age, 32.3 [9.1] years; 70.1% male). Adults with ASD showed large impairments in theory of mind (g = -1.09; 95% CI, -1.25 to -0.92; number of studies = 39) and emotion perception and processing (g = -0.80; 95% CI, -1.04 to -0.55; n = 18), followed by medium impairments in processing speed (g = -0.61; 95% CI, -0.83 to -0.38; n = 21) and verbal learning and memory (g = -0.55; 95% CI, -0.86 to -0.25; n = 12). The least altered cognitive domains were attention and vigilance (g = -0.30; 95% CI, -0.81 to 0.21; n = 5) and working memory (g = -0.23; 95% CI, -0.47 to 0.01; n = 19). Meta-regressions confirmed robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Results of this systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that adults with ASD show impairments in social cognitive domains and in specific nonsocial cognitive domains. These findings contribute to the understanding of the patterns of cognitive functioning in adults with ASD and may assist in the identification of targets for cognitive interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tjasa Velikonja
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York,The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Anne-Kathrin Fett
- Department of Psychology, City University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Eva Velthorst
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York,The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
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14
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Nuber S, Jacob H, Kreifelts B, Martinelli A, Wildgruber D. Attenuated impression of irony created by the mismatch of verbal and nonverbal cues in patients with autism spectrum disorder. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0205750. [PMID: 30321214 PMCID: PMC6188779 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Perception of irony has been observed to be impaired in adults with autism spectrum disorder. In typically developed adults, the mismatch of verbal and nonverbal emotional cues can be perceived as an expression of irony even in the absence of any further contextual information. In this study, we evaluate to what extent high functioning autists perceive this incongruence as expressing irony. Our results show that incongruent verbal and nonverbal signals create an impression of irony significantly less often in participants with high-functioning autism than in typically developed control subjects. The extent of overall autistic symptomatology as measured with the autism-spectrum questionnaire (AQ), however, does not correlate with the reduced tendency to attribute incongruent stimuli as expressing irony. Therefore, the attenuation in irony attribution might rather be related to specific subdomains of autistic traits, such as a reduced tendency to interpret communicative signals in terms of complex intentional mental states. The observed differences in irony attribution support the assumption that a less pronounced tendency to engage in higher order mentalization processes might underlie the impairment of pragmatic language understanding in high functioning autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Nuber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Heike Jacob
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Benjamin Kreifelts
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Anne Martinelli
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Dirk Wildgruber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Charpentier J, Kovarski K, Houy-Durand E, Malvy J, Saby A, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Latinus M, Gomot M. Emotional prosodic change detection in autism Spectrum disorder: an electrophysiological investigation in children and adults. J Neurodev Disord 2018; 10:28. [PMID: 30227832 PMCID: PMC6145332 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-018-9246-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2017] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by atypical behaviors in social environments and in reaction to changing events. While this dyad of symptoms is at the core of the pathology along with atypical sensory behaviors, most studies have investigated only one dimension. A focus on the sameness dimension has shown that intolerance to change is related to an atypical pre-attentional detection of irregularity. In the present study, we addressed the same process in response to emotional change in order to evaluate the interplay between alterations of change detection and socio-emotional processing in children and adults with autism. Methods Brain responses to neutral and emotional prosodic deviancies (mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a, reflecting change detection and orientation of attention toward change, respectively) were recorded in children and adults with autism and in controls. Comparison of neutral and emotional conditions allowed distinguishing between general deviancy and emotional deviancy effects. Moreover, brain responses to the same neutral and emotional stimuli were recorded when they were not deviants to evaluate the sensory processing of these vocal stimuli. Results In controls, change detection was modulated by prosody: in children, this was characterized by a lateralization of emotional MMN to the right hemisphere, and in adults, by an earlier MMN for emotional deviancy than for neutral deviancy. In ASD, an overall atypical change detection was observed with an earlier MMN and a larger P3a compared to controls suggesting an unusual pre-attentional orientation toward any changes in the auditory environment. Moreover, in children with autism, deviancy detection depicted reduced MMN amplitude. In addition in children with autism, contrary to adults with autism, no modulation of the MMN by prosody was present and sensory processing of both neutral and emotional vocal stimuli appeared atypical. Conclusions Overall, change detection remains altered in people with autism. However, differences between children and adults with ASD evidence a trend toward normalization of vocal processing and of the automatic detection of emotion deviancy with age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - K Kovarski
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - E Houy-Durand
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - J Malvy
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - A Saby
- Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - F Bonnet-Brilhault
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.,Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - M Latinus
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France
| | - M Gomot
- UMR1253, INSERM, Université de Tours, TOURS, France.
