1
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Hou W, Cheng R, Zhao Z, Liao H, Li J. Atypical and variable attention patterns reveal reduced contextual priors in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2024; 17:1572-1585. [PMID: 38975627 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/09/2024]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in using contextual priors to predict others' actions and make intention inference. Yet less is known about whether and how children with ASD acquire contextual priors during action observation and how contextual priors relate to their action prediction and intention inference. To form proper contextual priors, individuals need to observe the social scenes in a reliable manner and focus on socially relevant information. By employing a data-driven scan path method and areas of interest (AOI)-based analysis, the current study investigated how contextual priors would relate to action prediction and intention understanding in 4-to-9-year-old children with ASD (N = 56) and typically developing (TD) children (N = 50) during free viewing of dynamic social scenes with different intentions. Results showed that children with ASD exhibited higher intra-subject variability when scanning social scenes and reduced attention to socially relevant areas. Moreover, children with high-level action prediction and intention understanding showed lower intra-subject variability and increased attention to socially relevant areas. These findings suggest that altered fixation patterns might restrain children with ASD from acquiring proper contextual priors, which has cascading downstream effects on their action prediction and intention understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Hou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Rong Cheng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhong Zhao
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haotian Liao
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jing Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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2
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Kojovic N, Cekic S, Castañón SH, Franchini M, Sperdin HF, Sandini C, Jan RK, Zöller D, Ben Hadid L, Bavelier D, Schaer M. Unraveling the developmental dynamic of visual exploration of social interactions in autism. eLife 2024; 13:e85623. [PMID: 38192197 PMCID: PMC10876216 DOI: 10.7554/elife.85623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Atypical deployment of social gaze is present early on in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Yet, studies characterizing the developmental dynamic behind it are scarce. Here, we used a data-driven method to delineate the developmental change in visual exploration of social interaction over childhood years in autism. Longitudinal eye-tracking data were acquired as children with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers freely explored a short cartoon movie. We found divergent moment-to-moment gaze patterns in children with ASD compared to their TD peers. This divergence was particularly evident in sequences that displayed social interactions between characters and even more so in children with lower developmental and functional levels. The basic visual properties of the animated scene did not account for the enhanced divergence. Over childhood years, these differences dramatically increased to become more idiosyncratic. These findings suggest that social attention should be targeted early in clinical treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nada Kojovic
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Sezen Cekic
- Faculte de Psychologie et Science de l’Education, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Santiago Herce Castañón
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad UniversitariaMexico CityMexico
| | | | - Holger Franz Sperdin
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Corrado Sandini
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Reem Kais Jan
- College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health SciencesDubaiUnited Arab Emirates
| | | | - Lylia Ben Hadid
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Daphné Bavelier
- Faculte de Psychologie et Science de l’Education, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Marie Schaer
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
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3
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Putnam OC, Sasson N, Parish-Morris J, Harrop C. Effects of social complexity and gender on social and non-social attention in male and female autistic children: A comparison of four eye-tracking paradigms. Autism Res 2023; 16:315-326. [PMID: 36408851 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2851] [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: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Eye tracking has long been used to characterize differences in social attention between autistic and non-autistic children, but recent work has shown that these patterns may vary widely according to the biological sex of the participants and the social complexity and gender-typicality of the eye tracking stimuli (e.g., barbies vs. transformers). To better understand effects of sex, social complexity, and object gender-typicality on social and non-social gaze behavior in autism, we compared the visual attention patterns of 67 autistic (ASD) and non-autistic (NA) males (M) and females (F) (ASD M = 21; ASD F = 18; NA M = 14; NA F = 14) across four eye tracking paradigms varying in social complexity and object gender-typicality. We found consistency across paradigms in terms of overall attention and attention to social stimuli, but attention to objects varied when paradigms considered gender in their stimulus design. Children attended more to gendered objects, particularly when the gender-typicality of the object matched their assigned sex. These results demonstrate that visual social attention in autism is affected by interactions between a child's biological sex, social scene complexity, and object gender-typicality and have broad implications for the design and interpretation of eye tracking studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orla C Putnam
- Division of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Noah Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USA
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Clare Harrop
- Division of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
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4
