Social and Nonsocial Reward Anticipation in Typical Development and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Current Status and Future Directions.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: While there has been sustained interest in understanding the role of reward processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), researchers are just beginning to focus on the anticipation phase of reward processing in this population. This review aimed to briefly summarize recent advancements in functional imaging studies of anticipatory social and nonsocial reward processing in individuals with and without ASD and provide suggestions for avenues of future research. RECENT FINDINGS: Reward salience and activation of the complex network of brain regions supporting reward anticipation vary across development and by important demographic characteristics, such as sex assigned at birth. Current research comparing social and nonsocial reward anticipation may possess confounds related to the mismatch in tangibility and salience of social and nonsocial experimental stimuli. Growing evidence suggests individuals with ASD demonstrate aberrant generalized reward anticipation that is not specific to social reward. Future research should carefully match social and nonsocial reward stimuli and consider employing a longitudinal design to disentangle the complex processes contributing to the development of reward anticipation. It may be useful to conceptualize differences in reward anticipation as a transdiagnostic factor, rather than an ASD-specific deficit.

Structural hierarchy of autism spectrum disorder symptoms: an integrative framework.

BACKGROUND: In an attempt to resolve questions regarding the symptom classification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), previous research generally aimed to demonstrate superiority of one model over another. Rather than adjudicating which model may be optimal, we propose an alternative approach that integrates competing models using Goldberg's bass-ackwards method, providing a comprehensive understanding of the underlying symptom structure of ASD. METHODS: The study sample comprised 3,825 individuals, consecutive referrals to a university hospital developmental disabilities specialty clinic or a child psychiatry outpatient clinic. This study analyzed DSM-IV-referenced ASD symptom statements from parent and teacher versions of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-4R. A series of exploratory structural equation models was conducted in order to produce interpretable latent factors that account for multivariate covariance. RESULTS: Results indicated that ASD symptoms were structured into an interpretable hierarchy across multiple informants. This hierarchy includes five levels; key features of ASD bifurcate into different constructs with increasing specificity. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to examine an underlying structural hierarchy of ASD symptomatology using the bass-ackwards method. This hierarchy demonstrates how core features of ASD relate at differing levels of resolution, providing a model for conceptualizing ASD heterogeneity and a structure for integrating divergent theories of cognitive processes and behavioral features that define the disorder. These findings suggest that a more coherent and complete understanding of the structure of ASD symptoms may be reflected in a metastructure rather than at one level of resolution.

Cerebellar contributions to biological motion perception in autism and typical development.

Growing evidence suggests that posterior cerebellar lobe contributes to social perception in healthy adults. However, they know little about how this process varies across age and with development. Using cross-sectional fMRI data, they examined cerebellar response to biological (BIO) versus scrambled (SCRAM) motion within typically developing (TD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) samples (age 4-30 years old), characterizing cerebellar response and BIO > SCRAM-selective effective connectivity, as well as associations with age and social ability. TD individuals recruited regions throughout cerebellar posterior lobe during BIO > SCRAM, especially bilateral lobule VI, and demonstrated connectivity with right posterior superior temporal sulcus (RpSTS) in left VI, Crus I/II, and VIIIb. ASD individuals showed BIO > SCRAM activity in left VI and left Crus I/II, and bilateral connectivity with RpSTS in Crus I/II and VIIIb/IX. No between-group differences emerged in well-matched subsamples. Among TD individuals, older age predicted greater BIO > SCRAM response in left VIIb and left VIIIa/b, but reduced connectivity between RpSTS and widespread regions of the right cerebellum. In ASD, older age predicted greater response in left Crus I and bilateral Crus II, but decreased effective connectivity with RpSTS in bilateral Crus I/II. In ASD, increased BIO > SCRAM signal in left VI/Crus I and right Crus II, VIIb, and dentate predicted lower social symptomaticity; increased effective connectivity with RpSTS in right Crus I/II and bilateral VI and I-V predicted greater symptomaticity. These data suggest that posterior cerebellum contributes to the neurodevelopment of social perception in both basic and clinical populations. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1914-1932, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Toward optimal outcome following pivotal response treatment: a case series.

