Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication deficits as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors [1]. Specific deficits include failure to initiate reciprocal social interactions, verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties, decreased sensitivity to social and emotional cues, and limited perspective-taking abilities. Social withdrawal, avoidance or indifference to affection or physical contact, lack of eye contact, and decreased joint attention and facial responsiveness are also common [2]. In addition to these core features, there is a growing body of literature that describes problematic patterns of emotional reactivity (increased negative and decreased positive emotions) and emotion regulation (increased use of maladaptive and decreased use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies) [3–5]. The present comment seeks to link difficulties in socio-emotional domains to the Quartet Theory of Human Emotions by mapping characteristic ASD social deficits and emotion dysregulation onto two of the affect systems described in this theory: the hippocampal and orbitofrontal-centered systems. According to the Quartet Theory, the hippocampal system (consisting of hippocampus, parahippocampus, entorhinal cortex and temporal pole) is involved in the generation of tender positive and joyful “attachment-related affects” [6, p. 16]. By contrast, the orbitofrontal-centered affect system is thought to perform “a fast and automatic (nonconscious) cognitive appraisal of both external and internal information” [6, p. 21] and is “involved in the control of emotional behaviour” [6, p. 24]. The role of the orbitofrontal-centered system is to evaluate sensory cues “with reference to internalized knowledge” [6, p. 21]. It thus interacts with the hippocampal system by integrating current sensory information with memory content provided by the hippocampal system. In healthy individuals, a successful integration of hippocampal memory is essential for top-down regulatory influences by the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) on lower level sensory and other processing streams, such as the amygdala, which is a target area for self-regulation in socio-emotional contexts [7]. Taking the Quartet Theory as a model to explain socio-emotional difficulties in ASD, we hypothesize a dysfunctional interaction between these two affect systems. In coordination with the hippocampal system, the OFC “performs a (. . .) non-conscious imbuement of information with emotional valance” [6, p. 22] and
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