Atypical autonomic nervous system complexity accompanies social cognition task performance in ASD

Abstract

BackgroundEmerging evidence suggests that autonomic nervous system (ANS) function is affected in ASD. Existing literature has focused on quantifying the activity of ANS components (i.e. sympathetic/parasympathetic systems) individually. To this end, measures such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and high- and low-frequency spectral components of heart rate variability have been employed. Recent findings indicate that these methods employ assumptions that do not fully consider the complexity of the ANS system and the interaction of its components. To this end, we propose a new method for examining ANS function in ASD. MethodsA sample of typically developing (TD) children (n=34) and children with ASD (n=45) performed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET), preceded and followed by periods of baseline movie-watching. Multiscale Entropy (MSE) was employed as a new tool to examine the complexity of the cardiac signal. ResultsSignificant group differences in MSE emerged to suggest atypicality in the regularity of the autonomic signal at short and long time scales in the ASD group during the RMET task. ConclusionsFor the RMET task, our results may suggest atypical activation of parasympathetic influences on the heart, which contributes to short-term patterns in the heartbeat signal, as well as atypicalities in the slower acting processes. Results also suggest that the coupling between the fast-acting and slow-acting influences may be atypical in ASD during the examined social cognition task.