scholarly journals Attenuated Anticipation of Social and Monetary Rewards in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Author(s):  
Sarah Baumeister ◽  
Carolin Moessnang ◽  
Nico Bast ◽  
Sarah Hohmann ◽  
Julian Tillmann ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundReward processing has been proposed to underpin atypical social behavior, a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous neuroimaging studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the specificity of atypicalities for social rewards in ASD. Utilizing a large sample, we aimed to assess altered reward processing in response to reward type (social, monetary) and reward phase (anticipation, delivery) in ASD.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging during social and monetary reward anticipation and delivery was performed in 212 individuals with ASD (7.6-30.5 years) and 181 typically developing (TD) participants (7.6-30.8 years).ResultsAcross social and monetary reward anticipation, whole-brain analyses (p<0.05, family-wise error-corrected) showed hypoactivation of the right ventral striatum (VS) in ASD. Further, region of interest (ROI) analysis across both reward types yielded hypoactivation in ASD in both the left and right VS. Across delivery of social and monetary reward, hyperactivation of the VS in individuals with ASD did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Reward type by diagnostic group interactions, and a dimensional analysis of autism trait scores were not significant during anticipation or delivery. Levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms did not affect reward processing in ASD.ConclusionsOur results do not support current theories linking atypical social interaction in ASD to specific alterations in processing of social rewards. Instead, they point towards a generalized hypoactivity of VS in ASD during anticipation of both social and monetary rewards. We suggest that this indicates attenuated subjective reward value in ASD independent of social content and ADHD symptoms.

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S635-S635
Author(s):  
B. Sutcubasi Kaya ◽  
B. Metin ◽  
F.Z. Krzan ◽  
N. Tarhan ◽  
C. Tas

IntroductionAlterations in reward processing are frequently reported in ADHD. One important factor that affects reward processing is the quality of reward, as social and monetary, rewards are processed by different neural networks. However, effect of reward type on reward processing in ADHD was not extensively studied.AimsWe aimed to explore the effect of reward type (i.e., social or monetary) on different phases of reward processing and also to test the hypothesis that ADHD symptoms may be associated with a problem in processing of social rewards.MethodsWe recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) during a spatial attention paradigm in which cues heralded availability and type of the upcoming reward and feedbacks informed about the reward earned. Thirty-nine (19 males and 20 females) healthy individuals (age range: 19–27) participated in the study. ADHD symptoms were measured using ADHD self-report scale (ASRS).ResultsThe feedback related potentials, namely feedback related negativity (FRN), P200 and P300 amplitudes, were larger for social rewards compared to monetary rewards (Fig. 1). There was a consistent negative correlation between the hyperactivity subscale of ASRS and almost all feedback related ERPs. ERP amplitudes after social rewards were smaller for individuals with more hyperactivity.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that hypo responsiveness to social rewards may be associated with hyperactivity. However, the results have to be confirmed with clinical populations.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra M Rodman ◽  
Katherine Powers ◽  
Catherine Insel ◽  
Erik K Kastman ◽  
Katherine Kabotyanski ◽  
...  

Adults titrate the degree of physical effort they are willing to expend according to the magnitude of reward they expect to obtain, a process guided by incentive motivation. However, it remains unclear whether adolescents, who are undergoing normative developmental changes in cognitive and reward processing, translate incentive motivation into action in a way that is similarly tuned to reward value and economical in effort utilization. The present study adapted a classic physical effort paradigm to quantify age-related changes in motivation-based and strategic markers of effort exertion for monetary rewards from adolescence to early adulthood. One hundred and three participants aged 12-23 years completed a task that involved exerting low or high amounts of physical effort, in the form of a hand grip, to earn low or high amounts of money. Adolescents and young adults exhibited highly similar incentive-modulated effort for reward according to measures of peak grip force and speed, suggesting that motivation for monetary reward is consistent across age. However, young adults expended energy more economically and strategically: whereas adolescents were prone to exert excess physical effort beyond what was required to earn reward, young adults were more likely to strategically prepare before each grip phase and conserve energy by opting out of low reward trials. This work extends theoretical models of development of incentive-driven behavior by demonstrating that layered on similarity in motivational value for monetary reward, there are important differences in the way behavior is flexibly adjusted in the presence of reward from adolescence to young adulthood.


