The Effects of Anhedonia in Social Context

Barkus, Emma

doi:10.1007/s40473-021-00232-x

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…Our results suggest a likely association of social anhedonia and prosopagnosia with QAT-related social difficulties. Both social anhedonia and prosopagnosia have previously been linked to social difficulties independently of autism (Avery et al, 2016;Barkus and Badcock, 2019;Barkus, 2021). Which other constructs might explain the remaining variance in social QAT?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

Pieslinger

Wiskerke²,

Igelström³

2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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IntroductionQuantitative autistic-like traits (QATs) are a constellation of traits that mirror those of clinical autism and are thought to share the same mechanisms as the condition. There is great interest in identifying the genetic and neurobiological basis of QATs, but progress is hindered by the composite nature of these clinically based constructs. Social QATs are defined according to the diagnostic criteria for autism, comprising multiple potential neural mechanisms that may contribute to varying degrees. The objective of this study was to decompose social QATs into more specific constructs, in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We chose constructs with trait-like properties and known or suggested significance for autistic social function: (1) social anhedonia, (2) prosopagnosia (face blindness), and (3) mentalizing (attributing mental states to images of eyes). We hypothesized that these constructs may all contribute to observed variance in social QATs.MethodsWe recruited 148 adults with a broad range of QATs (mean age 37.9 years, range 18–69; 50% female; 5.4% autistic) to an experimental behavioral study conducted online. We estimated social QATs using the social factor of the Comprehensive Autistic Traits Inventory. We used the Oxford Face Matching Task and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test to measure face matching ability and mentalizing, respectively. Social anhedonia traits were measured with the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale, and prosopagnosic traits with the 20-item Prosopagnosia Index. A combination of frequentist and Bayesian statistics was used to test the social constructs as predictors of social QATs.ResultsWe found that social anhedonic traits, prosopagnosic traits, and face matching performance were likely predictors of social QATs, whereas mentalizing showed limited contribution.ConclusionThe findings support prosopagnosic and anhedonic traits, but not mentalizing deficits, as dimensional predictors of individual differences in social function across the autistic spectrum. Further, the study strongly suggests that social reward systems and face processing networks play significant and independent roles in autistic-like social function.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

Pieslinger

Wiskerke²,

Igelström³

2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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“…That is, given that emotion ratings are highly dependent on individuals' own, unprompted enjoyment of a stimulus 52 , laboratory-based tasks are restricted to the extent they are able to measure social behavior that is meaningful and unique to each participant 22,[55][56][57] . Between these methods, daily diary is best suited to measure anticipatory and consummatory emotions in response to real-world social company 25,26,51,58,59 due to its ecological validity, relatively less reliance on retrospective memory, and its ability to capture temporal fluctuations in emotion ratings of the same interaction. Therefore, given the methodological limitations of previous SAF work, little is still understood regarding SAF in real-life social interactions in a SSD sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In summary, previous work has demonstrated that anticipatory pleasure deficits are present in SSDs and associated with SA. Further, because a theorized core component of anticipatory pleasure is AF 32,58,60 , inaccurate affective forecasts (AFs) may contribute to SA in SSDs. Preliminary work using laboratory-based methods supports these ideas 53 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social affective forecasting and social anhedonia in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a daily diary study

et al. 2022

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Social anhedonia (SA) is a trait-like phenomenon observed across schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSDs). While in-the-moment social pleasure experiences are intact in SSDs, anticipatory pleasure experiences may be disrupted. Thus, the prediction of future emotions in social situations, or social affective forecasting (SAF), may play a role in SA. Therefore, we utilized daily diary methods to examine SAF in SSD and the association between SAF and SA in 34 SSD and 43 non-SSD individuals. SAF was calculated as the absolute difference between anticipatory and consummatory ratings of 13 positive and negative emotions for daily social interactions reported across eight days. Results suggest that individuals with SSDs are less accurate in forecasting negative, but not positive emotions, for future social interactions. Further, poorer forecasting accuracy of negative emotions were associated with elevated levels of SA and lower social pleasure. Together, these data suggest that inaccuracies in forecasting negative emotions may be a worthwhile intervention target for reducing SA in SSDs.

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“…Our results suggest there may be an additive association of SA and prosopagnosia with BAP-related social difficulties. Both SA and prosopagnosia have previously been linked to social difficulties independently of autism (Avery et al, 2016;Barkus and Badcock, 2019;Barkus, 2021). While we do not claim causality, the results indicate that better resolution can be achieved by using a battery of RDoC-consistent tests rather than classical BAP scales, which were validated against the diagnostic category ( Baron-Cohen et al, 2001b;English et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

Pieslinger¹,

Wiskerke²,

Igelström³

2022

Preprint

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The broad autistic phenotype (BAP) is a constellation of traits that mirror those of clinical autism and share the same mechanisms as the condition. Social, communicative, and rigid/repetitive BAP traits can therefore be studied in the general population. Socio-communicative BAP traits are defined according to broad diagnostic criteria for autism, comprising multiple potential neural mechanisms. Autism studies have suggested various differences in socially relevant brain networks for e.g., face processing, mentalizing, and social reward. This study aimed to stratify the BAP into more specific constructs relevant for social function, in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We recruited 148 adults with a broad range of autistic traits to a behavioral study combining face perception tasks and self-report measures. We measured the classical BAP through the Comprehensive Autistic Traits Inventory and quantified the RDoC-style constructs of social anhedonia (SA), mentalizing, prosopagnosic traits (face blindness) and lower-level face matching performance. We found that social anhedonic and prosopagnosic traits strongly and independently predicted socio-communicative BAP traits, suggesting roles for reward systems as well as face processing networks in autistic social function. Objectively measured face matching sensitivity was also negatively correlated with the BAP, but the effect size was smaller in comparison to prosopagnosic traits which also depend on face memory. Mentalizing (attributing mental states to images of eyes) showed specific correlations with low-level face perception and self-reported prosopagnosic traits, but not with the BAP. This study supports prosopagnosic and anhedonic traits as relevant constructs for future studies on neural mechanisms of social difficulties in autism.

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The Effects of Anhedonia in Social Context

Cited by 27 publications

References 117 publications

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

Social affective forecasting and social anhedonia in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a daily diary study

Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

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