The relationship between subjective difficulty in interoceptive processing and accuracy of heartbeat perception in autistic individuals.

Most autistic people experience difficulties in sensory processing, including interoceptive processing. For example, they often report subjective difficulties in the interoceptive processing of interoceptive input, such as difficulty in interpreting bodily signals, including hunger, thirst, and fatigue. However, whether these subjective interoceptive difficulties are from underlying problems in interoceptive accuracy remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between subjective interoceptive difficulty and behavioral interoceptive accuracy in autistic adults and a control group. Subjective interoceptive accuracy was measured using an interoceptive sensitivity questionnaire, and behavioral interoceptive accuracy was measured using a heartbeat counting task. The results showed no significant relationship between subjective interoceptive difficulty and behavioral interoceptive accuracy in the autistic or control groups. This suggests that subjective interoceptive difficulty and behavioral interoceptive accuracy reflect different aspects of interoceptive processing. One possible interpretation is that autistic adults can identify individual local sensory inputs, such as heartbeats, however, they have difficulty integrating multiple inputs and recognizing internal body states such as hunger and fatigue.

Investigation of Cross-Language and Stimulus-Dependent Effects on the McGurk Effect with Finnish and Japanese Speakers and Listeners.

In the McGurk effect, perception of a spoken consonant is altered when an auditory (A) syllable is presented with an incongruent visual (V) syllable (e.g., A/pa/V/ka/ is often heard as /ka/ or /ta/). The McGurk effect provides a measure for visual influence on speech perception, becoming stronger the lower the proportion of auditory correct responses. Cross-language effects are studied to understand processing differences between one's own and foreign languages. Regarding the McGurk effect, it has sometimes been found to be stronger with foreign speakers. However, other studies have shown the opposite, or no difference between languages. Most studies have compared English with other languages. We investigated cross-language effects with native Finnish and Japanese speakers and listeners. Both groups of listeners had 49 participants. The stimuli (/ka/, /pa/, /ta/) were uttered by two female and male Finnish and Japanese speakers and presented in A, V and AV modality, including a McGurk stimulus A/pa/V/ka/. The McGurk effect was stronger with Japanese stimuli in both groups. Differences in speech perception were prominent between individual speakers but less so between native languages. Unisensory perception correlated with McGurk perception. These findings suggest that stimulus-dependent features contribute to the McGurk effect. This may have a stronger influence on syllable perception than cross-language factors.

Validation of the Japanese version of the Interoception Sensory Questionnaire for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

The Interoception Sensory Questionnaire (ISQ) is a self-report instrument used to assess the characteristics of interoceptive processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies have shown that scores of the ISQ are more appropriate than other subjective measures for evaluating difficulties in interoceptive processing in individuals with ASD. Yet, no prior research has demonstrated the validation of the ISQ in Japanese samples. This study attempted to validate the Japanese version of the ISQ (ISQ-J) by examining its psychometric properties. We confirmed the score distribution, internal consistency, and factor structure in Japanese samples. We also examined the relationships with other interoceptive questionnaires. In addition, we compared the scores of the ISQ-J between adolescents and adults with ASD participants and control participants. Results of confirmatory factor analyses showed that the reliability of the ISQ-J in adults with ASD reached an acceptable level of a one-factor structure with excellent internal consistency (α = 0.963). The result of the ISQ-J showed a significant positive correlation with the measure of awareness of interoceptive sensitivity for localized bodily states; on the other hand, a significant negative correlation was found with those integrated bodily states. In addition, the ISQ-J scores were significantly higher in the ASD group than in the control group. The current findings depend on self-report data (including a diagnosis of ASD) to measure validity constructs. Additionally, since the ISQ-J was surveyed in adults with ASD, it is unclear whether similar the results would be obtained if the ISQ-J were conducted with children. These results indicate the validity and reliability of the ISQ-J and provide a tool for assessing confusion of interoceptive information in Japanese adults with ASD.

Subjective Sensitivity to Exteroceptive and Interoceptive processing in Highly Sensitive Person.

A highly sensitive person is known to have greater levels of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) referring to a personality trait to exhibit high stimulation and arousal while processing subtle sensory signals. However, how SPS levels reflect the profile of sensitivity in exteroceptive and interoceptive sensory processing remains inadequately understood. Thus, we collected data using the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), the Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ), and the Body Perception Questionnaire-Short Form (BPQ-SF) from 600 Japanese adults, and examined their relationships. The results revealed that SPS levels, assessed by the HSPS, were significantly, positively correlated with hypersensitivity scores of the GSQ in several exteroceptive sensory domains. Further, SPS levels were positively correlated with sensitivity in interoceptive awareness assessed by the BPQ-SF; however, it does so scarcely. Our findings suggest that SPS levels reflect a subjective sensitivity to exteroceptive sensory processing regardless of sensory domains and narrowly to the interoceptive sensory processing.

