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Wang X, Lee HK, Tong SX. Temporal dynamics and neural variabilities underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Brain Res 2024; 1840:149030. [PMID: 38821334 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149030] [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: 01/28/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated the neural dynamics underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 50 autistic and 46 non-autistic children during an emotional Go/Nogo task. Based on single-trial ERP analyses, autistic children, compared to their non-autistic peers, showed a larger Nogo-N170 for angry faces and an increased Nogo-N170 amplitude variation for happy faces during early visual perception. They also displayed a smaller N200 for all faces and a diminished Nogo-N200 amplitude variation for happy and neutral faces during inhibition monitoring and preparation. During the late stage, autistic children showed a larger posterior-Go-P300 for angry faces and an augmented posterior-Nogo-P300 for happy and neutral faces. These findings clarify the differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli and inhibition between Chinese autistic and non-autistic children, highlighting the importance of considering these dynamics when designing intervention to improve emotion regulation in autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Hyun Kyung Lee
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shelley Xiuli Tong
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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Wang Y, Cao R, Chakravarthula PN, Yu H, Wang S. Atypical neural encoding of faces in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:172-186. [PMID: 38696606 PMCID: PMC11065108 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience pervasive difficulties in processing social information from faces. However, the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments of faces in ASD remain largely unclear. Here, we comprehensively addressed this question by employing functional neuroimaging and parametrically generated faces that vary in facial trustworthiness and dominance. Behaviorally, participants with ASD exhibited reduced specificity but increased inter-rater variability in social trait judgments. Neurally, participants with ASD showed hypo-activation across broad face-processing areas. Multivariate analysis based on trial-by-trial face responses could discriminate participant groups in the majority of the face-processing areas. Encoding social traits in ASD engaged vastly different face-processing areas compared to controls, and encoding different social traits engaged different brain areas. Interestingly, the idiosyncratic brain areas encoding social traits in ASD were still flexible and context-dependent, similar to neurotypicals. Additionally, participants with ASD also showed an altered encoding of facial saliency features in the eyes and mouth. Together, our results provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying social trait judgments in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Puneeth N Chakravarthula
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4525 Scott Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
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Yu H, Lin C, Sun S, Cao R, Kar K, Wang S. Multimodal investigations of emotional face processing and social trait judgment of faces. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2024; 1531:29-48. [PMID: 37965931 PMCID: PMC10858652 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15084] [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] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Faces are among the most important visual stimuli that humans perceive in everyday life. While extensive literature has examined emotional processing and social evaluations of faces, most studies have examined either topic using unimodal approaches. In this review, we promote the use of multimodal cognitive neuroscience approaches to study these processes, using two lines of research as examples: ambiguity in facial expressions of emotion and social trait judgment of faces. In the first set of studies, we identified an event-related potential that signals emotion ambiguity using electroencephalography and we found convergent neural responses to emotion ambiguity using functional neuroimaging and single-neuron recordings. In the second set of studies, we discuss how different neuroimaging and personality-dimensional approaches together provide new insights into social trait judgments of faces. In both sets of studies, we provide an in-depth comparison between neurotypicals and people with autism spectrum disorder. We offer a computational account for the behavioral and neural markers of the different facial processing between the two groups. Finally, we suggest new practices for studying the emotional processing and social evaluations of faces. All data discussed in the case studies of this review are publicly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Chujun Lin
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Sai Sun
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Kohitij Kar
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Sun S, Cao R, Rutishauser U, Yu R, Wang S. A uniform human multimodal dataset for emotion perception and judgment. Sci Data 2023; 10:773. [PMID: 37935738 PMCID: PMC10630434 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02693-z] [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: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Face perception is a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, yet most research on this topic has focused on single modalities and specific aspects of face perception. Here, we present a comprehensive multimodal dataset for examining facial emotion perception and judgment. This dataset includes EEG data from 97 unique neurotypical participants across 8 experiments, fMRI data from 19 neurotypical participants, single-neuron data from 16 neurosurgical patients (22 sessions), eye tracking data from 24 neurotypical participants, behavioral and eye tracking data from 18 participants with ASD and 15 matched controls, and behavioral data from 3 rare patients with focal bilateral amygdala lesions. Notably, participants from all modalities performed the same task. Overall, this multimodal dataset provides a comprehensive exploration of facial emotion perception, emphasizing the importance of integrating multiple modalities to gain a holistic understanding of this complex cognitive process. This dataset serves as a key missing link between human neuroimaging and neurophysiology literature, and facilitates the study of neuropsychiatric populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sai Sun
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan.
