Neural adaptation to expected uncertainty in neurotypical adults and high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Thinking in Patterns: Using Multi-Voxel pattern Analyses to Find Neural Correlates of Moral Judgment in Neurotypical and ASD Populations

This study investigated whole‐brain dynamic lag pattern variations between neurotypical (NT) individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by applying a novel technique called dynamic lag analysis (DLA). The use of 3D magnetic resonance encephalography data with repetition time = 100 msec enables highly accurate analysis of the spread of activity between brain networks. Sixteen resting‐state networks (RSNs) with the highest spatial correlation between NT individuals (n = 20) and individuals with ASD (n = 20) were analyzed. The dynamic lag pattern variation between each RSN pair was investigated using DLA, which measures time lag variation between each RSN pair combination and statistically defines how these lag patterns are altered between ASD and NT groups. DLA analyses indicated that 10.8% of the 120 RSN pairs had statistically significant (P‐value <0.003) dynamic lag pattern differences that survived correction with surrogate data thresholding. Alterations in lag patterns were concentrated in salience, executive, visual, and default‐mode networks, supporting earlier findings of impaired brain connectivity in these regions in ASD. 92.3% and 84.6% of the significant RSN pairs revealed shorter mean and median temporal lags in ASD versus NT, respectively. Taken together, these results suggest that altered lag patterns indicating atypical spread of activity between large‐scale functional brain networks may contribute to the ASD phenotype. Autism Res 2020, 13: 244–258. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by atypical neurodevelopment. Using an ultra‐fast neuroimaging procedure, we investigated communication across brain regions in adults with ASD compared with neurotypical (NT) individuals. We found that ASD individuals had altered information flow patterns across brain regions. Atypical patterns were concentrated in salience, executive, visual, and default‐mode network areas of the brain that have previously been implicated in the pathophysiology of the disorder.

Atypical perception of affective prosody in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Judgments of spoken discourse and impression formation of neurotypical and autistic adults

BackgroundDeficits in perception and production of vocal pitch are often observed in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the neural basis of these deficits is unknown. In magnetoencephalogram (MEG), spectrally complex periodic sounds trigger two continuous neural responses—the auditory steady state response (ASSR) and the sustained field (SF). It has been shown that the SF in neurotypical individuals is associated with low-level analysis of pitch in the ‘pitch processing center’ of the Heschl’s gyrus. Therefore, alternations in this auditory response may reflect atypical processing of vocal pitch. The SF, however, has never been studied in people with ASD.MethodsWe used MEG and individual brain models to investigate the ASSR and SF evoked by monaural 40 Hz click trains in boys with ASD (N = 35) and neurotypical (NT) boys (N = 35) aged 7–12-years.ResultsIn agreement with the previous research in adults, the cortical sources of the SF in children were located in the left and right Heschl’s gyri, anterolateral to those of the ASSR. In both groups, the SF and ASSR dominated in the right hemisphere and were higher in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated ear. The ASSR increased with age in both NT and ASD children and did not differ between the groups. The SF amplitude did not significantly change between the ages of 7 and 12 years. It was moderately attenuated in both hemispheres and was markedly delayed and displaced in the left hemisphere in boys with ASD. The SF delay in participants with ASD was present irrespective of their intelligence level and severity of autism symptoms.LimitationsWe did not test the language abilities of our participants. Therefore, the link between SF and processing of vocal pitch in children with ASD remains speculative.ConclusionChildren with ASD demonstrate atypical processing of spectrally complex periodic sound at the level of the core auditory cortex of the left-hemisphere. The observed neural deficit may contribute to speech perception difficulties experienced by children with ASD, including their poor perception and production of linguistic prosody.

Guess What? Comparing Ad-hoc and Scalar Implicatures in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Approximately 50,000 U.S. teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) become adults every year, however little is known regarding how age influences social cognition and if men and women with ASD are differentially impacted across the adult lifespan. Social cognition declines non-linearly with age in neurotypical (NT) adults. Moreover, sex differences have been observed on RME tasks in NT adults but not adults with ASD, although aging effects have been largely ignored.Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the influence of age and sex on social cognition in adults with ASD compared to NT adults.Methods: The Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) task was administered to evaluate the theory of mind abilities in 95 adults with ASD and 82 NT adults ages 18–71 years. The main effects of diagnosis, age, and sex, as well as two-way and three-way interaction were modeled using linear and quadratic aging terms in a multiple regression analysis.Results: A main effect of diagnosis was observed, indicating poorer performance in adults with ASD relative to NT adults. Age and sex interactions were nonsignificant.Discussion: We replicated previous findings of reduced theory of mind (ToM) abilities in adults with ASD, compared to NT adults. While interactions were nonsignificant, visual inspection of quadratic age curves indicated the possibility of unique ToM trajectories in men and women with and without ASD that should be investigated in larger longitudinal studies.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are reported to allocate less spontaneous attention to voices. Here, we investigated how vocal sounds are processed in ASD adults, when those sounds are attended. Participants were asked to react as fast as possible to target stimuli (either voices or strings) while ignoring distracting stimuli. Response times (RTs) were measured. Results showed that, similar to neurotypical (NT) adults, ASD adults were faster to recognize voices compared to strings. Surprisingly, ASD adults had even shorter RTs for voices than the NT adults, suggesting a faster voice recognition process. To investigate the acoustic underpinnings of this effect, we created auditory chimeras that retained only the temporal or the spectral features of voices. For the NT group, no RT advantage was found for the chimeras compared to strings: both sets of features had to be present to observe an RT advantage. However, for the ASD group, shorter RTs were observed for both chimeras. These observations indicate that the previously observed attentional deficit to voices in ASD individuals could be due to a failure to combine acoustic features, even though such features may be well represented at a sensory level.

