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Than A, Patterson G, Cummings KK, Jung J, Cakar ME, Abbas L, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M, Green SA. Sensory over-responsivity and atypical neural responses to socially relevant stimuli in autism. Autism Res 2024; 17:1328-1343. [PMID: 38949436 PMCID: PMC11272439 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3179] [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: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 06/13/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Although aversive responses to sensory stimuli are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it remains unknown whether the social relevance of aversive sensory inputs affects their processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural responses to mildly aversive nonsocial and social sensory stimuli as well as how sensory over-responsivity (SOR) severity relates to these responses. Participants included 21 ASD and 25 typically-developing (TD) youth, aged 8.6-18.0 years. Results showed that TD youth exhibited significant neural discrimination of socially relevant versus irrelevant aversive sensory stimuli, particularly in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), regions that are crucial for sensory and social processing. In contrast, ASD youth showed reduced neural discrimination of social versus nonsocial stimuli in the amygdala and OFC, as well as overall greater neural responses to nonsocial compared with social stimuli. Moreover, higher SOR in ASD was associated with heightened responses in sensory-motor regions to socially-relevant stimuli. These findings further our understanding of the relationship between sensory and social processing in ASD, suggesting limited attention to the social relevance compared with aversiveness level of sensory input in ASD versus TD youth, particularly in ASD youth with higher SOR.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Than
- Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - G Patterson
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA
| | - K K Cummings
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - J Jung
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - M E Cakar
- Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - L Abbas
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - S Y Bookheimer
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - M Dapretto
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - S A Green
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Barreto C, Curtin A, Topoglu Y, Day-Watkins J, Garvin B, Foster G, Ormanoglu Z, Sheridan E, Connell J, Bennett D, Heffler K, Ayaz H. Prefrontal Cortex Responses to Social Video Stimuli in Young Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brain Sci 2024; 14:503. [PMID: 38790481 PMCID: PMC11119834 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14050503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting individuals worldwide and characterized by deficits in social interaction along with the presence of restricted interest and repetitive behaviors. Despite decades of behavioral research, little is known about the brain mechanisms that influence social behaviors among children with ASD. This, in part, is due to limitations of traditional imaging techniques specifically targeting pediatric populations. As a portable and scalable optical brain monitoring technology, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides a measure of cerebral hemodynamics related to sensory, motor, or cognitive function. Here, we utilized fNIRS to investigate the prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity of young children with ASD and with typical development while they watched social and nonsocial video clips. The PFC activity of ASD children was significantly higher for social stimuli at medial PFC, which is implicated in social cognition/processing. Moreover, this activity was also consistently correlated with clinical measures, and higher activation of the same brain area only during social video viewing was associated with more ASD symptoms. This is the first study to implement a neuroergonomics approach to investigate cognitive load in response to realistic, complex, and dynamic audiovisual social stimuli for young children with and without autism. Our results further confirm that new generation of portable fNIRS neuroimaging can be used for ecologically valid measurements of the brain function of toddlers and preschool children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Candida Barreto
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Adrian Curtin
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Yigit Topoglu
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | | | - Brigid Garvin
- St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA 19134, USA
| | - Grant Foster
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Zuhal Ormanoglu
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | | | - James Connell
- School of Education, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - David Bennett
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
| | - Karen Heffler
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
| | - Hasan Ayaz
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Drexel Solutions Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Dubois-Sage M, Jacquet B, Jamet F, Baratgin J. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:131. [PMID: 38392485 PMCID: PMC10886012 DOI: 10.3390/bs14020131] [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: 12/29/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder show deficits in communication and social interaction, as well as repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Interacting with robots could bring benefits to this population, notably by fostering communication and social interaction. Studies even suggest that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder could interact more easily with a robot partner rather than a human partner. We will be looking at the benefits of robots and the reasons put forward to explain these results. The interest regarding robots would mainly be due to three of their characteristics: they can act as motivational tools, and they are simplified agents whose behavior is more predictable than that of a human. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges to be met in specifying the optimum conditions for using robots with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Dubois-Sage
- Laboratoire Cognitions Humaine et Artificielle, RNSR 200515259U, UFR de Psychologie, Université Paris 8, 93526 Saint-Denis, France
| | - Baptiste Jacquet
- Laboratoire Cognitions Humaine et Artificielle, RNSR 200515259U, UFR de Psychologie, Université Paris 8, 93526 Saint-Denis, France
- Association P-A-R-I-S, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Frank Jamet
- Laboratoire Cognitions Humaine et Artificielle, RNSR 200515259U, UFR de Psychologie, Université Paris 8, 93526 Saint-Denis, France
- Association P-A-R-I-S, 75005 Paris, France
- UFR d'Éducation, CY Cergy Paris Université, 95000 Cergy-Pontoise, France
| | - Jean Baratgin
- Laboratoire Cognitions Humaine et Artificielle, RNSR 200515259U, UFR de Psychologie, Université Paris 8, 93526 Saint-Denis, France
- Association P-A-R-I-S, 75005 Paris, France
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Chang X, Sun L, Li R. Application of symbolic play test in identification of autism spectrum disorder without global developmental delay and developmental language disorder. BMC Psychiatry 2023; 23:138. [PMID: 36879230 PMCID: PMC9990336 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-04647-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) usually experience difficulty regarding symbolic play. However, studies on whether symbolic play test (SPT) can differentiate between ASD and other developmental disorders are inconsistent, and evaluating the application value of the SPT in the identification of ASD without global developmental delay (GDD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) is necessary. METHODS A total of 200 children were selected as the research participants. There were 100 cases of ASD without GDD and 100 cases of DLD. All children were tested by SPT and Children Neuropsychological and Behavioral Scale-Revision (CNBS-R2016). Binomial logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the value of SPT in identifying ASD without GDD and DLD. RESULTS SPT equivalent age was lower than chronological age in the two groups, the difference between the ASD without GDD group was greater than that in the DLD group, and the proportion of SPT equivalent age retardation was higher than that in the DLD group; the differences were statistically significant. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was a difference in SPT equivalent age between DLD and ASD without GDD. When the cut-off value of the SPT was 8.5, the largest area under the ROC curve was 0.723, and the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ASD without GDD were 0.720 and 0.620 respectively. CONCLUSIONS Symbolic play ability in ASD children is worse than that of DLD children at comparable development levels. SPT may be helpful to distinguish ASD without GDD from children with DLD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuening Chang
- Department of Child Health Care, Wuhan Children's Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430016, China
| | - Lingli Sun
- Department of Child Health Care, Wuhan Children's Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430016, China
| | - Ruizhen Li
- Department of Child Health Care, Wuhan Children's Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430016, China.
