Episodic Future Thinking in Autism Spectrum Disorder and 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Association with Anticipatory Pleasure and Social Functioning

Clémence Feller,Maude Schneider,Charlotte Dubois,Stephan Eliez

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-04903-2

Clémence Feller, Maude Schneider + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04903-2

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Abstract

Episodic future thinking (EFT) has been suggested to underlie anticipatory pleasure (AP), itself known to play a crucial role in social functioning (SF). Both AP and SF are impaired in various clinical populations, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Therefore, the relationship between EFT, AP and SF was investigated, as well as the potential role of projecting oneself in a social vs. non-social context. Seventy-seven participants [24 with 22q11DS, 20 with ASD, 33 typically developing controls (TDs)] (aged 12–25) were included. They were assessed with a future thinking task in which they were asked to recall a memory and produce a likely event. Narratives were rated based of specificity, richness and imaginability. Participants completed questionnaires assessing AP and SF. Narratives from ASD and 22q11DS participants were rated as less vivid compared to TDs. However, the characteristics of the narratives differed between ASD and 22q11DS participants in terms of specificity and level of details, as well as in reaction to social condition. Moreover, correlations were found between AP and EFT in both ASD and 22q11DS participants, and between SF and EFT in ASD participants. These results point towards impairments in EFT in both ASD and 22q11DS participants but with a specific profile in each condition. The observed associations between EFT and AP suggest that decreased autonoetic consciousness might underlie AP impairments. In ASD individuals, the association between SF and EFT highlights the need to better characterize EFT since EFT could be another mechanism contributing to social difficulties.

Highlights

Episodic future thinking (EFT) has been described as the ability to pre-experience future events, in other words to mentally project oneself into the future
We examined the associations between EFT in social vs. non-social contexts, interpersonal anticipatory pleasure (AP) and social functioning (SF) in two neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by pronounced social impairments (Fakhoury 2015; Norkett et al 2017; Schneider et al 2012; Schonherz et al 2014; Seltzer et al 2004; Shashi et al 2012; Stoddard et al 2010; Wallace et al 2017; Yang et al 2016) and impaired AP (Dubourg et al 2017; Han et al 2019; Novacek et al 2016): 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
We aimed to investigate the characteristics of EFT in adolescents and young adults with 22q11DS and ASD. (1) Our first hypothesis was that both groups would show EFT impairments, inducing less specific, less detailed and less vivid narratives than typically developing controls (TDs) on a Future Thinking Task (FTT) in the production condition

Summary

Introduction

Episodic future thinking (EFT) has been described as the ability to pre-experience future events, in other words to mentally project oneself into the future It is the future equivalent of the episodic aspect of autobiographical memory, which consists of remembering or re-experiencing past events (Atance and O’Neill 2001). Both episodic memory (EM) and EFT require autonoetic consciousness, defined as the ability to maintain self-continuity by projecting oneself into the past, present or future (Gardiner 2001; Klein 2016), since self-projection is a core mechanism of both EM and EFT (Suddendorf and Corballis 1997). Impairments in EFT have been reported in several populations experiencing mental health issues [for a systematic review see (Hallford et al 2018)] but EFT has been more rarely examined in neurodevelopmental disorders, despite the fact that SF impairments are frequently observed in this population

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