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Zhang Y, Zhang K, Chen J, Liu L, Luo M, Chen Q, Zeng X, Wang G. Eye Tracking Study of Social Intensity on Social Orientation of Autistic Children. Behav Sci (Basel) 2022; 12:322. [PMID: 36135126 PMCID: PMC9495327 DOI: 10.3390/bs12090322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Some previous studies indicate that impaired social attention mainly results in social disorders in autistic children. In the social attention mode of autistic children, social orientation and joint attention are particularly important. The influence of different social intensity and ecological validity on them are worthy of further study. This study used realistic paintings with moderate ecological validity as experimental materials, to design isolated individual scene and social interaction scene, and to explore the impact of social interaction on the social orientation of autistic children. It found that in the scenes without social interaction, the attention patterns of autistic children and typical developing children were the same, while the attention patterns of autistic children were abnormal in the scenes with social interaction. From the eye tracking data, it was shown that the gaze processing process of autistic children was not as smooth as that of typical developing children. Compared with cartoons and other social scenes with low ecological validity, realistic painting could better restore the proportion of real scenes. Moreover, it could reduce the complexity of information which could not be done in real scenes. The findings of this study provide support for training and education of autistic children. Intervention with realistic paintings is conducive to the migration of autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yajing Zhang
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Kun Zhang
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Jingying Chen
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Lili Liu
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Meijuan Luo
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Qian Chen
- National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Educational Big Data, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Xiao Zeng
- Central China Normal University Wollongong Joint Institute, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Guangshuai Wang
- School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
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5
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Cola M, Zampella CJ, Yankowitz LD, Plate S, Petrulla V, Tena K, Russell A, Pandey J, Schultz RT, Parish-Morris J. Conversational adaptation in children and teens with autism: Differences in talkativeness across contexts. Autism Res 2022; 15:1090-1108. [PMID: 35199482 PMCID: PMC9167260 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2693] [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: 07/16/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Successful social communication is complex; it relies on effectively deploying and continuously revising one's behavior to fit the needs of a given conversation, partner, and context. For example, a skilled conversationalist may instinctively become less talkative with a quiet partner and more talkative with a chattier one. Prior research suggests that behavioral flexibility across social contexts can be a particular challenge for individuals with autism spectrum condition (ASC), and that difficulty adapting to the changing needs of a conversation contributes to communicative breakdowns and poor social outcomes. In this study, we examine whether reduced conversational adaptation, as measured by talkativeness, differentiates 48 verbally fluent children and teens with ASC from 50 neurotypical (NT) peers matched on age, intelligence quotient, and sex ratio. Participants completed the Contextual Assessment of Social Skills with two novel conversation partners. The first acted interested in the conversation and talked more (Interested condition), while the second acted bored and talked less (Bored condition). Results revealed that NT participants emulated their conversation partner's behavior by being more talkative in the Interested condition as compared to the Bored condition (z = 9.92, p < 0.001). In contrast, the ASC group did not differentially adapt their behavior to the Bored versus Interested context, instead remaining consistently talkative in both (p = 0.88). The results of this study have implications for understanding social communication and behavioral adaptation in ASC, and may be valuable for clinicians interested in improving conversational competence in verbally fluent individuals with autism. LAY SUMMARY: Social communication-including everyday conversations-can be challenging for individuals on the autism spectrum. In successful conversations, people tend to adjust aspects of their language to be more similar to their partners'. In this study, we found that children and teens with autism did not change their own talkativeness in response to a social partner who was more or less talkative, whereas neurotypical peers did. These findings have clinical implications for improving conversational competence in verbally fluent individuals with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith Cola
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- La Salle University, Department of Psychology, 1900 W Olney Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19141
| | - Casey J. Zampella
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Lisa D. Yankowitz
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology, 3720 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Samantha Plate
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 S. Bouquet St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
| | - Victoria Petrulla
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Kimberly Tena
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Alison Russell
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Juhi Pandey
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychiatry, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Robert T. Schultz
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Pediatrics, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Autism Research, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychiatry, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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6
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Greene RK, Parish-Morris J, Sullivan M, Kinard JL, Mosner MG, Turner-Brown LM, Penn DL, Wiesen CA, Pallathra AA, Brodkin ES, Schultz RT, Dichter GS. Dynamic Eye Tracking as a Predictor and Outcome Measure of Social Skills Intervention in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:1173-1187. [PMID: 32656738 PMCID: PMC7855541 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04594-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
