Late Positive Potential ERP Responses to Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Benning, Stephen D.; Kovac, Megan; Campbell, Alana; Miller, Stephanie; Hanna, Eleanor K.; Damiano, Cara R.; Antoinette, Sabatino-DiCriscio,; Turner‐Brown, Lauren; Sasson, Noah J.; Aaron, Rachel V.; Kinard, Jessica L.; Dichter, Gabriel S.

doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2845-y

Cited by 39 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Finally, because we explicitly targeted CIs, our findings are limited to this specific type of RRBI. A logical next step would be to extend this line of research to elucidate reward functions with regard to stereotypies, insistence on sameness, and sensory responses (e.g., [ 56 ]) using fMRI as well as other imaging methods, such as event-related brain potentials [ 57 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered reward system reactivity for personalized circumscribed interests in autism

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundNeurobiological research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has paid little attention on brain mechanisms that cause and maintain restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBIs). Evidence indicates an imbalance in the brain’s reward system responsiveness to social and non-social stimuli may contribute to both social deficits and RRBIs. Thus, this study’s central aim was to compare brain responsiveness to individual RRBI (i.e., circumscribed interests), with social rewards (i.e., social approval), in youth with ASD relative to typically developing controls (TDCs).MethodsWe conducted a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to investigate the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent effect of personalized circumscribed interest rewards versus social rewards in 39 youth with ASD relative to 22 TDC. To probe the reward system, we employed short video clips as reinforcement in an instrumental incentive delay task. This optimization increased the task’s ecological validity compared to still pictures that are often used in this line of research.ResultsCompared to TDCs, youth with ASD had stronger reward system responses for CIs mostly within the non-social realm (e.g., video games) than social rewards (e.g., approval). Additionally, this imbalance within the caudate nucleus’ responsiveness was related to greater social impairment.ConclusionsThe current data support the idea of reward system dysfunction that may contribute to enhanced motivation for RRBIs in ASD, accompanied by diminished motivation for social engagement. If a dysregulated reward system indeed supports the emergence and maintenance of social and non-social symptoms of ASD, then strategically targeting the reward system in future treatment endeavors may allow for more efficacious treatment practices that help improve outcomes for individuals with ASD and their families.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13229-018-0195-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered reward system reactivity for personalized circumscribed interests in autism

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Late-Positive Potential (LPP) was calculated for the neutral, negative and positive stimuli, as the mean activity in the 400-800 ms post-stimulus, in midline posterior-parietal electrodes (Pz CPz POz). This electrode combination is most frequently used to calculate LPP 27,[57][58][59][60][61][62] . However, since some authors calculate LPP over a posterior-parietal electrode composition (C1, C2, CP1, CP2, Cz, CPz/Pz) 57,59,[61][62][63] , we ran a second analysis using these electrode sites.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and EEG Measures Show no Amplifying Effects of Shared Attention on Attention or Memory

Mairon

Nahum

Stolk

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shared attention experiments examine the potential differences in function or behavior when stimuli are experienced alone or in the presence of others, and when simultaneous attention of the participants to the same stimulus or set is involved. Previous work has found enhanced reactions to emotional stimuli in social situations, yet these changes might represent enhanced communicative or motivational purposes. This study examines whether viewing emotional stimuli in the presence of another person influences attention to or memory for the stimulus. Participants passively viewed emotionally-valenced stimuli while completing another task (counting flowers). Each participant performed this task both alone and in a shared attention condition (simultaneously with another person in the same room) while EEG signals were measured. Recognition of the emotional pictures was later measured. A significant shared attention behavioral effect was found in the attention task but not in the recognition task. Compared to event-related potential responses for neutral pictures, we found higher P3b response for task relevant stimuli (flowers), and higher Late Positive Potential (LPP) responses for emotional stimuli. However, no main effect was found for shared attention between presence conditions. To conclude, shared attention may therefore have a more limited effect on cognitive processes than previously suggested. Humans are social animals that often prefer acting together, rather than alone 1,2. Potential differences in function or behavior when experienced alone or in the presence of others are referred to as co-presence effects that can be either generated from the mere presence of another or from a shared experience that occurs in the physical or psychological presence of another person 3-5. When simultaneous attention of the participants to the same stimulus or set is involved, shared experience overlaps with the term shared attention 4,6. Indeed, both shared experience and shared attention have been found to affect cognitive function and behavior, such as attention to a target stimuli 3,7 , social learning 8 , memory 9,10 , motivation 11 , judgment 12 and inhibitory control 13. Specifically, shared attention has been found to amplify these processes (etc. memories, emotions, and behavioral learning) 4,6. For example, higher manifestation of social learning was found in the shared attention condition compared to an unshared condition 8. Several 5,14,15 studies have examined the effect of shared attention in emotional contexts, but yielded mixed results. For example, Shteynberg and colleagues examined online shared attention effects on reactions to emotional stimuli. In a series of studies, they presented either short clips or pictures to participants and found enhancement of the subjective feelings (self-reported) for emotional stimuli in the online presence of another person. Specifically, scary advertisements led to higher "scariness" scores in the shared attention condition compared to the same stimuli viewed alone. Similar...

show abstract

“…The theory accounts for a number of the social deficits observed in ASD, such as failure to orient to social stimuli, impairments in social cognition, fewer meaningful friendships, and greater interaction failures later in life. Complementing this viewpoint are studies of increased nonsocial motivation in ASD [Benning et al, ; Sasson, Dichter, & Bodfish, ; Unruh et al, ] that may contribute to the development of nonsocial features of ASD, such as RRBs and CI. However, the emerging evidence of social and nonsocial phenotypic differences for girls with ASD suggest that the social motivation theory, and specifically reported social and nonsocial attentional differences in ASD, may not be present to the same degree to females.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in social attention in autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although reduced social attention and increased nonsocial attention have been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the studies have relied on predominantly male samples and have been underpowered to examine sex differences. These processes may differ for females with ASD, who have been shown to be dissimilar to males in social motivation and nonsocial features, including circumscribed interests (CI). The goal of this study was to compare social and nonsocial visual attention between males and females with ASD on a validated eye-tracking paradigm. Eighty-five school-aged (6-10 years) males and females with and without ASD completed a paired preference task of face and object stimuli (half of which related to common CI). After covarying for chronological and mental age, the presence of concurrently presented CI images reduced prioritization and attention to faces for males more than females, replicating previous findings. ASD females maintained comparable attention patterns to typically developing females, suggesting that previous findings of reduced social attention and increased attention to CI-related objects in autism may be specific to males. These findings are also inconsistent with the "extreme male brain" theory of autism. The more normative orienting and attention to social stimuli for females with ASD may indicate distinct phenotypic characteristics relative to males and possibly serve as a protective effect.Lay Summary: As autism is more commonly diagnosed in males, less is known about females with autism. Two areas of interest include the interests held by individuals with autism and how socially motivated they are. We used eye tracking as a way to understand these two areas. Our data reveal that elementary school-aged females (6-10 years) with autism attended to faces comparatively to females without autism, suggesting that (1) they were more socially motivated than males with autism and (2) the images of common interests were less motivating to them.

show abstract

Late Positive Potential ERP Responses to Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cited by 39 publications

References 66 publications

Altered reward system reactivity for personalized circumscribed interests in autism

Altered reward system reactivity for personalized circumscribed interests in autism

Behavioral and EEG Measures Show no Amplifying Effects of Shared Attention on Attention or Memory

Sex differences in social attention in autism spectrum disorder

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About