There is a growing literature on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who respond favorably to behavioral treatment, which is often termed "optimal outcome." Rates and definitions of optimal outcome vary widely. The current case series describes an empirically validated behavioral treatment approach called Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT). We present two preschool-aged children who received an intensive course of PRT and seem to be on a trajectory toward potential optimal outcome. Understanding response to treatment and predictors of response is crucial, not necessarily to predict who may succeed, but to individualize medicine and match children with customized treatment programs that will be best tailored to their unique and varied needs.

Investigating the Face Inversion Effect in Autism Across Behavioral and Neural Measures of Face Processing: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Face processing is foundational to human social cognition, is central to the hallmark features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and shapes neural systems and social behavior. Highly efficient and specialized, the face processing system is sensitive to inversion, demonstrated by reduced accuracy in recognition and altered neural response to inverted faces. Understanding at which mechanistic level the autistic face processing system may be particularly different, as measured by the face inversion effect, will improve overall understanding of brain functioning in autism. Objective: To synthesize data from the extant literature to determine differences of the face processing system in ASD, as measured by the face inversion effect, across multiple mechanistic levels. Data Sources: Systematic searches were conducted in the MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and PubMed databases from inception to August 11, 2022. Study Selection: Original research that reported performance-based measures of face recognition to upright and inverted faces in ASD and neurotypical samples were included for quantitative synthesis. All studies were screened by at least 2 reviewers. Data Extraction and Synthesis: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline. Multiple effect sizes were extracted from studies to maximize information gain and statistical precision and used a random-effects, multilevel modeling framework to account for statistical dependencies within study samples. Main Outcomes and Measures: Effect sizes were calculated as a standardized mean change score between ASD and neurotypical samples (ie, Hedges g). The primary outcome measure was performance difference between upright and inverted faces during face recognition tasks. Measurement modality, psychological construct, recognition demand, sample age, sample sex distribution, and study quality assessment scores were assessed as moderators. Results: Of 1768 screened articles, 122 effect sizes from 38 empirical articles representing data from 1764 individual participants (899 ASD individuals and 865 neurotypical individuals) were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, face recognition performance differences between upright and inverted faces were reduced in autistic individuals compared with neurotypical individuals (g = -0.41; SE = 0.11; 95% credible interval [CrI], -0.63 to -0.18). However, there was considerable heterogeneity among effect sizes, which were explored with moderator analysis. The attenuated face inversion effect in autistic individuals was more prominent in emotion compared with identity recognition (b = 0.46; SE = 0.26; 95% CrI, -0.08 to 0.95) and in behavioral compared with electrophysiological measures (b = 0.23; SE = 0.24; 95% CrI, -0.25 to 0.70). Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that on average, face recognition in autism is less impacted by inversion. These findings suggest less specialization or expertise of the face processing system in autism, particularly in recognizing emotion from faces as measured in behavioral paradigms.

Evidence of an Own-Age Bias in Facial Emotion Recognition for Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A common interpretation of the face-processing deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is that they arise from a failure to develop normative levels of perceptual expertise. One indicator of perceptual expertise for faces is the own-age bias, operationalized as a processing advantage for faces of one's own age, presumably due to more frequent contact and experience. This effect is especially evident in domains of face recognition memory but less commonly investigated in social-emotional expertise (e.g., facial emotion recognition; FER), where individuals with ASD have shown consistent deficits. In the present study, we investigated whether a FER task would elicit an own-age bias for individuals with and without ASD and explored how the magnitude of an own-age bias may differ as a function of ASD status and symptoms. Ninety-two adolescents (63 male) between the ages of 11 and 14 years completed the child- and adult-face subtests of a standardized FER task. Overall FER accuracy was found to differ by ASD severity, reflecting poorer performance for those with increased symptoms. Results also indicated that an own-age bias was evident, reflecting greater FER performance for child compared to adult faces, for all adolescents regardless of ASD status or symptoms. However, the strength of the observed own-age bias did not differ by ASD status or severity. Findings suggest that face processing abilities of adolescents with ASD may be influenced by experience with specific categories of stimuli, similar to their typically developing peers.

Prediction of social behavior in autism spectrum disorders: Explicit versus implicit social cognition.