To evaluate an eye tracking task as a predictor and outcome measure of treatment response for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) social skills interventions, adolescents and young adults with ASD completed the eye tracking task before, immediately after, and two months after completing Social Cognition and Interaction Training for Autism (SCIT-A). The study compared SCIT-A participants (n = 20) to participants with ASD who received treatment as usual (TAU; n = 21). Overall, increased visual attention to faces and background objects and decreased attention to hands playing with toys at baseline were associated with improved social functioning immediately following intervention, suggesting this eye tracking task may reliably predict ASD social intervention outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel K Greene
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Institute on Development and Disability, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Miranda Sullivan
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Jessica L Kinard
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Maya G Mosner
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Lauren M Turner-Brown
- TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - David L Penn
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Ashley A Pallathra
- Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Edward S Brodkin
- Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Robert T Schultz
- Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Gabriel S Dichter
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
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7
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Robain F, Kojovic N, Solazzo S, Glaser B, Franchini M, Schaer M. The impact of social complexity on the visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. BMC Psychol 2021; 9:50. [PMID: 33789770 PMCID: PMC8011208 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00553-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Typical development of socio-communicative skills relies on keen observation of others. It thus follows that decreased social attention negatively impacts the subsequent development of socio-communicative abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In addition, studies indicate that social attention is modulated by context and that greater social difficulties are observed in more socially demanding situations. Our study aims to investigate the effect of social complexity on visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers. METHODS To investigate the impact of social complexity, we used an eye-tracking paradigm with 26 typically developing preschoolers (TD, age = 3.60 ± 1.55) and 37 preschoolers with ASD (age = 3.55 ± 1.21). Participants were shown videos of two children engaging in socially simple play (parallel) versus socially complex play (interactive). We subsequently quantified the time spent and fixation duration on faces, objects, bodies, as well as the background and the number of spontaneous gaze shifts between socially relevant areas of interest. RESULTS In the ASD group, we observed decreased time spent on faces. Social complexity (interactive play) elicited changes in visual exploration patterns in both groups. From the parallel to the interactive condition, we observed a shift towards socially relevant parts of the scene, a decrease in fixation duration, as well as an increase in spontaneous gaze shifts between faces and objects though there were fewer in the ASD group. LIMITATIONS Our results need to be interpreted cautiously due to relatively small sample sizes and may be relevant to male preschoolers, given our male-only sample and reported phenotypic differences between males and females. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that similar to TD children, though to a lesser extent, visual exploration patterns in ASD are modulated by context. Children with ASD that were less sensitive to context modulation showed decreased socio-communicative skills or higher levels of symptoms. Our findings support using naturalistic designs to capture socio-communicative deficits in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Robain
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. .,Fondation Pôle Autisme, Unité de Recherche, 4 place du Cirque, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - N Kojovic
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - S Solazzo
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - B Glaser
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M Franchini
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.,Fondation Pôle Autisme, Unité de Recherche, 4 place du Cirque, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M Schaer
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.,Fondation Pôle Autisme, Unité de Recherche, 4 place du Cirque, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland
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8
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Kotila A, Hyvärinen A, Mäkinen L, Leinonen E, Hurtig T, Ebeling H, Korhonen V, Kiviniemi VJ, Loukusa S. Processing of pragmatic communication in ASD: a video-based brain imaging study. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21739. [PMID: 33303942 PMCID: PMC7729953 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78874-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Social and pragmatic difficulties in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are widely recognized, although their underlying neural level processing is not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the activity of the brain network components linked to social and pragmatic understanding in order to reveal whether complex socio-pragmatic events evoke differences in brain activity between the ASD and control groups. Nineteen young adults (mean age 23.6 years) with ASD and 19 controls (mean age 22.7 years) were recruited for the study. The stimulus data consisted of video clips showing complex social events that demanded processing of pragmatic communication. In the analysis, the functional magnetic resonance imaging signal responses of the selected brain network components linked to social and pragmatic information processing were compared. Although the processing of the young adults with ASD was similar to that of the control group during the majority of the social scenes, differences between the groups were found in the activity of the social brain network components when the participants were observing situations with concurrent verbal and non-verbal communication events. The results suggest that the ASD group had challenges in processing concurrent multimodal cues in complex pragmatic communication situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aija Kotila