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16
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Segal O, Kaplan D, Patael S, Kishon-Rabin L. Comprehension of "Narrow Focus" by Adolescents in the Autism Spectrum. Folia Phoniatr Logop 2017; 69:67-77. [PMID: 29248926 DOI: 10.1159/000477399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The study compared the performance of adolescents with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) to that of age-matched peers with typical development (TD) and cognitive language-matched peers with TD on measures of identification and comprehension of "narrow focus." PARTICIPANTS Forty-nine participants, 17 autistic, 17 TD peers matched for age and sex, and 15 TD children matched for expressive vocabulary participated in the study. METHOD The Hebrew Narrow Focus Test (HNFT) was used. The HNFT includes 3 subtests. The first subtest (A) required identification of the stressed word in the sentence based on psychoacoustic abilities alone. The second (B) and third (C) subtests required understanding the meaning of focused stress in different contexts. In subtest B, the meaning of "narrow focus" was to contrast other possibilities related to the lexical-grammatical role of the stressed word in the sentence, whereas in subtest C, the meaning was to indicate a mistake. RESULTS ASD participants showed reduced performance compared to peers across all the subtests of the HNFT, but similar performance compared to TD children in subtests A and B and better performance on subtest C. A significant correlation was found between the Raven test for assessing nonverbal intelligence and subtests B and C of the HNFT in the group of adolescents with ASD. CONCLUSIONS Comprehension of narrow focus in adolescents with ASD who study in a special educational system is related to their cognitive-linguistic abilities and not to the autistic condition by itself or to its severity.
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Hubbard DJ, Faso DJ, Assmann PF, Sasson NJ. Production and perception of emotional prosody by adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2017; 10:1991-2001. [PMID: 28815940 PMCID: PMC6061943 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Revised: 05/28/2017] [Accepted: 07/16/2017] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
This study examined production and perception of affective prosody by adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has reported increased pitch variability in talkers with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) controls in grammatical speaking tasks (e.g., comparing interrogative vs. declarative sentences), but it is unclear whether this pattern extends to emotional speech. In this study, speech recordings in five emotion contexts (angry, happy, interested, sad, and neutral) were obtained from 15 adult males with ASD and 15 controls (Experiment 1), and were later presented to 52 listeners (22 with ASD) who were asked to identify the emotion expressed and rate the level of naturalness of the emotion in each recording (Experiment 2). Compared to the TD group, talkers with ASD produced phrases with greater intensity, longer durations, and increased pitch range for all emotions except neutral, suggesting that their greater pitch variability was specific to emotional contexts. When asked to identify emotion from speech, both groups of listeners were more accurate at identifying the emotion context from speech produced by ASD speakers compared to TD speakers, but rated ASD emotional speech as sounding less natural. Collectively, these results reveal differences in emotional speech production in talkers with ASD that provide an acoustic basis for reported perceptions of oddness in the speech presentation of adults with ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1991-2001. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY This study examined emotional speech communication produced and perceived by adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically-developing (TD) controls. Compared to the TD group, talkers with ASD produced emotional phrases that were louder, longer, and more variable in pitch. Both ASD and TD listeners were more accurate at identifying emotion in speech produced by ASD speakers compared to TD speakers, but rated ASD emotional speech as sounding less natural.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Hubbard
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080
