Social brain networks: Resting-state and task-based connectivity in youth with and without epilepsy

Functional patterns of neural activation during vocal emotion recognition in youth with and without refractory epilepsy

“…Although the DMN has historically been conceptualized as task-negative, it has increasingly been linked to mentalizing, social cognition, and emotional processing functions ( Li et al, 2014 , Mars et al, 2012 , Satpute and Lindquist, 2019 , Schilbach et al, 2008 , Spreng and Andrews-Hanna, 2015 ). Extending previous work noting aberrant connectivity between nodes of the mentalizing and DMN network in epilepsy ( Cataldi et al, 2013 , Liao et al, 2011 , Morningstar et al, 2021 ; Z. Zhang et al, 2009 ), our findings suggest that youth with epilepsy may engage regions of these social cognitive networks differently than TD youth when perceiving and interpreting vocal cues of emotion.…”

“…Most of the research examining this clinical phenotype has focused on individuals’ ability to label emotions in facial expressions (e.g., Golouboff et al, 2008 , Meletti et al, 2009 , Sedda et al, 2013 ) and on underlying neural representations of these stimuli (e.g., Batut et al, 2006 , Benuzzi et al, 2004 , Labudda et al, 2014 , Szaflarski et al, 2014 , Vuilleumier et al, 2004 ). This literature has identified consistent deficits in emotion recognition and atypical patterns of neural activation and connectivity in response to emotional faces in adults and children with epilepsy ( Broicher et al, 2012a , Meletti et al, 2009 , Morningstar et al, 2021 , Morningstar et al, 2020a ). However, there is also evidence that individuals with epilepsy also process other types of nonverbal cues differently from healthy controls.…”

“…Interestingly, the integrity of these networks can be impaired in individuals with epilepsy: although most studies have investigated the structure of these networks at rest ( Ibrahim et al, 2014 , Mankinen et al, 2012 , Widjaja et al, 2013 ; Z. Zhang et al, 2010 ), there is evidence that connections between specific nodes of these networks may also be altered during social cognitive tasks ( Fruhholz et al, 2015 , Morningstar et al, 2021 ). For example, youth with epilepsy showed decreased connectivity between the pSTS and mPFC, but increased connectivity within the temporal lobe, than their typically developing peers when completing a facial ER task ( Morningstar et al, 2021 ).…”

“… Zhang et al, 2010 ), there is evidence that connections between specific nodes of these networks may also be altered during social cognitive tasks ( Fruhholz et al, 2015 , Morningstar et al, 2021 ). For example, youth with epilepsy showed decreased connectivity between the pSTS and mPFC, but increased connectivity within the temporal lobe, than their typically developing peers when completing a facial ER task ( Morningstar et al, 2021 ). Such findings suggest that epilepsy is associated with differential engagement of social cognitive networks when processing facial emotional stimuli.…”

Social cognition in children and adolescents with epilepsy: A meta-analysis

“…Of these, 31 initially met the inclusion criteria. After full-text screening, 12 were excluded for the following reasons: the study did not provide sufficient data to calculate the effect sizes of ToM or FER (the number of studies [ k ] = 6) ( 62 – 67 ); the study population included adults ( k = 3) ( 68 – 70 ); the samples overlapped with those of other studies ( k = 2) ( 71 , 72 ); and the sample size was under 10 ( k = 1) ( 73 ). Finally, a total of 19 studies with 623 children and adolescents with epilepsy (mean age = 12.13 years, SD = 2.62, 46.1 % female) and 677 HCs (mean age = 11.48 years, SD = 2.71, 50.7 % female) were included in this meta-analysis ( Table 1 ) ( 5 , 6 , 17 – 29 , 43 – 46 ).…”