Dynamic functional adaptations during touch observation in autism: connectivity strength is linked to attitudes towards social touch and social responsiveness / Haemy LEE MASSON in Molecular Autism, 16 (2025)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 16 (2025) . - 11 Titre : Dynamic functional adaptations during touch observation in autism: connectivity strength is linked to attitudes towards social touch and social responsiveness Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Haemy LEE MASSON, Auteur Article en page(s) : 11 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Humans  Male  Autistic Disorder/physiopathology/psychology/diagnostic imaging  Adult  Magnetic Resonance Imaging  Touch  Young Adult  Brain/diagnostic imaging/physiopathology  Social Behavior  Social Interaction  Brain Mapping  Autism  Embodied simulation  Functional connectivity  Generalized psychophysiological interaction  Independent component analysis  Social perception  Social responsiveness  Social touch  Vicarious touch  provided written informed consent, and the Medical Ethical Committee of KU Leuven  approved the original study (S53768 and S59577). Consent for publication: Not  applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autistic adults experience differences in social interactions involving physical contact. Brain imaging studies suggest that these differences may be related to atypical brain responses to social-affective cues, affecting both the experience of receiving touch and observing it in others. However, it remains unclear whether these atypical responses are limited to specific brain regions or represent broader alterations in brain connectivity. The current study investigated how the functional network architecture is modulated during touch observation associated with autism and explored the extent to which changes in this architecture are associated with individual differences in social touch preferences and social responsiveness. METHODS: By integrating generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis with independent component analysis (ICA), the current study analyzed existing fMRI datasets, in which 21 autistic and 21 non-autistic male adults viewed videos of social and nonsocial touch while undergoing MRI scans. RESULTS: A gPPI analysis of regions of interest revealed that autistic adults exhibited increased connectivity between sensory and social brain regions. The strength of some of these connections was positively associated with a higher preference for social touch and greater social responsiveness, suggesting neural compensatory mechanisms that may help autistic adults better understand the meaning of touch. At the level of large-scale brain networks extracted using ICA, atypical connectivity was predominantly observed between the sensorimotor network and other networks involved in social-emotional processing. Increased connectivity was observed in the sensorimotor network during nonsocial touch, suggesting that embodied simulation, the process by which individuals internally simulate touch experience of others in this context, may be more engaged when observing human-object interactions than during human-to-human touch. LIMITATIONS: This study focused on a specific subgroup of 21 autistic male adults with minimal support needs. Future research would benefit from including a more diverse autistic sample. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals atypical context-dependent modulation of functional brain architecture associated with autism during touch observation. Neural compensatory mechanisms in autistic individuals who enjoy social touch and show higher social responsiveness may function as adaptive social responses. However, these compensations may be limited to specific brain regions, rather than occurring at the level of large-scale brain networks. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00644-6 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=555 [article] Dynamic functional adaptations during touch observation in autism: connectivity strength is linked to attitudes towards social touch and social responsiveness [texte imprimé] / Haemy LEE MASSON, Auteur . - 11. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 16 (2025) . - 11 Mots-clés : Humans  Male  Autistic Disorder/physiopathology/psychology/diagnostic imaging  Adult  Magnetic Resonance Imaging  Touch  Young Adult  Brain/diagnostic imaging/physiopathology  Social Behavior  Social Interaction  Brain Mapping  Autism  Embodied simulation  Functional connectivity  Generalized psychophysiological interaction  Independent component analysis  Social perception  Social responsiveness  Social touch  Vicarious touch  provided written informed consent, and the Medical Ethical Committee of KU Leuven  approved the original study (S53768 and S59577). Consent for publication: Not  applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autistic adults experience differences in social interactions involving physical contact. Brain imaging studies suggest that these differences may be related to atypical brain responses to social-affective cues, affecting both the experience of receiving touch and observing it in others. However, it remains unclear whether these atypical responses are limited to specific brain regions or represent broader alterations in brain connectivity. The current study investigated how the functional network architecture is modulated during touch observation associated with autism and explored the extent to which changes in this architecture are associated with individual differences in social touch preferences and social responsiveness. METHODS: By integrating generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis with independent component analysis (ICA), the current study analyzed existing fMRI datasets, in which 21 autistic and 21 non-autistic male adults viewed videos of social and nonsocial touch while undergoing MRI scans. RESULTS: A gPPI analysis of regions of interest revealed that autistic adults exhibited increased connectivity between sensory and social brain regions. The strength of some of these connections was positively associated with a higher preference for social touch and greater social responsiveness, suggesting neural compensatory mechanisms that may help autistic adults better understand the meaning of touch. At the level of large-scale brain networks extracted using ICA, atypical connectivity was predominantly observed between the sensorimotor network and other networks involved in social-emotional processing. Increased connectivity was observed in the sensorimotor network during nonsocial touch, suggesting that embodied simulation, the process by which individuals internally simulate touch experience of others in this context, may be more engaged when observing human-object interactions than during human-to-human touch. LIMITATIONS: This study focused on a specific subgroup of 21 autistic male adults with minimal support needs. Future research would benefit from including a more diverse autistic sample. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals atypical context-dependent modulation of functional brain architecture associated with autism during touch observation. Neural compensatory mechanisms in autistic individuals who enjoy social touch and show higher social responsiveness may function as adaptive social responses. However, these compensations may be limited to specific brain regions, rather than occurring at the level of large-scale brain networks. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00644-6 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=555