Emotion recognition and mind wandering in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder

Mixed Reality (MR) technology is experiencing significant growth in the industrial and healthcare sectors. The headset HoloLens 2 displays virtual objects (in the form of holograms) in the user's environment in real-time. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit, according to the DSM-5, persistent deficits in communication and social interaction, as well as a different sensitivity compared to neurotypical (NT) individuals. This study aims to propose a method for familiarizing eleven individuals with severe ASD with the HoloLens 2 headset and the use of MR technology through a tutorial. The secondary objective is to obtain quantitative learning indicators in MR, such as execution speed and eye tracking (ET), by comparing individuals with ASD to neurotypical individuals. We observed that 81.81% of individuals with ASD successfully familiarized themselves with MR after several sessions. Furthermore, the visual activity of individuals with ASD did not differ from that of neurotypical individuals when they successfully familiarized themselves. This study thus offers new perspectives on skill acquisition indicators useful for supporting neurodevelopmental disorders. It contributes to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying learning in MR for individuals with ASD.

Internet technology has radically changed society, widely affecting communication and the availability of information. The digital age holds unique significance for autism spectrum disorder. In this article I explore the interface between autism and the World Wide Web by reviewing evolving virtual communities pioneered by individuals with autism, exploring the online growth of advocacy organizations, and considering the positive and negative consequences that arise from autism’s fledgling voices.

To examine the personality profiles of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a standard personality assessment and to investigate the association between personality, ASD-related face memory deficit (FMD), and theory of mind (ToM). In a broader context, to examine whether there are distinct clinical phenotypes in the ASD population that have implications for personality development and treatment. Fifty-five adults with ASD and 22 neurotypical (NT) adults underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests, including measures of personality, face memory, and ToM. We compared ASD and NT groups in terms of their Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) profiles. Additional analyses focused on the association between specific PAI scales and FMD. Performance on the Eyes Test was compared across groups and was examined in relation to FMD. Adults with ASD demonstrated significant elevations on several PAI scales compared with NT adults. The presence of FMD was associated with differing PAI profiles among the ASD adults. The ASD adults with FMD scored significantly higher on scales that are sensitive to positive impression management and treatment rejection and significantly lower on scales that are sensitive to borderline personality, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and stress. There was a significant association between performance on the Eyes Test and FMD in the ASD group. Adults with ASD have a unique personality profile. Further, ASD adults with FMD have reduced insight into their difficulties with emotional processing and may not be as sensitive as ASD adults without FMD to the emotions of others.

Age group differences in executive network functional connectivity and relationships with social behavior in men with autism spectrum disorder

Evaluating motor cortical oscillations and age-related change in autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundNeuronal connectivity is refined throughout development by the proliferation and pruning of axons in cerebral white matter, and progressive axon myelination that enables rapid communication across brain regions. Differences in connectivity have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including changes in white matter volume and connectivity. In the prefrontal cortex, this includes imbalances between short- and long-ranging axons, consistent with a pattern of local hyperconnectivity, and long-range hypoconnectivity. Alterations in temporal lobe white matter development—critical for social behavior—may contribute to atypical neural connectivity.MethodsWe used electron microscopy to analyze 54 samples of temporal lobe white matter from 27 age-matched postmortem brains from males with ASD and neurotypical (NT) controls, ages 2–44 years. Defined regions of superficial (SWM) and deep (DWM) white matter were sampled from superior temporal (STG) and fusiform (FG) gyri. Axon density and myelin thickness were quantified, with axon size classified by inner diameter, to evaluate age-related differences between ASD and neurotypical brains.ResultsIn neurotypical control brains, total axon density significantly decreases with age in both STG and FG SWM. Although ASD cases show a similar trend, the density of small axons in STG is significantly higher than in controls. However, FG SWM in ASD shows no significant change in small-diameter axon density with age in this region. In neurotypical brains, myelin thickness of large-diameter axons increases significantly with age in STG and FG SWM. In contrast, large-diameter axons in ASD display significantly thinner myelin sheaths than controls across both STG and FG regions.ConclusionsThe temporal lobe exhibits atypical patterns of white matter development in ASD. In neurotypical individuals, decreased axon density in SWM with age reflects effective neural pruning and refinement of local and short-range connectivity. In contrast, individuals with ASD maintain a high density of small-diameter axons in STG SWM, suggesting reduced pruning that results in local overconnectivity. Moreover, myelin thickness in SWM does not increase with age in ASD, implying reduced efficacy of neurotransmission. These alterations in white matter ultrastructure may contribute to the atypical connectivity and neural communication observed in ASD across the lifespan.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13229-025-00684-y.