Autistic traits and adaptive coding of face identity

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Autistic traits and adaptive coding of face identity Gillian Rhodes1*, Linda Jeffery1, Libby Taylor1 and Louise Ewing1 1 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia Background Our ability to discriminate and recognize thousands of faces despite their similarity as visual patterns relies on adaptive, norm-based, coding mechanisms that are continuously updated by experience. Reduced adaptive coding of face identity has been proposed as a neurocognitive endophenotype for autism, because it is found in autism and in relatives of individuals with autism. Autistic traits can also extend continuously into the general population, raising the possibility that reduced adaptive coding of face identity may be more generally associated with autistic traits. In the present study, we investigated whether adaptive coding of face identity decreases as autistic traits increase in an undergraduate population. Methods Adaptive coding was measured using face identity aftereffects, and autistic traits were measured using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and its subscales. We also measured face and car recognition ability to determine whether autistic traits are selectively related to face recognition difficulties. Results We found that men who scored higher on levels of autistic traits related to social interaction had reduced adaptive coding of face identity. This result is consistent with the idea that atypical adaptive face-coding mechanisms are an endophenotype for autism. Autistic traits were also linked with face-selective recognition difficulties in men. However, there were some unexpected sex differences. In women, autistic traits were linked positively, rather than negatively, with adaptive coding of identity, and were unrelated to face-selective recognition difficulties. Discussion The sex differences observed here indicate that autistic traits can have different neurocognitive correlates in men and women and raise the intriguing possibility that endophenotypes of autism can differ in men and women. However, our results suggest that, at least for men, atypical adaptive coding of faces may be an endophenotype for autism. Acknowledgements This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CE110001021), an ARC Professorial Fellowship to Rhodes (DP0877379) and an ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award to Rhodes (DP130102300). We thank Mayu Nishimura and Daphne Maurer for co-creating the Robbers Game used in the Identity Aftereffects task and Ainsley Read for assistance with testing. Ethical approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Univer Keywords: autistic traits, broader autism phenotype, face recognition, face identity aftereffects, adaptive coding, Endophenotypes Conference: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: Other Citation: Rhodes G, Jeffery L, Taylor L and Ewing L (2013). Autistic traits and adaptive coding of face identity. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00193 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 15 Oct 2013; Published Online: 25 Nov 2013. * Correspondence: Prof. Gillian Rhodes, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, perth, Australia, gillian.rhodes@uwa.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Gillian Rhodes Linda Jeffery Libby Taylor Louise Ewing Google Gillian Rhodes Linda Jeffery Libby Taylor Louise Ewing Google Scholar Gillian Rhodes Linda Jeffery Libby Taylor Louise Ewing PubMed Gillian Rhodes Linda Jeffery Libby Taylor Louise Ewing Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.