TY - JOUR
T1 - Neural Mechanisms of Social and Nonsocial Reward Prediction Errors in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
AU - Kinard, Jessica Lynn
AU - Mosner, Maya Gelman
AU - Greene, Rachel Kirsten
AU - Addicott, Merideth
AU - Bizzell, Joshua
AU - Petty, Chris
AU - Cernasov, Paul
AU - Walsh, Erin
AU - Eisenlohr-Moul, Tory
AU - Carter, Ronald Mc Kell
AU - McLamb, Marcy
AU - Hopper, Alissa
AU - Sukhu, Rebecca
AU - Dichter, Gabriel Sviatoslav
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired predictive abilities; however, the neural mechanisms subsuming reward prediction errors in ASD are poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated neural responses during social and nonsocial reward prediction errors in 22 adolescents with ASD (ages 12–17) and 20 typically developing control adolescents (ages 12–18). Participants performed a reward prediction error task using both social (i.e., faces) and nonsocial (i.e., objects) rewards during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Reward prediction errors were defined in two ways: (a) the signed prediction error, the difference between the experienced and expected reward; and (b) the thresholded unsigned prediction error, the difference between expected and unexpected outcomes regardless of magnitude. During social reward prediction errors, the ASD group demonstrated the following differences relative to the TD group: (a) signed prediction error: decreased activation in the right precentral gyrus and increased activation in the right frontal pole; and (b) thresholded unsigned prediction error: increased activation in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus. Groups did not differ in brain activation during nonsocial reward prediction errors. Within the ASD group, exploratory analyses revealed that reaction times and social-communication impairments were related to precentral gyrus activation during social prediction errors. These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms of social reward prediction errors in ASD and suggest that ASD is characterized by greater neural atypicalities during social, relative to nonsocial, reward prediction errors in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 715–728.
AB - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired predictive abilities; however, the neural mechanisms subsuming reward prediction errors in ASD are poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated neural responses during social and nonsocial reward prediction errors in 22 adolescents with ASD (ages 12–17) and 20 typically developing control adolescents (ages 12–18). Participants performed a reward prediction error task using both social (i.e., faces) and nonsocial (i.e., objects) rewards during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Reward prediction errors were defined in two ways: (a) the signed prediction error, the difference between the experienced and expected reward; and (b) the thresholded unsigned prediction error, the difference between expected and unexpected outcomes regardless of magnitude. During social reward prediction errors, the ASD group demonstrated the following differences relative to the TD group: (a) signed prediction error: decreased activation in the right precentral gyrus and increased activation in the right frontal pole; and (b) thresholded unsigned prediction error: increased activation in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus. Groups did not differ in brain activation during nonsocial reward prediction errors. Within the ASD group, exploratory analyses revealed that reaction times and social-communication impairments were related to precentral gyrus activation during social prediction errors. These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms of social reward prediction errors in ASD and suggest that ASD is characterized by greater neural atypicalities during social, relative to nonsocial, reward prediction errors in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 715–728.
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - fMRI
KW - reward prediction error
KW - social
KW - social-communication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079469619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1002/aur.2273
DO - 10.1002/aur.2273
M3 - Article
C2 - 32043748
AN - SCOPUS:85079469619
SN - 1939-3792
VL - 13
SP - 715
EP - 728
JO - Autism Research
JF - Autism Research
IS - 5
ER -