Dataset Information

Neural and behavioural responses to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies have revealed atypical face processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by social interaction and communication difficulties. This study investigated sensitivity to face-likeness in ASD. In Experiment 1, we found a strong positive correlation between the face-likeness ratings of non-face objects in the ASD (11-19 years old) and the typically developing (TD) group (9-21 years old). In Experiment 2 (the scalp-recorded event-related potential experiment), the participants of both groups (ASD, 12-19 years old; TD, 12-18 years old) exhibited an enhanced face-sensitive N170 amplitude to a face-like object. Whereas the TD adolescents showed an enhanced N170 during the face-likeness judgements, adolescents with ASD did not. Thus, both individuals with ASD and TD individuals have a perceptual and neural sensitivity to face-like features in objects. When required to process face-like features, a face-related brain system reacts more strongly in TD individuals but not in individuals with ASD.

SUBMITTER: Akechi H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5379204 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural and behavioural responses to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Akechi Hironori H Kikuchi Yukiko Y Tojo Yoshikuni Y Osanai Hiroo H Hasegawa Toshikazu T

Scientific reports 20140127

Numerous studies have revealed atypical face processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by social interaction and communication difficulties. This study investigated sensitivity to face-likeness in ASD. In Experiment 1, we found a strong positive correlation between the face-likeness ratings of non-face objects in the ASD (11-19 years old) and the typically developing (TD) group (9-21 years old). In Experiment 2 (the scalp-recorded event-related potential experiment), the partic ...[more]

PMID: 24464152

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Project description:Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder (CD) are often associated with emotion recognition difficulties. This is the first eye-tracking study to examine emotional face recognition (i.e., gazing behavior) in a direct comparison of male adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, and typically developing (TD) individuals. We also investigate the role of psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and subtypes of aggressive behavior in emotional face recognition. A total of 122 male adolescents (N = 50 ASD, N = 44 ODD/CD, and N = 28 TD) aged 12-19 years (M = 15.4 years, SD= 1.9) were included in the current study for the eye-tracking experiment. Participants were presented with neutral and emotional faces using a Tobii 1750 eye-tracking monitor to record gaze behavior. Our main dependent eye-tracking variables were: (1) fixation duration to the eyes of a face and (2) time to the first fixation to the eyes. Since distributions of eye-tracking variables were not completely Gaussian, non-parametric tests were chosen to investigate gaze behavior across the diagnostic groups with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, and Typically Developing individuals. Furthermore, we used Spearman correlations to investigate the links with psychopathy, callous, and unemotional traits and subtypes of aggression as assessed by questionnaires. The relative total fixation duration to the eyes was decreased in both the Autism Spectrum Disorder group and the Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder group for several emotional expressions. In both the Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder group, increased time to first fixation on the eyes of fearful faces only was nominally significant. The time to first fixation on the eyes was nominally correlated with psychopathic traits and proactive aggression. The current findings do not support strong claims for differential cross-disorder eye-gazing deficits and for a role of shared underlying psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional traits, and aggression subtypes. Our data provide valuable and novel insights into gaze timing distributions when looking at the eyes of a fearful face.

Project description:Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired predictive abilities; however, the neural mechanisms subsuming reward prediction errors in ASD are poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated neural responses during social and nonsocial reward prediction errors in 22 adolescents with ASD (ages 12-17) and 20 typically developing control adolescents (ages 12-18). Participants performed a reward prediction error task using both social (i.e., faces) and nonsocial (i.e., objects) rewards during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Reward prediction errors were defined in two ways: (a) the signed prediction error, the difference between the experienced and expected reward; and (b) the thresholded unsigned prediction error, the difference between expected and unexpected outcomes regardless of magnitude. During social reward prediction errors, the ASD group demonstrated the following differences relative to the TD group: (a) signed prediction error: decreased activation in the right precentral gyrus and increased activation in the right frontal pole; and (b) thresholded unsigned prediction error: increased activation in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus. Groups did not differ in brain activation during nonsocial reward prediction errors. Within the ASD group, exploratory analyses revealed that reaction times and social-communication impairments were related to precentral gyrus activation during social prediction errors. These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms of social reward prediction errors in ASD and suggest that ASD is characterized by greater neural atypicalities during social, relative to nonsocial, reward prediction errors in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 715-728. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We used brain imaging to evaluate differences in brain activation in adolescents with autism while they performed tasks that involved learning about social and nonsocial information. We found no differences in brain responses during the nonsocial condition, but differences during the social condition of the learning task. This study provides evidence that autism may involve different patterns of brain activation when learning about social information.

Dataset Information

Neural and behavioural responses to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Publications

Neural and behavioural responses to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

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