Dataset Information

The relation between face-emotion recognition and social function in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: A case control study.

ABSTRACT: An altered processing of emotions may contribute to a reduced ability for social interaction and communication in autism spectrum disorder, ASD. We investigated how face-emotion recognition in ASD is different from typically developing across adolescent age groups. Fifty adolescents diagnosed with ASD and 49 typically developing (age 12-21 years) were included. The ASD diagnosis was underpinned by parent-rated Social Communication Questionnaire. We used a cued GO/ NOGO task with pictures of facial expressions and recorded reaction time, intra-individual variability of reaction time and omissions/commissions. The Social Responsiveness Scale was used as a measure of social function. Analyses were conducted for the whole group and for young (< 16 years) and old (? 16 years) age groups. We found no significant differences in any task measures between the whole group of typically developing and ASD and no significant correlations with the Social Responsiveness Scale. However, there was a non-significant tendency for longer reaction time in the young group with ASD (p = 0.099). The Social Responsiveness Scale correlated positively with reaction time (r = 0.30, p = 0.032) and intra-individual variability in reaction time (r = 0.29, p = 0.037) in the young group and in contrast, negatively in the old group (r = -0.23, p = 0.13; r = -0.38, p = 0.011, respectively) giving significant age group interactions for both reaction time (p = 0.008) and intra-individual variability in reaction time (p = 0.001). Our findings suggest an age-dependent association between emotion recognition and severity of social problems indicating a delayed development of emotional understanding in ASD. It also points towards alterations in top-down attention control in the ASD group. This suggests novel disease-related features that should be investigated in more details in experimental settings.

SUBMITTER: Hoyland AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5636137 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The relation between face-emotion recognition and social function in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: A case control study.

Høyland Anne Lise AL Nærland Terje T Engstrøm Morten M Lydersen Stian S Andreassen Ole Andreas OA

PloS one 20171011 10

An altered processing of emotions may contribute to a reduced ability for social interaction and communication in autism spectrum disorder, ASD. We investigated how face-emotion recognition in ASD is different from typically developing across adolescent age groups. Fifty adolescents diagnosed with ASD and 49 typically developing (age 12-21 years) were included. The ASD diagnosis was underpinned by parent-rated Social Communication Questionnaire. We used a cued GO/ NOGO task with pictures of faci ...[more]

PMID: 29020059

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Project description:Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by delayed/abnormal language development, deficits in social interaction, repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. The heterogeneity in clinical presentation of ASD, likely due to different etiologies, complicates genetic/biological analyses of these disorders. DNA microarray analyses were conducted on 116 lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) from individuals with idiopathic autism who are divided into 3 phenotypic subgroups according to severity scores from the commonly used Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised questionnaire and age-matched, nonautistic controls. Statistical analyses of gene expression data from control LCL against that of LCL from ASD probands identify genes for which expression levels are either quantitatively or qualitatively associated with phenotypic severity. Comparison of the significant differentially expressed genes from each subgroup relative to the control group reveals differentially expressed genes unique to each subgroup as well as genes in common across subgroups. Among the findings unique to the most severely affected ASD group are genes that regulate circadian rhythm, which has been shown to have multiple effects on neurological as well as metabolic functions commonly dysregulated in autism. Among the genes common to all 3 subgroups of ASD are 5 novel genes which appear to associate with androgen sensitivity, which may underlie the strong 4:1 bias towards affected males. Gene expression profiling of 116 LCL from autistic (87) and nonautistic (29) individuals were obtained using a custom-printed DNA microarray containing 39,936 elements (TIGR 40K Human array, GPL3427) and a reference design in which each sample was compared to the Stratagene Universal Human RNA standard. The 87 autistic samples were divided into phenotypic subgroups (language, mild, savant) on the basis of cluster analyses of scores from an autism diagnostic questionnaire, the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised instrument. Differentially expressed genes were determined for all autistic vs. control groups, as well as for each of 3 phenotypic ASD groups and controls.

Project description:Background:Recognition of symptoms of Social anxiety (SA) may be difficult among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) because of overlap between social anxiety and autistic symptomatology. The main aim of our study was thus to explore the association between symptoms of social anxiety and clinical characteristics of ASD in order to identify individuals experiencing concomitant ASD and social anxiety disorder. We also described the prevalence of SA in a sample of children and adolescents with ASD. Method:79 children and adolescents with ASD (with and without intellectual disability) and 28-matched control participants were recruited in two French Expert Centers for ASD, coordinated by the Fundation FondaMental. Psychiatric comorbidities, anxiety disorders and depression were screened with standard tools (Liebowitz social anxiety scale, Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scale) and correlated to autistic features and social skills assessed with the social responsiveness scale 2 (SRS-2) and the repetitive behavior scale (RBS-R). We performed bivariate analysis between the social anxiety level and the scores measured with different clinical scales. We then adjusted the observed relationships with the alterations of SRS-2 and RBS-R scores. Results:After adjustment, the level of social anxiety appeared as significantly associated with alterations in social reciprocity and particularly with the SRS-2 "social communication" and "social motivation" sub-scores, but not with RBS-R score. Conclusions:We confirm previous reports showing that individuals with ASD are at high risk for specific anxiety disorders. In particular, high levels of impairments in social motivation and social communication (SRS-2) are indicative of comorbid disorders namely, social anxiety and ASD. Our findings clearly inform diagnostic assessment in ASD and stress the need to take comorbid anxiety disorders into consideration to improve treatment of ASD. To further clarify the impact of social anxiety on social competences and socio-adaptive handicap, longitudinal studies and cluster analysis will be needed in the future.

Project description:Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder (CD) are often associated with emotion recognition difficulties. This is the first eye-tracking study to examine emotional face recognition (i.e., gazing behavior) in a direct comparison of male adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, and typically developing (TD) individuals. We also investigate the role of psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and subtypes of aggressive behavior in emotional face recognition. A total of 122 male adolescents (N = 50 ASD, N = 44 ODD/CD, and N = 28 TD) aged 12-19 years (M = 15.4 years, SD= 1.9) were included in the current study for the eye-tracking experiment. Participants were presented with neutral and emotional faces using a Tobii 1750 eye-tracking monitor to record gaze behavior. Our main dependent eye-tracking variables were: (1) fixation duration to the eyes of a face and (2) time to the first fixation to the eyes. Since distributions of eye-tracking variables were not completely Gaussian, non-parametric tests were chosen to investigate gaze behavior across the diagnostic groups with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, and Typically Developing individuals. Furthermore, we used Spearman correlations to investigate the links with psychopathy, callous, and unemotional traits and subtypes of aggression as assessed by questionnaires. The relative total fixation duration to the eyes was decreased in both the Autism Spectrum Disorder group and the Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder group for several emotional expressions. In both the Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder group, increased time to first fixation on the eyes of fearful faces only was nominally significant. The time to first fixation on the eyes was nominally correlated with psychopathic traits and proactive aggression. The current findings do not support strong claims for differential cross-disorder eye-gazing deficits and for a role of shared underlying psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional traits, and aggression subtypes. Our data provide valuable and novel insights into gaze timing distributions when looking at the eyes of a fearful face.

Dataset Information

The relation between face-emotion recognition and social function in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: A case control study.

Publications

The relation between face-emotion recognition and social function in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: A case control study.

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