Exploring social touch in autistic and non-autistic adults via a self-report body-painting task: The role of sex, social context and body area / Martina FUSARO ; Salvatore Maria AGLIOTI ; Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO in Autism, 28-8 (August 2024)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism > 28-8 (August 2024) . - p.1985-2001 Titre : Exploring social touch in autistic and non-autistic adults via a self-report body-painting task: The role of sex, social context and body area Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Martina FUSARO, Auteur ; Salvatore Maria AGLIOTI, Auteur ; Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.1985-2001 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : appropriateness  autism spectrum disorder  erogeneity  pleasantness  social context  social touch Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : In the typically developing population, social touch experiences are influenced by several factors, including the biological sex of toucher and receiver, the body area wherein the touch is delivered and the social context in which the tactile exchange occurs. However, it is currently unexplored how social touch experiences of autistic adults are modulated by these factors. We sought to address this by utilizing a self-report body-painting task. Our main results show that autistic, compared with non-autistic, adults reported lower levels of pleasantness, erogeneity and appropriateness, specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, sex played a major role in group differences. For instance, although autistic females reported, across social contexts, less pleasantness than both non-autistic females and autistic males, they experienced similar levels of appropriateness in the professional social context, usually deemed as touch-appropriate. Our findings provide new support to the hypothesis that social touch is experienced and possibly conceptualized differently by autistic compared with non-autistic adults. Moreover, by identifying the factors that influence social touch processing in autistic adults, our results might aid the development of support for autistic individuals seeking help in the spheres of social and intimate touch. Lay Abstract What is already known about the topic? At least in neurotypical individuals, social touch represents an important channel for emotional communication associated with social bonding and pain/anxiety modulation. Autistic adults report to avoid social touch more and to have different tactile sensitivity than their non-autistic comparisons. What this paper adds? Few studies specifically investigated social touch in autistic individuals, and none of them examined the role of participants'sex, social context in which social touch occurs, and specific body areas being touched. In our study, adult participants reported how pleasant, erogenous and appropriate they would consider touches delivered by another person over their entire body in intimate (date), friendly (dance class) and professional (physiotherapy-massage session) social contexts. Autistic adults reported social touch to be less pleasant, erogenous and appropriate specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, autistic females seem more at risk to experience unpleasant social touch as, although they considered it more unpleasant than non-autistic females and autistic males, they did consider it similarly appropriate in professional social contexts where touch is normed to be socially appropriate. Implications for practice, research or policy Our results might improve awareness and understanding about autistic adults'different, and often more discomforting, experience of social touch and thus help consider and respect it during everyday social interactions. Our results might also benefit future research investigating, for instance, the neural underpinnings of social touch differences in autism or aiming at developing support for autistic individuals seeking help in the diverse spheres of social touch. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613231218314 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=533 [article] Exploring social touch in autistic and non-autistic adults via a self-report body-painting task: The role of sex, social context and body area [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Martina FUSARO, Auteur ; Salvatore Maria AGLIOTI, Auteur ; Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur . - p.1985-2001. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism > 28-8 (August 2024) . - p.1985-2001 Mots-clés : appropriateness  autism spectrum disorder  erogeneity  pleasantness  social context  social touch Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : In the typically developing population, social touch experiences are influenced by several factors, including the biological sex of toucher and receiver, the body area wherein the touch is delivered and the social context in which the tactile exchange occurs. However, it is currently unexplored how social touch experiences of autistic adults are modulated by these factors. We sought to address this by utilizing a self-report body-painting task. Our main results show that autistic, compared with non-autistic, adults reported lower levels of pleasantness, erogeneity and appropriateness, specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, sex played a major role in group differences. For instance, although autistic females reported, across social contexts, less pleasantness than both non-autistic females and autistic males, they experienced similar levels of appropriateness in the professional social context, usually deemed as touch-appropriate. Our findings provide new support to the hypothesis that social touch is experienced and possibly conceptualized differently by autistic compared with non-autistic adults. Moreover, by identifying the factors that influence social touch processing in autistic adults, our results might aid the development of support for autistic individuals seeking help in the spheres of social and intimate touch. Lay Abstract What is already known about the topic? At least in neurotypical individuals, social touch represents an important channel for emotional communication associated with social bonding and pain/anxiety modulation. Autistic adults report to avoid social touch more and to have different tactile sensitivity than their non-autistic comparisons. What this paper adds? Few studies specifically investigated social touch in autistic individuals, and none of them examined the role of participants'sex, social context in which social touch occurs, and specific body areas being touched. In our study, adult participants reported how pleasant, erogenous and appropriate they would consider touches delivered by another person over their entire body in intimate (date), friendly (dance class) and professional (physiotherapy-massage session) social contexts. Autistic adults reported social touch to be less pleasant, erogenous and appropriate specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, autistic females seem more at risk to experience unpleasant social touch as, although they considered it more unpleasant than non-autistic females and autistic males, they did consider it similarly appropriate in professional social contexts where touch is normed to be socially appropriate. Implications for practice, research or policy Our results might improve awareness and understanding about autistic adults'different, and often more discomforting, experience of social touch and thus help consider and respect it during everyday social interactions. Our results might also benefit future research investigating, for instance, the neural underpinnings of social touch differences in autism or aiming at developing support for autistic individuals seeking help in the diverse spheres of social touch. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613231218314 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=533