| | - Daniel J Faso
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080
| | - Peter F Assmann
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080
| | - Noah J Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080
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18
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Martinelli E, Mencattini A, Daprati E, Di Natale C. Strength Is in Numbers: Can Concordant Artificial Listeners Improve Prediction of Emotion from Speech? PLoS One 2016; 11:e0161752. [PMID: 27563724 PMCID: PMC5001724 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans can communicate their emotions by modulating facial expressions or the tone of their voice. Albeit numerous applications exist that enable machines to read facial emotions and recognize the content of verbal messages, methods for speech emotion recognition are still in their infancy. Yet, fast and reliable applications for emotion recognition are the obvious advancement of present ‘intelligent personal assistants’, and may have countless applications in diagnostics, rehabilitation and research. Taking inspiration from the dynamics of human group decision-making, we devised a novel speech emotion recognition system that applies, for the first time, a semi-supervised prediction model based on consensus. Three tests were carried out to compare this algorithm with traditional approaches. Labeling performances relative to a public database of spontaneous speeches are reported. The novel system appears to be fast, robust and less computationally demanding than traditional methods, allowing for easier implementation in portable voice-analyzers (as used in rehabilitation, research, industry, etc.) and for applications in the research domain (such as real-time pairing of stimuli to participants’ emotional state, selective/differential data collection based on emotional content, etc.).
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugenio Martinelli
- Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Arianna Mencattini
- Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Elena Daprati
- Department of System Medicine and CBMS, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Corrado Di Natale
- Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
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19
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Adults with Asperger syndrome are less sensitive to intonation than control persons when listening to speech. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s40167-016-0035-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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21
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Järvinen A, Ng R, Crivelli D, Neumann D, Arnold AJ, Woo-VonHoogenstyn N, Lai P, Trauner D, Bellugi U. Social functioning and autonomic nervous system sensitivity across vocal and musical emotion in Williams syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Dev Psychobiol 2016; 58:17-26. [PMID: 26248474 PMCID: PMC6462219 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2014] [Accepted: 07/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Both Williams syndrome (WS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with unusual auditory phenotypes with respect to processing vocal and musical stimuli, which may be shaped by the atypical social profiles that characterize the syndromes. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to vocal and musical emotional stimuli was examined in 12 children with WS, 17 children with ASD, and 20 typically developing (TD) children, and related to their level of social functioning. The results of this small-scale study showed that after controlling for between-group differences in cognitive ability, all groups showed similar emotion identification performance across conditions. Additionally, in ASD, lower autonomic reactivity to human voice, and in TD, to musical emotion, was related to more normal social functioning. Compared to TD, both clinical groups showed increased arousal to vocalizations. A further result highlighted uniquely increased arousal to music in WS, contrasted with a decrease in arousal in ASD and TD. The ASD and WS groups exhibited arousal patterns suggestive of diminished habituation to the auditory stimuli. The results are discussed in the context of the clinical presentation of WS and ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Järvinen
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002.