- Research Unit of Logopedics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
| | - Aapo Hyvärinen
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Leena Mäkinen
- Research Unit of Logopedics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Eeva Leinonen
- Office of the Vice Chancellor, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Tuula Hurtig
- Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- PEDEGO Research Unit, The Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Child Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Hanna Ebeling
- PEDEGO Research Unit, The Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Child Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa Korhonen
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), University and University Hospital of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, The Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa J Kiviniemi
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), University and University Hospital of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, The Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Soile Loukusa
- Research Unit of Logopedics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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9
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Clin E, Maes P, Stercq F, Kissine M. No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm. Mol Autism 2020; 11:91. [PMID: 33208193 PMCID: PMC7672906 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-020-00398-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background With the overarching objective to gain better insights into social attention in autistic adults, the present study addresses three outstanding issues about face processing in autism. First, do autistic adults display a preference for mouths over eyes; second, do they avoid direct gaze; third, is atypical visual exploration of faces in autism mediated by gender, social anxiety or alexithymia? Methods We used a novel reinforced preferential looking paradigm with a group of autistic adults (n = 43, 23 women) pairwise matched on age with neurotypical participants (n = 43, 21 women). Participants watched 28 different pairs of 5 s video recordings of a speaking person: the two videos, simultaneously displayed on the screen, were identical except that gaze was directed at the camera in one video and averted in the other. After a 680 ms transition phase, a short reinforcement animation appeared on the side that had displayed the direct gaze. Results None of the groups showed a preference for mouths over eyes. However, neurotypical participants fixated significantly more the stimuli with direct gaze, while no such preference emerged in autistic participants. As the experiment progressed, neurotypical participants also increasingly anticipated the appearance of the reinforcement, based on the location of the stimulus with the direct gaze, while no such anticipation emerged in autistic participants. Limitations Our autistic participants scored higher on the social anxiety and alexithymia questionnaires than neurotypicals. Future studies should match neurotypical and autistic participants on social anxiety and alexithymia and complement questionnaires with physiological measures of anxiety. Conclusions The absence of preference for direct versus averted gaze in the autistic group is probably due to difficulties in distinguishing eye gaze direction, potentially linked to a reduced spontaneous exploration or avoidance of the eye region. Social attention and preference for direct versus averted gaze correlated with alexithymia and social anxiety scores, but not gender.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise Clin
- ACTE at LaDisco and ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, 50/175, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Pauline Maes
- ACTE at LaDisco and ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, 50/175, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Fanny Stercq
- ACTE at LaDisco and ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, 50/175, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Mikhail Kissine
- ACTE at LaDisco and ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt, 50/175, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
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10
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Kotila A, Järvelä M, Korhonen V, Loukusa S, Hurtig T, Ebeling H, Kiviniemi V, Raatikainen V. Atypical Inter-Network Deactivation Associated With the Posterior Default-Mode Network in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Res 2020; 14:248-264. [PMID: 33206471 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Revised: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have suggested that atypical deactivation of functional brain networks contributes to the complex cognitive and behavioral profile associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, these studies have not considered the temporal dynamics of deactivation mechanisms between the networks. In this study, we examined (a) mutual deactivation and (b) mutual activation-deactivation (i.e., anticorrelated) time-lag patterns between resting-state networks (RSNs) in young adults with ASD (n = 20) and controls (n = 20) by applying the recently defined dynamic lag analysis (DLA) method, which measures time-lag variations peak-by-peak between the networks. In order to achieve temporally accurate lag patterns, the brain imaging data was acquired with a fast functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequence (TR = 100 ms). Group-level independent component analysis was used to identify 16 RSNs for the DLA. We found altered mutual deactivation timings in ASD in (a) three of the deactivated and (b) two of the transiently anticorrelated (activated-deactivated) RSN pairs, which survived the strict threshold for significance of surrogate data. Of the significant RSN pairs, 80% included the posterior default-mode network (DMN). We propose that temporally altered deactivation mechanisms, including timings and directionality, between the posterior DMN and RSNs mediating processing of socially relevant information may contribute to the ASD phenotype. LAY SUMMARY: To understand autistic traits on a neural level, we examined temporal fluctuations in information flow between brain regions in young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and controls. We used a fast neuroimaging procedure to investigate deactivation mechanisms between brain regions. We found that timings and directionality of communication between certain brain regions were temporally altered in ASD, suggesting atypical deactivation mechanisms associated with the posterior default-mode network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aija Kotila