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, 90048, California, USA
| | - Rongjun Yu
- Department of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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Kareklas K, Teles MC, Dreosti E, Oliveira RF. Autism-associated gene shank3 is necessary for social contagion in zebrafish. Mol Autism 2023; 14:23. [PMID: 37391856 PMCID: PMC10311831 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-023-00555-4] [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: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Animal models enable targeting autism-associated genes, such as the shank3 gene, to assess their impact on behavioural phenotypes. However, this is often limited to simple behaviours relevant for social interaction. Social contagion is a complex phenotype forming the basis of human empathic behaviour and involves attention to the behaviour of others for recognizing and sharing their emotional or affective state. Thus, it is a form of social communication, which constitutes the most common developmental impairment across autism spectrum disorders (ASD). METHODS Here we describe the development of a zebrafish model that identifies the neurocognitive mechanisms by which shank3 mutation drives deficits in social contagion. We used a CRISPR-Cas9 technique to generate mutations to the shank3a gene, a zebrafish paralogue found to present greater orthology and functional conservation relative to the human gene. Mutants were first compared to wild types during a two-phase protocol that involves the observation of two conflicting states, distress and neutral, and the later recall and discrimination of others when no longer presenting such differences. Then, the whole-brain expression of different neuroplasticity markers was compared between genotypes and their contribution to cluster-specific phenotypic variation was assessed. RESULTS The shank3 mutation markedly reduced social contagion via deficits in attention contributing to difficulties in recognising affective states. Also, the mutation changed the expression of neuronal plasticity genes. However, only downregulated neuroligins clustered with shank3a expression under a combined synaptogenesis component that contributed specifically to variation in attention. LIMITATIONS While zebrafish are extremely useful in identifying the role of shank3 mutations to composite social behaviour, they are unlikely to represent the full complexity of socio-cognitive and communication deficits presented by human ASD pathology. Moreover, zebrafish cannot represent the scaling up of these deficits to higher-order empathic and prosocial phenotypes seen in humans. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate a causal link between the zebrafish orthologue of an ASD-associated gene and the attentional control of affect recognition and consequent social contagion. This models autistic affect-communication pathology in zebrafish and reveals a genetic attention-deficit mechanism, addressing the ongoing debate for such mechanisms accounting for emotion recognition difficulties in autistic individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyriacos Kareklas
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, R. Q.ta Grande 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Magda C Teles
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, R. Q.ta Grande 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal
- ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Elena Dreosti
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rui F Oliveira
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, R. Q.ta Grande 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal.
- ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Distinct neurocognitive bases for social trait judgments of faces in autism spectrum disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:104. [PMID: 35292617 PMCID: PMC8924227 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-01870-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication. Yet, the neurocognitive bases underlying these difficulties are unclear. Here, we triangulated the 'trans-diagnostic' approach to personality, social trait judgments of faces, and neurophysiology to investigate (1) the relative position of autistic traits in a comprehensive social-affective personality space, and (2) the distinct associations between the social-affective personality dimensions and social trait judgment from faces in individuals with ASD and neurotypical individuals. We collected personality and facial judgment data from a large sample of online participants (N = 89 self-identified ASD; N = 307 neurotypical controls). Factor analysis with 33 subscales of 10 social-affective personality questionnaires identified a 4-dimensional personality space. This analysis revealed that ASD and control participants did not differ significantly along the personality dimensions of empathy and prosociality, antisociality, or social agreeableness. However, the ASD participants exhibited a weaker association between prosocial personality dimensions and judgments of facial trustworthiness and warmth than the control participants. Neurophysiological data also indicated that ASD participants had a weaker association with neuronal representations for trustworthiness and warmth from faces. These results suggest that the atypical association between social-affective personality and social trait judgment from faces may contribute to the social and affective difficulties associated with ASD.
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Werneck-Rohrer SG, Lindorfer TM, Waleew C, Philipp J, Prillinger K, Konicar L. Effects of an intensive slow cortical potentials neurofeedback training in female and male adolescents with autism spectrum disorder : Are there sex differences? Wien Klin Wochenschr 2021; 134:60-68. [PMID: 34910250 PMCID: PMC8671879 DOI: 10.1007/s00508-021-01989-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Background This study aims to compare the effects of neurofeedback training on male and female adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Furthermore, it examines sex differences regarding improvements in co-occurring psychopathological symptoms, cognitive flexibility and emotion recognition abilities. The study might provide first hints whether there is an influence of sex on treatment outcomes. Methods Six female and six male adolescents with ASD were matched according to age, IQ and symptom severity. All participants received 24 sessions of electroencephalography-based neurofeedback training. Before and after the intervention, psychological data for measuring co-occurring psychopathological symptoms as well as behavioral data for measuring cognitive flexibility and emotion recognition abilities were recorded. Results Caregivers rated statistically significant higher psychopathological problems in female than in male adolescents with ASD at baseline. Apart from that, no statistically significant sex-related differences were revealed in this sample; however, male adolescents tended to report greater improvements of externalizing, internalizing and total symptoms, whereas females experienced smaller improvements of externalizing and total problems, but no improvements of internalizing problems. Regarding caregivers’ assessments, more improvement of total problems was reported for females. For males, only improvements of internalizing and total problems were described. Conclusion This study reveals preliminary results that sex-related differences might play a role when evaluating treatment outcomes after neurofeedback training regarding comorbid psychopathological symptoms. Adolescents’ self-report and parental assessments, especially concerning psychopathological symptoms, should be combined and considered in future studies to help prevent sex bias in adolescents with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonja G Werneck-Rohrer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Theresa M Lindorfer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Carolin Waleew
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Julia Philipp
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Karin Prillinger
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Lilian Konicar
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
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Augmented Reality for Autistic Children to Enhance Their Understanding of Facial Expressions. MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERACTION 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/mti5080048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Difficulty in understanding the feelings and behavior of other people is considered one of the main symptoms of autism. Computer technology has increasingly been used in interventions with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), especially augmented reality, to either treat or alleviate ASD symptomatology. Augmented reality is an engaging type of technology that helps children interact easily and understand and remember information, and it is not limited to one age group or level of education. This study utilized AR to display faces with six different basic facial expressions—happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, and anger—to help children to recognize facial features and associate facial expressions with a simultaneous human condition. The most important point of this system is that children can interact with the system in a friendly and safe way. Additionally, our results showed the system enhanced social interactions, talking, and facial expressions for both autistic and typical children. Therefore, AR might have a significant upcoming role in talking about the therapeutic necessities of children with ASD. This paper presents evidence for the feasibility of one of the specialized AR systems.
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