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Wei Q, Cao H, Shi Y, Xu X, Li T. Machine learning based on eye-tracking data to identify Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Biomed Inform 2023; 137:104254. [PMID: 36509416 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2022.104254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Machine learning has been widely used to identify Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) based on eye-tracking, but its accuracy is uncertain. We aimed to summarize the available evidence on the performances of machine learning algorithms in classifying ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals based on eye-tracking data. METHODS We searched Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, Wan Fang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, from database inception to December 24, 2021. Studies using machine learning methods to classify ASD and TD individuals based on eye-tracking technologies were included. We extracted the data on study population, model performances, algorithms of machine learning, and paradigms of eye-tracking. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42022296037. RESULTS 261 articles were identified, of which 24 studies with sample sizes ranging from 28 to 141 were included (n = 1396 individuals). Machine learning based on eye-tracking yielded the pooled classified accuracy of 81 % (I2 = 73 %), specificity of 79 % (I2 = 61 %), and sensitivity of 84 % (I2 = 61 %) in classifying ASD and TD individuals. In subgroup analysis, the accuracy was 88 % (95 % CI: 85-91 %), 79 % (95 % CI: 72-84 %), 71 % (95 % CI: 59-91 %) for preschool-aged, school-aged, and adolescent-adult group. Eye-tracking stimuli and machine learning algorithms varied widely across studies, with social, static, and active stimuli and Support Vector Machine and Random Forest most commonly reported. Regarding the model performance evaluation, 15 studies reported their final results on validation datasets, four based on testing datasets, and five did not report whether they used validation datasets. Most studies failed to report the information on eye-tracking hardware and the implementation process. CONCLUSION Using eye-tracking data, machine learning has shown potential in identifying ASD individuals with high accuracy, especially in preschool-aged children. However, the heterogeneity between studies, the absence of test set-based performance evaluations, the small sample size, and the non-standardized implementation of eye-tracking might deteriorate the reliability of results. Further well-designed and well-executed studies with comprehensive and transparent reporting are needed to determine the optimal eye-tracking paradigms and machine learning algorithms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiuhong Wei
- Children Nutrition Research Center, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Childhood Nutrition and Health, Chongqing, China
| | - Huiling Cao
- Department of Neonatology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yuan Shi
- Department of Neonatology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Ximing Xu
- Big Data Center for Children's Medical Care, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Tingyu Li
- Children Nutrition Research Center, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Childhood Nutrition and Health, Chongqing, China.
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Roșca AM, Rusu L, Marin MI, Ene Voiculescu V, Ene Voiculescu C. Physical Activity Design for Balance Rehabilitation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. CHILDREN 2022; 9:children9081152. [PMID: 36010043 PMCID: PMC9406473 DOI: 10.3390/children9081152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
One of the characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) subjects is postural control deficit, which is significant when somatosensory perception is affected. This study analyzed postural stability evolution after physical therapy exercises based on balance training. The study included 28 children with ASD (average age 8 years, average weight 32.18 kg). The rehabilitation program involved performing balance exercises twice a week for three months. Subject assessment was carried out using the RSScan platform. The parameters were the surface of the confidence ellipse (A) and the length of the curve (L) described by the pressure center, which were evaluated before and after the rehabilitation program. Following data processing, we observed a significant decrease in the surface of the confidence ellipse by 92% from EV1 to EV2. Additionally, a decrease of 42% in the curve length was observed from EV1 to EV2. A t test applied to the ellipse surface showed a p = 0.021 and a Cohen’s coefficient of 0.8 (very large effect size). A t test applied to the length L showed p = 0.029 and Cohen’s coefficient of 1.27 mm. Thus, the results show a significant improvement in the two parameters. The application of the program based on physical exercise led to an improvement in the balance of children with autism under complex evaluation conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreea Maria Roșca
- Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania; (A.M.R.); (V.E.V.)
| | - Ligia Rusu
- Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania; (A.M.R.); (V.E.V.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Mihnea Ion Marin
- Faculty of Mechanics, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania;
| | - Virgil Ene Voiculescu
- Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania; (A.M.R.); (V.E.V.)
| | - Carmen Ene Voiculescu
- Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Ovidius University of Constant, 900470 Constanța, Romania;
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