Author(s):  
Karen Bearss ◽  
Aaron J. Kaat

This chapter will review the available evidence on individuals with co-occurring diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This chapter contends that children diagnosed with both disorders (ASD+ADHD) are a subset of the ASD population that is at risk for delayed recognition of their ASD diagnosis, poor treatment response, and poorer functional outcomes compared to those with ASD without ADHD. Specifically, the chapter highlights the best estimates of the prevalence of the comorbidity, the developmental trajectory of people with co-occurring ASD and ADHD, how ADHD symptoms change across development, overlapping genetic and neurobiological risk factors, psychometrics of ADHD diagnostic instruments in an ASD population, neuropsychological and functional impairments associated with co-occurring ASD and ADHD, and the current state of evidence-based treatment for both ASD and ADHD symptoms. Finally, the chapter discusses fruitful avenues of research for improving understanding of this high-risk comorbidity so that mechanism-to-treatment pathways for ADHD in children with ASD can be better developed.


Author(s):  
Geraldine Leader ◽  
Roisín Moore ◽  
June L. Chen ◽  
Aoife Caher ◽  
Sophia Arndt ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives: The study aims to investigate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, comorbid psychopathology and behaviour problems in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Parents of 147 children and adolescents with ASD aged 6–18 years completed the Conners 3 Parent-Short Form, Gastrointestinal Symptom Inventory, Behavior Problems Inventory-Short Form and Autism Spectrum Disorder-Comorbid for Children. Results: Fifty-six per cent of children and adolescents had a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD, yet over 70% presented with clinically significant ADHD symptoms. Forty per cent of participants received a diagnosis of ADHD before ASD and 25.6% received a diagnosis of ASD first. Relationships were found between ADHD symptoms and comorbid psychopathology, GI symptoms, and behaviour problems. Conclusions: The outcomes suggest that ADHD is being underestimated as a comorbid disorder of ASD. This may have implications on treatment and interventions for children and adolescents who have a diagnosis of both ASD and ADHD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadna Albajara Sáenz ◽  
Thomas Villemonteix ◽  
Peter Van Schuerbeek ◽  
Simon Baijot ◽  
Mathilde Septier ◽  
...  

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are associated with motor impairments, with some children holding a comorbid diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). However, DCD is underdiagnosed in these populations and the volume abnormalities that contribute to explaining these motor impairments are poorly understood. In this study, motor abilities as measured by the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) were compared between children with ADHD, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children, aged 8–12 years old. Additionally, the association between the DCDQ scores (general coordination, fine motor/handwriting, control during movement, total) and regional volume abnormalities were explored in 6 regions of interest (pre-central gyrus, post-central gyrus, inferior parietal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus), within each group and across all participants. Children with ASD and children with ADHD showed impaired motor abilities in all the DCDQ-derived scores compared to TD children. Additionally, most children with ASD or ADHD had an indication or suspicion of DCD. Within the ASD group, coordination abilities were associated with the volume of the right medial frontal gyrus, and within the ADHD group, the total DCDQ score was associated with the volume of the right superior frontal gyrus. This study underlines the importance of routinely checking motor abilities in populations with ASD or ADHD in clinical practise and contributes to the understanding of structural abnormalities subtending motor impairments in these disorders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneta D. Krakowski ◽  
Peter Szatmari ◽  
Jennifer Crosbie ◽  
Russell Schachar ◽  
Eric Duku ◽  
...  