- Research Unit of Logopedics, the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Matti Järvelä
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa Korhonen
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Soile Loukusa
- Research Unit of Logopedics, the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Tuula Hurtig
- Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Hanna Ebeling
- Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Vesa Kiviniemi
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Ville Raatikainen
- Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Research Center (MRC), Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
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11
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Kaliukhovich DA, Manyakov NV, Bangerter A, Ness S, Skalkin A, Goodwin MS, Dawson G, Hendren RL, Leventhal B, Hudac CM, Bradshaw J, Shic F, Pandina G. Social attention to activities in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder: effects of context and age. Mol Autism 2020; 11:79. [PMID: 33076994 PMCID: PMC7574440 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-020-00388-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Diminished visual monitoring of faces and activities of others is an early feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is uncertain whether deficits in activity monitoring, identified using a homogeneous set of stimuli, persist throughout the lifespan in ASD, and thus, whether they could serve as a biological indicator (“biomarker”) of ASD. We investigated differences in visual attention during activity monitoring in children and adult participants with autism compared to a control group of participants without autism. Methods Eye movements of participants with autism (n = 122; mean age [SD] = 14.5 [8.0] years) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 40, age = 16.4 [13.3] years) were recorded while they viewed a series of videos depicting two female actors conversing while interacting with their hands over a shared task. Actors either continuously focused their gaze on each other’s face (mutual gaze) or on the shared activity area (shared focus). Mean percentage looking time was computed for the activity area, actors’ heads, and their bodies. Results Compared to TD participants, participants with ASD looked longer at the activity area (mean % looking time: 58.5% vs. 53.8%, p < 0.005) but less at the heads (15.2% vs. 23.7%, p < 0.0001). Additionally, within-group differences in looking time were observed between the mutual gaze and shared focus conditions in both participants without ASD (activity: Δ = − 6.4%, p < 0.004; heads: Δ = + 3.5%, p < 0.02) and participants with ASD (bodies: Δ = + 1.6%, p < 0.002). Limitations The TD participants were not as well characterized as the participants with ASD. Inclusion criteria regarding the cognitive ability [intelligence quotient (IQ) > 60] limited the ability to include individuals with substantial intellectual disability. Conclusions Differences in attention to faces could constitute a feature discriminative between individuals with and without ASD across the lifespan, whereas between-group differences in looking at activities may shift with development. These findings may have applications in the search for underlying biological indicators specific to ASD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02668991.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Abigail Bangerter
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC, 1125 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Titusville, NJ, 08560, USA
| | - Seth Ness
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC, 1125 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Titusville, NJ, 08560, USA
| | - Andrew Skalkin
- Datagrok, INC, 1800 JFK Blvd Suite 300 PMB 90078, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA
| | - Matthew S Goodwin
- 312E Robinson Hall, Department of Health Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Geraldine Dawson
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development and Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, 2608 Erwin Road, Suite 30, Durham, NC, 27705, USA
| | - Robert L Hendren
- Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, Langley Porter, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0984, USA
| | - Bennett Leventhal
- Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, Langley Porter, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0984, USA
| | - Caitlin M Hudac
- Center for Youth Development and Intervention, University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-0348, USA
| | - Jessica Bradshaw
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC, 29201, USA
| | - Frederick Shic
- Department of Pediatrics, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, University of Washington, 6200 NE 74th Street, Ste 110, Seattle, WA, 98115-8160, USA
| | - Gahan Pandina
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC, 1125 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Titusville, NJ, 08560, USA
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12
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Hedger N, Dubey I, Chakrabarti B. Social orienting and social seeking behaviors in ASD. A meta analytic investigation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 119:376-395. [PMID: 33069686 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Social motivation accounts of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) posit that individuals with ASD find social stimuli less rewarding than neurotypical (NT) individuals. Behaviorally, this is proposed to manifest in reduced social orienting (individuals with ASD direct less attention towards social stimuli) and reduced social seeking (individuals with ASD invest less effort to receive social stimuli). In two meta-analyses, involving data from over 6000 participants, we review the available behavioral studies that assess social orienting and social seeking behaviors in ASD. We found robust evidence for reduced social orienting in ASD, across a range of paradigms, demographic variables and stimulus contexts. The most robust predictor of this effect was interactive content - effects were larger when the stimulus involved an interaction between people. By contrast, the evidence for reduced social seeking indicated weaker evidence for group differences, observed only under specific experimental conditions. The insights gained from this meta-analysis can inform design of relevant task measures for social reward responsivity and promote directions for further study on the ASD phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Hedger
- Centre for Autism, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AL, UK.