Face individual identity recognition: a potential endophenotype in autism / Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO in Molecular Autism, 11 (2020)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 11 (2020) . - 81 p. Titre : Face individual identity recognition: a potential endophenotype in autism Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur ; Giuseppina PORCIELLO, Auteur ; Alvaro PASCUAL-LEONE, Auteur ; Simon BARON-COHEN, Auteur Article en page(s) : 81 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Autism  Emotion recognition  Endophenotype  Face memory  Heterogeneity  Individual identity recognition  Prosopagnosia  Social memory  Theory of mind  Neuroelectrics, Neosync, NovaVision, Magstim, and Cognito and is listed as an  inventor on several issued and pending patents on the real-time integration of  transcranial magnetic stimulation with electroencephalography and magnetic resonance  imaging. The other authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Face individual identity recognition skill is heritable and independent of intellectual ability. Difficulties in face individual identity recognition are present in autistic individuals and their family members and are possibly linked to oxytocin polymorphisms in families with an autistic child. While it is reported that developmental prosopagnosia (i.e., impaired face identity recognition) occurs in 2-3% of the general population, no prosopagnosia prevalence estimate is available for autism. Furthermore, an autism within-group approach has not been reported towards characterizing impaired face memory and to investigate its possible links to social and communication difficulties. METHODS: The present study estimated the prevalence of prosopagnosia in 80 autistic adults with no intellectual disability, investigated its cognitive characteristics and links to autism symptoms' severity, personality traits, and mental state understanding from the eye region by using standardized tests and questionnaires. RESULTS: More than one third of autistic participants showed prosopagnosia. Their face memory skill was not associated with their symptom's severity, empathy, alexithymia, or general intelligence. Face identity recognition was instead linked to mental state recognition from the eye region only in autistic individuals who had prosopagnosia, and this relationship did not depend on participants' basic face perception skills. Importantly, we found that autistic participants were not aware of their face memory skills. LIMITATIONS: We did not test an epidemiological sample, and additional work is necessary to establish whether these results generalize to the entire autism spectrum. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired face individual identity recognition meets the criteria to be a potential endophenotype in autism. In the future, testing for face memory could be used to stratify autistic individuals into genetically meaningful subgroups and be translatable to autism animal models. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-020-00371-0 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=433 [article] Face individual identity recognition: a potential endophenotype in autism [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur ; Giuseppina PORCIELLO, Auteur ; Alvaro PASCUAL-LEONE, Auteur ; Simon BARON-COHEN, Auteur . - 81 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 11 (2020) . - 81 p. Mots-clés : Autism  Emotion recognition  Endophenotype  Face memory  Heterogeneity  Individual identity recognition  Prosopagnosia  Social memory  Theory of mind  Neuroelectrics, Neosync, NovaVision, Magstim, and Cognito and is listed as an  inventor on several issued and pending patents on the real-time integration of  transcranial magnetic stimulation with electroencephalography and magnetic resonance  imaging. The other authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Face individual identity recognition skill is heritable and independent of intellectual ability. Difficulties in face individual identity recognition are present in autistic individuals and their family members and are possibly linked to oxytocin polymorphisms in families with an autistic child. While it is reported that developmental prosopagnosia (i.e., impaired face identity recognition) occurs in 2-3% of the general population, no prosopagnosia prevalence estimate is available for autism. Furthermore, an autism within-group approach has not been reported towards characterizing impaired face memory and to investigate its possible links to social and communication difficulties. METHODS: The present study estimated the prevalence of prosopagnosia in 80 autistic adults with no intellectual disability, investigated its cognitive characteristics and links to autism symptoms' severity, personality traits, and mental state understanding from the eye region by using standardized tests and questionnaires. RESULTS: More than one third of autistic participants showed prosopagnosia. Their face memory skill was not associated with their symptom's severity, empathy, alexithymia, or general intelligence. Face identity recognition was instead linked to mental state recognition from the eye region only in autistic individuals who had prosopagnosia, and this relationship did not depend on participants' basic face perception skills. Importantly, we found that autistic participants were not aware of their face memory skills. LIMITATIONS: We did not test an epidemiological sample, and additional work is necessary to establish whether these results generalize to the entire autism spectrum. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired face individual identity recognition meets the criteria to be a potential endophenotype in autism. In the future, testing for face memory could be used to stratify autistic individuals into genetically meaningful subgroups and be translatable to autism animal models. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-020-00371-0 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=433

Response to Smith’s Letter to the Editor ‘Emotional Empathy in Autism Spectrum Conditions: Weak, Intact, or Heightened?’ / Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39-12 (December 2009)  

Public ISBD [article]  inJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 39-12 (December 2009) . - p.1749-1754 Titre : Response to Smith’s Letter to the Editor ‘Emotional Empathy in Autism Spectrum Conditions: Weak, Intact, or Heightened?’ Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur ; Simon BARON-COHEN, Auteur ; Sally WHEELWRIGHT, Auteur ; Bhismadev CHAKRABARTI, Auteur ; Michael V. LOMBARDO, Auteur Année de publication : 2009 Article en page(s) : p.1749-1754 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0800-x Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=885 [article] Response to Smith’s Letter to the Editor ‘Emotional Empathy in Autism Spectrum Conditions: Weak, Intact, or Heightened?’ [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Ilaria MINIO-PALUELLO, Auteur ; Simon BARON-COHEN, Auteur ; Sally WHEELWRIGHT, Auteur ; Bhismadev CHAKRABARTI, Auteur ; Michael V. LOMBARDO, Auteur . - 2009 . - p.1749-1754. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > 39-12 (December 2009) . - p.1749-1754 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0800-x Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=885

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