LAY ABSTRACT: Difficulties with social communication and interaction are a hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorder. These difficulties may be the result of problems with explicit social cognition (effortful and largely conscious processes) such as learning and recalling social norms or rules. Alternatively, social deficits may stem from problems with implicit social cognition (rapid and largely unconscious processes) such as the efficient integration of social information. The goal of this study was to determine how problems in explicit and implicit social cognition relate to social behavior in 34 youth with autism spectrum disorder. We measured aspects of implicit and explicit social cognition abilities in the laboratory using behavioral, cognitive, and brain (electrophysiological) measures. We then used those measures to predict "real-world" social behavior as reported by parents, clinicians, and independent observers. Results showed that overall better aspects of implicit and explicit social cognition predicted more competent social behavior. In addition, the ability to fluidly integrate social information (implicit social cognition) was more frequently related to competent social behavior that merely knowing what to do in social situations (explicit social cognition). These findings may help with the development of interventions focusing on improving social deficits.

Differences in the Late Positive Potential and P300 to Emotional Faces in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Despite evidence suggesting differences in early event-related potential (ERP) responses to social emotional stimuli, little is known about later stage ERP contributions to social emotional processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Adults with and without ASD completed a facial emotion recognition task involving stimuli that varied by emotional intensity while electroencephalograms were recorded. Principal components analysis was used to examine P300 and late positive potential (LPP) modulation by emotional intensity. Results indicated that greater ASD symptomatology evinced heightened P300 to high relative to low intensity faces, then heightened LPP to low relative to high intensity faces. Findings suggest that adults with greater ASD symptomatology may demonstrate a lag in engagement in elaborative processing of low intensity faces.

Discrete electrocortical predictors of anxiety and anxiety-related treatment response in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

There are two established electroencephalogram (EEG) indices that putatively relate to anxiety symptoms: a) the error-related negativity (ERN), which reflects endogenous threat sensitivity, and b) resting-state EEG relative right frontal activity (rRFA), which relates to approach/withdrawal motivation. We examined these indices conjointly to better elucidate differential mechanisms underlying the common anxiety phenotype in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in relation to subjective reports of symptomatology and treatment response. EEG was recorded from 53 youth with ASD who participated in a 10-week social skills intervention (SSI). More negative ERN related to higher self-reported social anxiety symptoms at baseline, and predicted improvements in self-reported social anxiety symptoms following SSI. Although rRFA did not relate to anxiety symptoms at baseline, more rRFA predicted improvement in parent-reported anxiety domains but worsening in self-reported anxiety symptoms. This study provides evidence for unique neural mechanisms of anxiety symptoms and changes in anxiety after SSI in youth with ASD.

Atypicality of the N170 Event-Related Potential in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with impaired face processing. The N170 event-related potential (ERP) has been considered a promising neural marker of this impairment. However, no quantitative review to date has integrated the literature to assess whether the N170 response to faces in individuals with ASD differs from that of typically developing (TD) individuals. METHODS: This meta-analysis examined the corpus of literature investigating difference in N170 response to faces in individuals with ASD and without ASD. Data from 23 studies (NASD = 374, NTD = 359) were reviewed. Meta-analysis was used to examine the effect size of the difference in N170 latency and amplitude among individuals with ASD and without ASD. Analyses were also conducted examining hemispheric differences, potential moderators, and publication bias. RESULTS: On average, N170 latencies to faces were delayed in individuals with ASD, but amplitudes did not differ for individuals with ASD and TD individuals. Moderator analyses revealed that N170 amplitudes were smaller in magnitude in the ASD participants relative to the TD participants in adult samples and in those with higher cognitive ability. However, effects differed as a function of hemisphere of recording. No evidence of publication bias was found. CONCLUSIONS: Atypicality of N170-particularly latency-to faces appears to be a specific biomarker of social-communicative dysfunction in ASD and may relate to differential developmental experiences and use of compensatory cognitive mechanisms. Future research should examine phenotypic differences that contribute to N170 heterogeneity, as well as specificity of N170 differences in ASD versus non-ASD clinical populations, and N170 malleability with treatment.