Intact lip-reading but weaker McGurk effect in individuals with high autistic traits.

A weaker McGurk effect is observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); weaker integration is considered to be the key to understanding how low-order atypical processing leads to their maladaptive social behaviors. However, the mechanism for this weaker McGurk effect has not been fully understood. Here, we investigated (1) whether the weaker McGurk effect in individuals with high autistic traits is caused by poor lip-reading ability and (2) whether the hearing environment modifies the weaker McGurk effect in individuals with high autistic traits. To confirm them, we conducted two analogue studies among university students, based on the dimensional model of ASD. Results showed that individuals with high autistic traits have intact lip-reading ability as well as abilities to listen and recognize audiovisual congruent speech (Experiment 1). Furthermore, a weaker McGurk effect in individuals with high autistic traits, which appear under the without-noise condition, would disappear under the high noise condition (Experiments 1 and 2). Our findings suggest that high background noise might shift weight on the visual cue, thereby increasing the strength of the McGurk effect among individuals with high autistic traits.

Own-race faces promote integrated audiovisual speech information.

The other-race effect indicates a perceptual advantage when processing own-race faces. This effect has been demonstrated in individuals' recognition of facial identity and emotional expressions. However, it remains unclear whether the other-race effect also exists in multisensory domains. We conducted two experiments to provide evidence for the other-race effect in facial speech recognition, using the McGurk effect. Experiment 1 tested this issue among East Asian adults, examining the magnitude of the McGurk effect during stimuli using speakers from two different races (own-race vs. other-race). We found that own-race faces induced a stronger McGurk effect than other-race faces. Experiment 2 indicated that the other-race effect was not simply due to different levels of attention being paid to the mouths of own- and other-race speakers. Our findings demonstrated that own-race faces enhance the weight of visual input during audiovisual speech perception, and they provide evidence of the own-race effect in the audiovisual interaction for speech perception in adults.

Association of personality with habituation of physical and non-physical activities among Japanese adults: Results from questionnaire research before COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Physical activity has benefits for public health as it reduces the risk of non-communicable diseases and improves the quality of life. Previous studies have shown that health conditions, lifestyle, and socioeconomic status influence one's tendency to engage in physical activity. However, the influence of psychological traits on engagement in physical activity is not yet fully understood. In this study, we explored personality traits associated with the habituation of physical activity and compared them with personality traits associated with the habituation of non-physical activity. Methods: We recruited 1600 Japanese adult volunteers and conducted an online survey just before the spread of COVID-19. We collected data for the prevalence of physical and non-physical activities, and various aspects of personality traits including the Big Five personality traits, sensitivity to behavioral activation, dark triad personality, levels of internal locus of control, and the degree of just-world belief. Findings: The results demonstrated that high levels of extraversion, sensitivity to behavioral activation, and an internal locus of control had a positive influence on the habituation of physical activity. Moreover, our results were contradictory as they also showed that high levels of openness, sensitivity to behavioral activation, and just world belief related to the habituation of non-physical activity. Interpretation: These results suggest that the personality traits that influenced the habituation of activities depend on the characteristics of the activity and reveal extraversion and internal locus of control as the personality traits specific to the habituation of physical activity. Fundings: This study was supported by Senryakuteki-kenkyu from Chukyo University, a Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (Grant No. 19 K20650 and 22 K13880), the Promotion of Joint International Research (Grant No. 20KK0054). This work was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Construction of the Face-Body Studies in Transcultural Conditions" (Grant No. 17H06342).

The other-race effect on the McGurk effect in infancy.

This study investigated the difference in the McGurk effect between own-race-face and other-race-face stimuli among Japanese infants from 5 to 9 months of age. The McGurk effect results from infants using information from a speaker's face in audiovisual speech integration. We hypothesized that the McGurk effect varies with the speaker's race because of the other-race effect, which indicates an advantage for own-race faces in our face processing system. Experiment 1 demonstrated the other-race effect on audiovisual speech integration such that the infants ages 5-6 months and 8-9 months are likely to perceive the McGurk effect when observing an own-race-face speaker, but not when observing an other-race-face speaker. Experiment 2 found the other-race effect on audiovisual speech integration regardless of irrelevant speech identity cues. Experiment 3 confirmed the infants' ability to differentiate two auditory syllables. These results showed that infants are likely to integrate voice with an own-race-face, but not with an other-race-face. This implies the role of experiences with own-race-faces in the development of audiovisual speech integration. Our findings also contribute to the discussion of whether perceptual narrowing is a modality-general, pan-sensory process.