Intact neural representations of affective meaning of touch but lack of embodied resonance in autism: a multi-voxel pattern analysis study / Haemy LEE MASSON in Molecular Autism, 10 (2019)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 10 (2019) . - 39 p. Titre : Intact neural representations of affective meaning of touch but lack of embodied resonance in autism: a multi-voxel pattern analysis study Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Haemy LEE MASSON, Auteur ; Ineke PILLET, Auteur ; Steffie AMELYNCK, Auteur ; Stien VAN DE PLAS, Auteur ; Michelle HENDRIKS, Auteur ; Hans OP DE BEECK, Auteur ; Bart BOETS, Auteur Article en page(s) : 39 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Autism spectrum disorder  Embodied simulation  Multi-voxel pattern analysis  Social touch aversion  Social touch observation  Theory of mind Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Background: Humans can easily grasp the affective meaning of touch when observing social interactions. Several neural systems support this ability, including the theory of mind (ToM) network and the somatosensory system linked to embodied resonance, but it is unclear how these systems are affected in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD exhibit impairments in the use of nonverbal communication such as social and reciprocal touch. Despite the importance of touch in social communication and the reported touch aversion in ASD, surprisingly little is known about the neural systems underlying impairments in touch communication in ASD. Methods: The present study applies a dynamic and socially meaningful stimulus set combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to pinpoint atypicalities in the neural circuitry underlying socio-affective touch observation in adults with ASD. Twenty-one adults with ASD and 21 matched neurotypical adults evaluated the valence and arousal of 75 video fragments displaying touch interactions. Subsequently, they underwent fMRI while watching the same videos. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) and multiple regression analysis, we examined which brain regions represent the socio-affective meaning of observed touch. To further understand the brain-behavior relationship, we correlated the strength of affective representations in the somatosensory cortex with individuals' attitude towards social touch in general and with a quantitative index of autism traits as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale. Results: Results revealed that the affective meaning of touch was well represented in the temporoparietal junction, a core mentalizing area, in both groups. Conversely, only the neurotypical group represented affective touch in the somatosensory cortex, a region involved in self-experienced touch. Lastly, irrespective of the group, individuals with a more positive attitude towards receiving, witnessing, and providing social touch and with a higher score on social responsivity showed more differentiated representations of the affective meaning of touch in these somatosensory areas. Conclusions: Together, our findings imply that male adults with ASD show intact cognitive understanding (i.e., "knowing") of observed socio-affective touch interactions, but lack of spontaneous embodied resonance (i.e., "feeling"). En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-019-0294-0 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=414 [article] Intact neural representations of affective meaning of touch but lack of embodied resonance in autism: a multi-voxel pattern analysis study [texte imprimé] / Haemy LEE MASSON, Auteur ; Ineke PILLET, Auteur ; Steffie AMELYNCK, Auteur ; Stien VAN DE PLAS, Auteur ; Michelle HENDRIKS, Auteur ; Hans OP DE BEECK, Auteur ; Bart BOETS, Auteur . - 39 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 10 (2019) . - 39 p. Mots-clés : Autism spectrum disorder  Embodied simulation  Multi-voxel pattern analysis  Social touch aversion  Social touch observation  Theory of mind Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Background: Humans can easily grasp the affective meaning of touch when observing social interactions. Several neural systems support this ability, including the theory of mind (ToM) network and the somatosensory system linked to embodied resonance, but it is unclear how these systems are affected in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD exhibit impairments in the use of nonverbal communication such as social and reciprocal touch. Despite the importance of touch in social communication and the reported touch aversion in ASD, surprisingly little is known about the neural systems underlying impairments in touch communication in ASD. Methods: The present study applies a dynamic and socially meaningful stimulus set combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to pinpoint atypicalities in the neural circuitry underlying socio-affective touch observation in adults with ASD. Twenty-one adults with ASD and 21 matched neurotypical adults evaluated the valence and arousal of 75 video fragments displaying touch interactions. Subsequently, they underwent fMRI while watching the same videos. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) and multiple regression analysis, we examined which brain regions represent the socio-affective meaning of observed touch. To further understand the brain-behavior relationship, we correlated the strength of affective representations in the somatosensory cortex with individuals' attitude towards social touch in general and with a quantitative index of autism traits as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale. Results: Results revealed that the affective meaning of touch was well represented in the temporoparietal junction, a core mentalizing area, in both groups. Conversely, only the neurotypical group represented affective touch in the somatosensory cortex, a region involved in self-experienced touch. Lastly, irrespective of the group, individuals with a more positive attitude towards receiving, witnessing, and providing social touch and with a higher score on social responsivity showed more differentiated representations of the affective meaning of touch in these somatosensory areas. Conclusions: Together, our findings imply that male adults with ASD show intact cognitive understanding (i.e., "knowing") of observed socio-affective touch interactions, but lack of spontaneous embodied resonance (i.e., "feeling"). En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-019-0294-0 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=414

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