Abstract
Although literature evidence suggests deficits in social and non-social cognition in patients with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), the difference in neural correlates of the impairments between the two disorders has not been elucidated. We examined brain function in response to a non-social cognition and a social cognition task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in 13 patients with ASD, 15 patients with SCZ, and 18 healthy subjects. We assessed the brain function of participants using a verbal fluency task and an emotional facial recognition task. The patients with ASD showed significantly reduced brain activation in the left frontotemporal area during both tasks compared to healthy subjects. The patients with ASD with larger score in ‘attention to detail’ in the autism spectrum quotient showed lower activation of the left frontotemporal area during the two tasks. The patients with SCZ showed significantly reduced activation, compared to healthy subjects, and greater activation, compared to patients with ASD, in the area during the verbal fluency task. The patients with SCZ with more severe symptoms had lower brain activation during the task in this area. Our results suggest that two distinct areas are involved in the distinctive brain pathophysiology relevant to cognitive processing in patients with ASD and SCZ.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, including deficits in social reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviours used for social interaction, and skills in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships[1]
The Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) method is noninvasive, relatively insensitive to motion artefacts, and can measure brain function with participants seated in a natural position, with little stress of body restriction during the examination, unlike fMRI which may be stressful to participants
For the verbal fluency task as a non-social cognition, the results revealed a significant difference and large effect size in the number of words generated across the three diagnoses (Table 2)
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, including deficits in social reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviours used for social interaction, and skills in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships[1]. Several fNIRS studies of SCZ have consistently shown that patients with SCZ have poor activation of the frontotemporal area during executive tasks[19,20,21] and emotional social cognitive tasks[22,23], compared to healthy subjects. A comparative study of patients with ASD and SCZ evaluating social cognition and non-social cognition (e.g., executive function) using fNIRS has not been published. We aimed at examining the differences in brain function between patients with ASD and those with SCZ, in response to social and non-social cognition, using fNIRS. Based on literature evidence from fMRI and fNIRS studies in ASD and SCZ, we hypothesised that patients with the two disorders would show lower brain activity in the frontal and the temporal areas during the cognition-based tasks, compared to healthy subjects. We sought to identify the functional abnormalities which are distinct between the two disorders
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