Weaker McGurk Effect for Rubin's Vase-Type Speech in People With High Autistic Traits.

While visual information from facial speech modulates auditory speech perception, it is less influential on audiovisual speech perception among autistic individuals than among typically developed individuals. In this study, we investigated the relationship between autistic traits (Autism-Spectrum Quotient; AQ) and the influence of visual speech on the recognition of Rubin's vase-type speech stimuli with degraded facial speech information. Participants were 31 university students (13 males and 18 females; mean age: 19.2, SD: 1.13 years) who reported normal (or corrected-to-normal) hearing and vision. All participants completed three speech recognition tasks (visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli) and the AQ-Japanese version. The results showed that accuracies of speech recognition for visual (i.e., lip-reading) and auditory stimuli were not significantly related to participants' AQ. In contrast, audiovisual speech perception was less susceptible to facial speech perception among individuals with high rather than low autistic traits. The weaker influence of visual information on audiovisual speech perception in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was robust regardless of the clarity of the visual information, suggesting a difficulty in the process of audiovisual integration rather than in the visual processing of facial speech.

Psychometric properties of the Family Allocentrism Scale among Japanese adults.

The Family Allocentrism Scale (FAS) was developed to assess individual differences in allocentrism-idiocentrism with reference to the family. To date, no prior study has adequately investigated the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the FAS in Japanese samples, although Japanese culture is considered as a symbol of an interdependent (or collectivist) culture. This study attempted to demonstrate the validity of the factor structure and the convergent validity of the Japanese version of the FAS in a sample of Japanese adults. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed a lack of fit of the one-factor model for all FAS items but the fit improved to the acceptable level if some items with low factor loadings were removed. The internal consistency measure (Cronbach's alpha) of the FAS indicated an acceptable level of reliability. The results also showed that the FAS scores were closely related to the scores of horizontal collectivism, vertical collectivism, and interdependence. Our findings indicate the validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the FAS, thereby providing a validated tool for the investigation of cross-cultural differences in family allocentrism-idiocentrism.

Development of the multisensory perception of water in infancy.

Material perception is facilitated by multisensory interactions that enable us to associate the visual properties of a material with its auditory properties. Such interactions develop during infancy and are assumed to depend on the familiarity of materials. Here, we aimed to pinpoint the age at which infants acquire multisensory interactions for the perception of water, which is a familiar material to them. We presented two side-by-side movies of pouring water and ice while providing the corresponding sounds of water and ice, as well as silence. We found that infants older than 5 months of age looked longer at the water movie when they heard the sound of water. Conversely, they did not look at the ice movie when they heard the sound of ice. These results indicate that at approximately 5 months of age, infants develop multisensory interactions between auditory and visual properties of water, but not of ice. The contrasting results between water and ice suggest that the development of multisensory material perception depends on the frequency of interactions with materials during infancy.

The Other-Race-Effect on Audiovisual Speech Integration in Infants: A NIRS Study.

Previous studies have revealed perceptual narrowing for the own-race-face in face discrimination, but this phenomenon is poorly understood in face and voice integration. We focused on infants' brain responses to the McGurk effect to examine whether the other-race effect occurs in the activation patterns. In Experiment 1, we conducted fNIRS measurements to find the presence of a mapping of the McGurk effect in Japanese 8- to 9-month-old infants and to examine the difference between the activation patterns in response to own-race-face and other-race-face stimuli. We used two race-face conditions, own-race-face (East Asian) and other-race-face (Caucasian), each of which contained audiovisual-matched and McGurk-type stimuli. While the infants (N = 34) were observing each speech stimulus for each race, we measured cerebral hemoglobin concentrations in bilateral temporal brain regions. The results showed that in the own-race-face condition, audiovisual-matched stimuli induced the activation of the left temporal region, and the McGurk stimuli induced the activation of the bilateral temporal regions. No significant activations were found in the other-race-face condition. These results mean that the McGurk effect occurred only in the own-race-face condition. In Experiment 2, we used a familiarization/novelty preference procedure to confirm that the infants (N = 28) could perceive the McGurk effect in the own-race-face condition but not that of the other-race-face. The behavioral data supported the results of the fNIRS data, implying the presence of narrowing for the own-race face in the McGurk effect. These results suggest that narrowing of the McGurk effect may be involved in the development of relatively high-order processing, such as face-to-face communication with people surrounding the infant. We discuss the hypothesis that perceptual narrowing is a modality-general, pan-sensory process.

