The impact of personal relevance on emotional face perception in adults with autism spectrum conditions - a simultaneous EEG-fMRI study

2018 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. S42
Author(s):  
M. Bayer ◽  
T. Johnstone ◽  
I. Dziobek
NeuroImage ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1176-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruhisa Ohta ◽  
Takashi Yamada ◽  
Hiromi Watanabe ◽  
Chieko Kanai ◽  
Eizaburo Tanaka ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Max Schaller ◽  
Monica Biscaldi ◽  
Anna Burkhardt ◽  
Christian Fleischhaker ◽  
Michael Herbert ◽  
...  

Face perception and emotion categorization are widely investigated under laboratory conditions that are devoid of real social interaction. Using mobile eye-tracking glasses in a standardized diagnostic setting while applying the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2), we had the opportunity to record gaze behavior of children and adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) during social interaction. The objective was to investigate differences in eye-gaze behavior between three groups of children and adolescents either (1) with ASC or (2) with unconfirmed diagnosis of ASC or (3) with neurotypical development (NTD) during social interaction with an adult interviewer in a diagnostic standard situation using the ADOS-2. In a case control study, we used mobile eye-tracking glasses in an ecologically valid and highly standardized diagnostic interview to investigate suspected cases of ASC. After completion of the ASC diagnostic gold standard including the ADOS-2, the participants were assigned to two groups based on their diagnosis (ASC vs. non-ASC) and compared with a matched group of neurotypically developed controls. The primary outcome measure is the percentage of total dwell times assessed for different areas of interest (AOI) with regard to the face and body of a diagnostic interviewer and the surrounding space. Overall, 65 children and adolescents within an age range of 8.3–17.9 years were included in the study. The data revealed significant group differences, especially in the central-face area. Previous investigations under laboratory conditions gave preferential attention to the eye region during face perception to describe differences between ASC and NTD. In this study – using an ecologically valid setting within a standard diagnostic procedure – the results indicate that neurotypically developed controls seem to process faces and facial expressions in a holistic manner originating from the central-face region. Conversely, participants on the Autism Spectrum (tAS) seem to avoid the central-face region and show unsystematic gaze behavior, not using the preferred landing position in the central-face region as the Archimedean point of face perception. This study uses a new approach, and it will be important to replicate these preliminary findings in future research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Ewbank ◽  
Philip J. Pell ◽  
Thomas E. Powell ◽  
Elisabeth A. H. von dem Hagen ◽  
Simon Baron-Cohen ◽  
...  

Autism ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 612-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Luke ◽  
Isabel C.H. Clare ◽  
Howard Ring ◽  
Marcus Redley ◽  
Peter Watson

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1197-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nouchine Hadjikhani ◽  
Nicole R. Zurcher ◽  
Amandine Lassalle ◽  
Loyse Hippolyte ◽  
Noreen Ward ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 2519-2534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hull ◽  
K. V. Petrides ◽  
Carrie Allison ◽  
Paula Smith ◽  
Simon Baron-Cohen ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jialin Li ◽  
Lei Xu ◽  
Xiaoxiao Zheng ◽  
Meina Fu ◽  
Feng Zhou ◽  
...  

AbstractAlexithymia represents a transdiagnostic marker across psychiatric entities associated with emotional impairments, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Accumulating evidence suggests that interoceptive dysfunctions that underpin the core symptomatic emotion recognition and empathy deficits in ASD may be contributed to by high levels of alexithymia rather than autistic symptoms per se. However, previous findings are hampered by generally elevated alexithymia in ASD patients, and thus were not able to differentiate common and distinct contributions across the entire spectrum of variations of autism and alexithymia. Moreover, the multi-factorial nature of the domains affected, such as distinct neural reactivity towards perceiving physical and affective pain, has not been accounted for. Against this background the present fMRI study employed a dimensional trait approach in n = 242 healthy subjects to determine common and distinct associations between both traits and pain empathic responses towards physical and affective pain. Higher levels of alexithymia associated with increased left anterior insula pain empathic reactivity. Disentangling these effects revealed a positive association during perceived physical pain, but a negative one during affective pain. No significant associations with trait autism were found, but an interaction effect between the trait dimensions was observed in the mid-cingulate cortex. Moderation analysis demonstrated that trait autism only impacted mid-cingulate reactivity towards physical pain in high alexithymia subjects, whereas reactivity towards affective pain was specifically associated with trait autism in low alexithymia subjects. Findings confirm previous patient studies suggesting that alexithymia rather than autism per se may drive altered insula pain empathic reactivity. Importantly, the present approach allowed for the first time to demonstrate that the impact of alexithymia on insula reactivity varies as a function of the pain empathic domain and that effects on other core empathy nodes evolve in interaction with trait autism.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document