Background: Many phenotypic studies have estimated the degree of comorbidity between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but few have examined the latent, or unobserved, structure of combined ASD and ADHD symptoms. This is an important perquisite toward better understanding the overlap between ASD and ADHD.Methods: We conducted a scoping review of studies that examined the factor or latent class structure of ASD and ADHD symptoms within the same clinical or general population sample.Results: Eight studies met final inclusion criteria. Four factor analysis studies found that ASD and ADHD domains loaded separately and one found that some ASD and ADHD domains loaded together. In the three latent class studies, there were evidence of profiles with high levels of co-occurring ASD and ADHD symptoms.Conclusions: Our scoping review provides some evidence of phenotypic overlap between ASD and ADHD at the latent, or unobserved, level, particularly when using a “person-centered” (latent class analysis) vs. a “variable-centered” (factor analysis) approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S89-S90
Author(s):  
Jasmine Harju-Seppänen ◽  
Liam Mason ◽  
Elvira Bramon ◽  
Vaughan Bell

Abstract Background Individuals with psychosis display an attenuated response to reward. However, it has not yet been established whether individuals with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) also exhibit alterations in reward anticipation. Methods The present study examined whether non-distressing and distressing PLEs were associated with functional activity in the nucleus accumbens during reward anticipation. The sample consisted of 10313 children from the ABCD study aged 9–10 who had participated in the Monetary Incentive Delay task. PLEs were measured using the Prodromal Questionnaire Brief Child version and functional activity was measured using regional fMRI summary statistics for reward anticipation activation (data release 2.0, contrast of expected large reward versus neutral expectation). Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate the relationship between reward anticipation and PLEs (distressing and non-distressing), whilst controlling for gender, household income, ethnicity, BMI and affective symptoms. The analyses were weighted by the average standard error of the mean activation in the accumbens. Separate linear mixed-effects models were conducted for the right and left hemisphere. Results 6169 (59.8%) of the children did not report any PLEs, compared to 2270 (22.0%) with non-distressing PLEs and 1874 (18.2%) with distressing PLEs. We ran a regression to examine the association between reward anticipation and PLEs (distressing or non-distressing) and found that non-distressing PLEs were related to reduced reward anticipation in the right nucleus accumbens (P = 0.009). However, there was no significant association between reward anticipation and PLEs when adjusting for potential confounders. Discussion In the present study of 9–10 year olds, reward anticipation was not associated with PLEs. As previous research has found reductions in reward anticipation in individuals with schizophrenia, further follow-up studies of the ABCD cohort are needed to explore whether these associations emerge during adolescence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 859
Author(s):  
Qi Chen ◽  
Zengjian Wang ◽  
Bin Wan ◽  
Qingxin Chen ◽  
Kun Zhai ◽  
...  

Face memory impairments are common but heterogeneous in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may be influenced by co-occurrence with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Here, we aimed to investigate the phenotype change of face memory in children with ASD comorbid ADHD symptoms, and discuss the potential role of executive function (EF). Ninety-eight children were analyzed in the present study, including ASD− (ASD-only, n = 24), ADHD (n = 23), ASD+ (with ADHD symptoms, n = 23) and neurotypical controls (NTC, n = 28). All participants completed two tests: face encoding and retrieving task and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for measuring face memory and EF, respectively. Results revealed that: compared with the NTC group, children with ASD− exhibited lower accuracy in both face encoding and retrieving, and participants with ASD+ showed lower accuracy only in the retrieving, whereas no differences were found among participants with ADHD. Moreover, in the ASD+ group, face encoding performance was correlated with response perseverative errors (RPE) and failure to maintain sets (FMS) of WCST; significantly, there were no group differences between ASD+ and NTC in these two indices. The transdiagnostic profiles indicated that comorbid ADHD symptoms could modulate the face encoding deficiency of ASD, which may be partially compensated by EF. Shared and distinct intervention strategies to improve social cognition are recommended for children undergoing treatment for each condition.


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