Acute administration of methylphenidate differentially affects cortical processing of emotional facial expressions in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder children as studied by functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Significance: It has been reported that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairment in the recognition of angry but not of happy facial expressions, and they show atypical cortical activation patterns in response to facial expressions. However, little is known about neural mechanisms underlying the impaired recognition of facial expressions in school-aged children with ADHD and the effects of acute medication on their processing of facial expressions. Aim: We aimed to investigate the possibility that acute administration of methylphenidate (MPH) affects processing of facial expressions in ADHD children. Approach: We measured the hemodynamic changes in the bilateral temporo-occipital areas of ADHD children observing the happy and angry facial expressions before and 1.5 h after MPH or placebo administration in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design study. Results: We found that, regardless of medication, happy expressions induced increased oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) responses in the right inferior occipital region but not in the superior temporal region. For angry expressions, oxy-Hb responses increased after MPH administration, but not after placebo administration, in the left inferior occipital area, whereas there was no significant activation before MPH administration. Conclusions: Our results suggest that (1) ADHD children consistently recruit the right inferior occipital regions to process happy expressions and (2) MPH administration to ADHD children enhances cortical activation in the left inferior occipital regions when they process angry expressions.

Crossmodal association of auditory and visual material properties in infants.

The human perceptual system enables us to extract visual properties of an object's material from auditory information. In monkeys, the neural basis underlying such multisensory association develops through experience of exposure to a material; material information could be processed in the posterior inferior temporal cortex, progressively from the high-order visual areas. In humans, however, the development of this neural representation remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated for the first time the presence of a mapping of the auditory material property with visual material ("Metal" and "Wood") in the right temporal region in preverbal 4- to 8-month-old infants, using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Furthermore, we found that infants acquired the audio-visual mapping for a property of the "Metal" material later than for the "Wood" material, since infants form the visual property of "Metal" material after approximately 6 months of age. These findings indicate that multisensory processing of material information induces the activation of brain areas related to sound symbolism. Our findings also indicate that the material's familiarity might facilitate the development of multisensory processing during the first year of life.

Individual differences and the effect of face configuration information in the McGurk effect.

The McGurk effect, which denotes the influence of visual information on audiovisual speech perception, is less frequently observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those without it; the reason for this remains unclear. Several studies have suggested that facial configuration context might play a role in this difference. More specifically, people with ASD show a local processing bias for faces-that is, they process global face information to a lesser extent. This study examined the role of facial configuration context in the McGurk effect in 46 healthy students. Adopting an analogue approach using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), we sought to determine whether this facial configuration context is crucial to previously observed reductions in the McGurk effect in people with ASD. Lip-reading and audiovisual syllable identification tasks were assessed via presentation of upright normal, inverted normal, upright Thatcher-type, and inverted Thatcher-type faces. When the Thatcher-type face was presented, perceivers were found to be sensitive to the misoriented facial characteristics, causing them to perceive a weaker McGurk effect than when the normal face was presented (this is known as the McThatcher effect). Additionally, the McGurk effect was weaker in individuals with high AQ scores than in those with low AQ scores in the incongruent audiovisual condition, regardless of their ability to read lips or process facial configuration contexts. Our findings, therefore, do not support the assumption that individuals with ASD show a weaker McGurk effect due to a difficulty in processing facial configuration context.

The relationship between level of autistic traits and local bias in the context of the McGurk effect.

The McGurk effect is a well-known illustration that demonstrates the influence of visual information on hearing in the context of speech perception. Some studies have reported that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display abnormal processing of audio-visual speech integration, while other studies showed contradictory results. Based on the dimensional model of ASD, we administered two analog studies to examine the link between level of autistic traits, as assessed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and the McGurk effect among a sample of university students. In the first experiment, we found that autistic traits correlated negatively with fused (McGurk) responses. Then, we manipulated presentation types of visual stimuli to examine whether the local bias toward visual speech cues modulated individual differences in the McGurk effect. The presentation included four types of visual images, comprising no image, mouth only, mouth and eyes, and full face. The results revealed that global facial information facilitates the influence of visual speech cues on McGurk stimuli. Moreover, individual differences between groups with low and high levels of autistic traits appeared when the full-face visual speech cue with an incongruent voice condition was presented. These results suggest that individual differences in the McGurk effect might be due to a weak ability to process global facial information in individuals with high levels of autistic traits.