| | - Rowena Ng
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Institute of Child Development, Minneapolis, MN
| | - Davide Crivelli
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
| | - Dirk Neumann
- Emotion and Social Cognition Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
| | - Andrew J Arnold
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
| | - Nicholas Woo-VonHoogenstyn
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
| | - Philip Lai
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
| | - Doris Trauner
- Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - Ursula Bellugi
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037-1002
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22
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Blasi A, Lloyd-Fox S, Sethna V, Brammer MJ, Mercure E, Murray L, Williams SCR, Simmons A, Murphy DGM, Johnson MH. Atypical processing of voice sounds in infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Cortex 2015. [PMID: 26200892 PMCID: PMC4582069 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show a reduced sensitivity (degree of selective response) to social stimuli such as human voices. In order to determine whether this reduced sensitivity is a consequence of years of poor social interaction and communication or is present prior to significant experience, we used functional MRI to examine cortical sensitivity to auditory stimuli in infants at high familial risk for later emerging ASD (HR group, N = 15), and compared this to infants with no family history of ASD (LR group, N = 18). The infants (aged between 4 and 7 months) were presented with voice and environmental sounds while asleep in the scanner and their behaviour was also examined in the context of observed parent–infant interaction. Whereas LR infants showed early specialisation for human voice processing in right temporal and medial frontal regions, the HR infants did not. Similarly, LR infants showed stronger sensitivity than HR infants to sad vocalisations in the right fusiform gyrus and left hippocampus. Also, in the HR group only, there was an association between each infant's degree of engagement during social interaction and the degree of voice sensitivity in key cortical regions. These results suggest that at least some infants at high-risk for ASD have atypical neural responses to human voice with and without emotional valence. Further exploration of the relationship between behaviour during social interaction and voice processing may help better understand the mechanisms that lead to different outcomes in at risk populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Blasi
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, UK; King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK.
| | - Sarah Lloyd-Fox
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, UK
| | - Vaheshta Sethna
- King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK
| | - Michael J Brammer
- King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK
| | - Evelyne Mercure
- University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UK
| | - Lynne Murray
- University of Reading, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, UK; Stellenbosch University, South Africa
| | - Steven C R Williams
- King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
| | - Andrew Simmons
- King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
| | - Declan G M Murphy
- King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Sackler Institute of Translational Neurodevelopment, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
| | - Mark H Johnson
- Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, UK
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Segal O, Kaplan D, Patael S, Kishon-Rabin L. Judging emotions in lexical-prosodic congruent and incongruent speech stimuli by adolescents in the autism spectrum. Folia Phoniatr Logop 2014; 66:25-36. [PMID: 25472790 DOI: 10.1159/000363739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to assess how adolescents with autism who vary in the severity of autistic characteristics judge the emotional state of the speaker when lexical and prosodic information is congruent or incongruent. PARTICIPANTS Eighty participants, 24 autistic and 56 typically developing (TD) subjects participated: (a) 11 autistic adolescents between 9.5 and 16.83 years old, studying at general education settings (AA1), (b) 13 autistic adolescents between 15.91 and 20.33 years old, studying at a special school (AA2), and (c) 56 TD subjects between 6 and 29 years old. Listeners were required to judge the emotional meaning of words (sad/happy) in congruent conditions and incongruent conditions. RESULTS (a) All participants judged lexical and prosodic meaning separately with high accuracy, (b) all participants showed prolonged reaction times in the incongruent compared to the congruent condition, (c) AA1 relied on prosodic information in the incongruent condition similarly to TD 9-15 year olds and TD adults, (d) AA2 and TD 6-8 year olds did not rely on prosodic information in the incongruent condition, and (e) both education placements, the severity of autistic characteristics and nonverbal IQ contributed to prosodic judgment in the incongruent condition in autistic adolescents. CONCLUSIONS The two groups of autistic adolescents processed both lexical and prosodic information in the incongruent condition. However, the severity of autistic characteristics influenced the preference for prosody.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osnat Segal
- Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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24
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Globerson E, Amir N, Kishon-Rabin L, Golan O. Prosody Recognition in Adults With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Psychoacoustics to Cognition. Autism Res 2014; 8:153-63. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2013] [Accepted: 10/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eitan Globerson
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center; Bar-Ilan University; Ramat-Gan Israel
- Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance; Jerusalem Israel
| | - Noam Amir
- Department of Communication Disorders; Sackler Faculty of Medicine; Tel-Aviv University; Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Liat Kishon-Rabin
- Department of Communication Disorders; Sackler Faculty of Medicine; Tel-Aviv University; Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Ofer Golan
- Department of Psychology; Bar-Ilan University; Ramat-Gan Israel
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