| | - Indu Dubey
- School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK
| | - Bhismadev Chakrabarti
- Centre for Autism, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AL, UK
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13
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Ioannou C, Seernani D, Stefanou ME, Biscaldi-Schaefer M, Tebartz Van Elst L, Fleischhaker C, Boccignone G, Klein C. Social Visual Perception Under the Eye of Bayesian Theories in Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Advanced Modeling of Spatial and Temporal Parameters. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:585149. [PMID: 33101094 PMCID: PMC7546363 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.585149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Social interaction in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by qualitative impairments that highly impact quality of life. Bayesian theories in ASD frame an understanding of underlying mechanisms suggesting atypicalities in the evaluation of probabilistic links within the perceptual environment of the affected individual. To address these theories, the present study explores the applicability of an innovative Bayesian framework on social visual perception in ASD and demonstrates the use of gaze transitions between different parts of social scenes. We applied advanced analyses with Bayesian Hidden Markov Modeling (BHMM) to track gaze movements while presenting real-life scenes to typically developing (TD) children and adolescents (N = 25) and participants with ASD and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ASD+ADHD, N = 15) and ASD without comorbidity (ASD, N = 12). Regions of interest (ROIs) were generated by BHMM based both on spatial and temporal gaze behavior. Social visual perception was compared between groups using transition and fixation variables for social (faces, bodies) and non-social ROIs. Transition variables between faces, namely gaze transitions between faces and likelihood of linking faces, were reduced in the ASD+ADHD compared to TD participants. Fixation count to faces was also reduced in this group. The ASD group showed similar performance to TD in the studied variables. There was no difference between groups for non-social ROIs. Our study provides an innovative, interpretable example of applying Bayesian theories of social visual perception in ASD. BHMM analyses and gaze transitions have the potential to reveal fundamental social perception components in ASD, contributing thus to amelioration of social-skill interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chara Ioannou
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Divya Seernani
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Maria Elena Stefanou
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.,School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Monica Biscaldi-Schaefer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ludger Tebartz Van Elst
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Christian Fleischhaker
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - Christoph Klein
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.,Department of Child and Adoelscent Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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14
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Harrop C, Jones D, Zheng S, Nowell S, Schultz R, Parish-Morris J. Visual attention to faces in children with autism spectrum disorder: are there sex differences? Mol Autism 2019; 10:28. [PMID: 31297179 PMCID: PMC6599259 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-019-0276-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The male bias in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses is well documented. As a result, less is known about the female ASD phenotype. Recent research suggests that conclusions drawn from predominantly male samples may not accurately capture female behavior. In this study, we explore potential sex differences in attention to social stimuli, which is generally reported to be diminished in ASD. Population-based sex differences in attention to faces have been reported, such that typically developing (TD) females attend more to social stimuli (including faces) from infancy through adulthood than TD males. It is yet unknown whether population-based sex differences in the face domain are preserved in ASD. Methods A dynamic, naturalistic infrared eye-tracking paradigm measured attention to social stimuli (faces) in 74 school-aged males and females with ASD (male N = 23; female N = 19) and without ASD (male N = 16; female N = 16). Two kinds of video stimuli were presented that varied in social content: rich social scenes (dyadic play between two children) and lean social scenes (parallel play by two children). Results Results revealed a significant 3-way interaction between sex, diagnosis, and condition after controlling for chronological and mental age. ASD females attended more to faces than ASD males in the socially lean condition. This effect was not found in the typically developing (TD) group. ASD males attended less to faces regardless of social context; however, ASD females only attended significantly less to faces compared to TD females in the socially rich condition. TD males and ASD females did not differ in their attention to faces in either condition. Conclusions This study has implications for how the field understands core social deficits in children with ASD, which should ideally be benchmarked against same-sex peers (male and female). Social attention in ASD females fell on a continuum—greater than their ASD male peers, but not as great as TD females. Overall, their social attention mirrored that of TD males. Improved understanding of the female social phenotype in ASD will enhance early screening and diagnostic efforts and will guide the development of sex-sensitive experimental paradigms and social interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Harrop
- 1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Allied Health Sciences, Bondurant Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA
| | - Desiree Jones
- 2School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas-Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080 USA
| | - Shuting Zheng
- 3STAR Center for ASD and NDDs, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
| | - Sallie Nowell
- 4Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA
| | - Robert Schultz
- Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, Philadelphia, PA 19146 USA.,6Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, Philadelphia, PA 19146 USA.,6Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
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