1. Goldberg MC, Allman MJ, Hagopian LP, Triggs MM, Frank-Crawford MA, Mostofsky SH, Denckla MB, DeLeon IG. {{Examining the reinforcing value of stimuli within social and non-social contexts in children with and without high-functioning autism}}. {Autism};2016 (Jul 1)
One of the key diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder includes impairments in social interactions. This study compared the extent to which boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys « value » engaging in activities with a parent or alone. Two different assessments that can empirically determine the relative reinforcing value of social and non-social stimuli were employed: paired-choice preference assessments and progressive-ratio schedules. There were no significant differences between boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys on either measure. Moreover, there was a strong correspondence in performance across these two measures for participants in each group. These results suggest that the relative reinforcing value of engaging in activities with a primary caregiver is not diminished for children with autism spectrum disorder.
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2. Guy J, Mottron L, Berthiaume C, Bertone A. {{A Developmental Perspective of Global and Local Visual Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2016 (Jul 1)
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate superior performances on visuo-spatial tasks emphasizing local information processing; however, findings from studies involving hierarchical stimuli are inconsistent. Wide age ranges and group means complicate their interpretability. Children and adolescents with and without ASD completed a Navon task wherein they identified global and local stimuli composed of either consistent or inconsistent letters. Trajectories of reaction time in global and local conditions were similar within and between groups when consistent and inconsistent stimuli were considered together, but the effect of local-to-global interference was significantly higher in participants with than without ASD. Age was not a significant predictor of local-to-global interference, suggesting that this effect emerges in childhood and persists throughout adolescence in ASD.
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3. Schelinski S, Borowiak K, von Kriegstein K. {{Temporal voice areas exist in autism spectrum disorder but are dysfunctional for voice identity recognition}}. {Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci};2016 (Jun 30)
The ability to recognise the identity of others is a key requirement for successful communication. Brain regions that respond selectively to voices exist in humans from early infancy on. Currently it is unclear whether dysfunction of these voice-sensitive regions can explain voice identity recognition impairments. Here, we used two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to investigate voice processing in a population that has been reported to have no voice-sensitive regions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our results refute the earlier report that individuals with ASD have no responses in voice-sensitive regions: Passive listening to vocal, compared to non-vocal, sounds elicited typical responses in voice-sensitive regions in the high-functioning ASD group and controls. In contrast, the ASD group had a dysfunction in voice-sensitive regions during voice identity but not speech recognition in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (STS/STG)- a region implicated in processing complex spectrotemporal voice features and unfamiliar voices. The right anterior STS/STG correlated with voice identity recognition performance in controls but not in the ASD group. The findings suggest that right STS/STG dysfunction is critical for explaining voice recognition impairments in high-functioning ASD and show that ASD is not characterised by a general lack of voice-sensitive responses.
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4. Senland AK, Higgins-D’Alessandro A. {{Sociomoral Reasoning, Empathy, and Meeting Developmental Tasks During the Transition to Adulthood in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2016 (Jul 1)
This mixed methods study investigated sociomoral reasoning, empathy, and challenging and supportive factors during the transition to adulthood in emerging adults (18-27-years-old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to better understand how these variables facilitated positive developmental outcomes. Same-aged ASD (n = 22) and typically developing (TD) (n = 22) groups completed quantitative and qualitative measures assessing these constructs. Compared to the TD group, the ASD group had significantly lower sociomoral reasoning and perspective-taking, significantly higher personal distress, but similar empathic concern. Inductive content analysis showed those with ASD and better developmental outcomes more often discussed the value of informal social support and utilized perspective-taking during challenging sociomoral situations.
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5. Taghizadeh N, Davidson A, Williams K, Story D. {{Reply to Snow et al. regarding their comment ‘A call to solve the puzzle together by building an evidence base for perioperative management of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)}}. {Paediatr Anaesth};2016 (Aug);26(8):854-855.
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6. Tomeny TS. {{Parenting stress as an indirect pathway to mental health concerns among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism};2016 (Jul 1)
The link between autism spectrum disorder symptoms and maternal stress has been well established, yet many mothers remain resilient to more severe psychopathology. For the current online study, 111 mothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder completed questionnaires about their child’s symptoms, their own stress related to parenting, and any psychopathology symptoms they were experiencing. Autism spectrum disorder symptom severity was positively related to both parenting stress and maternal psychopathology symptoms. Furthermore, parenting stress mediated the relation between autism spectrum disorder symptom severity and maternal psychopathology symptoms. These results provide evidence for a pathway through which psychopathology may develop among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder and a potential point of intervention for clinicians serving this population.
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7. Truzzi A, Setoh P, Shinohara K, Esposito G. {{Physiological responses to dyadic interactions are influenced by neurotypical adults’ levels of autistic and empathy traits}}. {Physiol Behav};2016 (Jun 28);165:7-14.
Autistic traits are distributed on a continuum that ranges from non-clinical to clinical condition. Atypical responses to social situations represent a core feature of the Autism Spectrum Disorders phenotype. Here, we hypothesize that atypical physiological responses to social stimuli may predict non-clinical autistic and empathy traits levels. We measured physiological responses (heart rate, facial temperature) of 40 adults (20F) while showing them 24 movies representing dyadic interactions. Autistic traits were assessed through Autism Quotient questionnaire (AQ), while empathy traits were measured using the Empathy Quotient questionnaire (EQ). Opposite correlations between AQ and EQ scores and physiological responses were found. Analysis of physiological responses revealed that individuals with better social abilities, low AQ and high EQ, show opposite activation patterns compared to people with high AQ and low EQ. Findings show that physiological responses could be biomarkers for people’s autistic traits and social abilities.
