Distinct neurocognitive bases for social trait judgments of faces in autism spectrum disorder

Hongbo Yu,Chujun Lin,Shuo Wang,Runnan Cao

doi:10.1038/s41398-022-01870-9

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication. Yet, the neurocognitive bases underlying these difficulties are unclear. Here, we triangulated the ‘trans-diagnostic’ approach to personality, social trait judgments of faces, and neurophysiology to investigate (1) the relative position of autistic traits in a comprehensive social-affective personality space, and (2) the distinct associations between the social-affective personality dimensions and social trait judgment from faces in individuals with ASD and neurotypical individuals. We collected personality and facial judgment data from a large sample of online participants (N = 89 self-identified ASD; N = 307 neurotypical controls). Factor analysis with 33 subscales of 10 social-affective personality questionnaires identified a 4-dimensional personality space. This analysis revealed that ASD and control participants did not differ significantly along the personality dimensions of empathy and prosociality, antisociality, or social agreeableness. However, the ASD participants exhibited a weaker association between prosocial personality dimensions and judgments of facial trustworthiness and warmth than the control participants. Neurophysiological data also indicated that ASD participants had a weaker association with neuronal representations for trustworthiness and warmth from faces. These results suggest that the atypical association between social-affective personality and social trait judgment from faces may contribute to the social and affective difficulties associated with ASD.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication [1]
To a lesser degree, we found that for the social trait warmth the correlation between trait judgment Dissimilarity matrices (DMs) and neural response DM derived from control participants was marginally significantly higher than that derived from ASD participants (Fig. 4e–g; p = 0.084)
In this study, we combined a dimensional approach to personality, social trait judgment of faces, and neurophysiological recordings to delineate the personality dimensions underlying the distinct processing of social traits in people with ASD relative to controls

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication [1]. There are substantial interindividual variabilities in terms of both the intensity of the difficulties and the specific aspects of social cognitive and affective functioning that are impaired [2, 3]. Diagnosing an individual with ASD does not explain the difficulties in their social cognitive and affective functions (e.g., understanding others’ emotions and intentions, engaging reciprocally). What psychological mechanisms might underlie the socialaffective difficulties manifested in ASD? Others have suggested that deficits in empathy [11–14], the ability to vicariously experience another’s feelings and be concerned about another’s suffering, may underlie the impairments in social interactions that are central to ASD, such as difficulties with emotional engagement [1]

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