International Meeting for Autism Research (London, May 15-17, 2008): The Neural Circuitry of Social Reward in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Champagne Terrace/Bordeaux (Novotel London West)

11:30 AM

S. J. Weng , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

J. A. Lee , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

H. M. C. Louro , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

H. Zucker , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

C. Fulton , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

S. Risi , University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center

C. Lord , University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center, Ann Arbor, MI

C. S. Monk , Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI

Background: Research has consistently shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) attend less to social stimuli and engage less in social interactions relative to typically developing (TD) individuals. It has been proposed that reduced motivation towards social situations may relate in part to a disturbed neural circuit of social reward. This study seeks to link the gap between reward-related brain regions, namely the ventral striatum and the social deficits observed in ASD.

Objectives: Using a functional MRI (fMRI) task with a jittering paradigm which allows better separation of BOLD signal, we are evaluating differences in brain function between ASD and TD youths. We hypothesize that ASD youth will show less activation in the striatum, relative to TD youth when viewing positively-valenced faces. More severe symptoms in the social domain will relate to reduced striatal activation.

Methods: During fMRI acquisition, participants view faces (happy, neutral, fearful and sad) presented for 250 ms. Participants respond by making gender identification judgments to each face, thereby ensuring that they are attending to the social stimuli. Following the fMRI, subjects complete a computer-based behavioral task to obtain an index of the approach-worthiness of the social stimuli. Social functioning scores as measured by the ADOS, ADI and SRS are included as covariates in the analysis. Youths (aged 13-18 years) are recruited through the University of Michigan Autism and Communications Disorders Center and the community. ASD youth are diagnosed with the ADOS and ADI-R.

Results: Preliminary results show differences in striatal activation to emotional faces in ASD individuals compared to TD individuals. Analyses will focus on group differences in the striatum and related brain regions associated with reward circuitry.

Conclusions: By examining group differences to brief presentation of faces, it will be possible to better characterize the neural basis of social deficits in ASD.

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