Behavioral studies of facial emotion recognition (FER) in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have yielded mixed results. Here we address demographic and experiment-related factors that may account for these inconsistent findings. We also discuss the possibility that compensatory mechanisms might enable some individuals with ASD to perform well on certain types of FER tasks in spite of atypical processing of the stimuli, and difficulties with real-life emotion recognition. Evidence for such mechanisms comes in part from eye-tracking, electrophysiological, and brain imaging studies, which often show abnormal eye gaze patterns, delayed event-related-potential components in response to face stimuli, and anomalous activity in emotion-processing circuitry in ASD, in spite of intact behavioral performance during FER tasks. We suggest that future studies of FER in ASD: 1) incorporate longitudinal (or cross-sectional) designs to examine the developmental trajectory of (or age-related changes in) FER in ASD and 2) employ behavioral and brain imaging paradigms that can identify and characterize compensatory mechanisms or atypical processing styles in these individuals.

Facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging studies.

Atypical sensory-based behaviors are a ubiquitous feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In this article, we review the neural underpinnings of sensory processing in autism by reviewing the literature on neurophysiological responses to auditory, tactile, and visual stimuli in autistic individuals. We review studies of unimodal sensory processing and multisensory integration that use a variety of neuroimaging techniques, including electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and functional MRI. We then explore the impact of covert and overt attention on sensory processing. With additional characterization, neurophysiologic profiles of sensory processing in ASD may serve as valuable biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic interventions for autism and reveal potential strategies and target brain regions for therapeutic interventions.

Sensory Processing in Autism: A Review of Neurophysiologic Findings

Objective Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with amplified emotional responses and poor emotional control, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This article provides a conceptual and methodologic framework for understanding compromised emotion regulation (ER) in ASD. Method After defining ER and related constructs, methods to study ER were reviewed with special consideration on how to apply these approaches to ASD. Against the backdrop of cognitive characteristics in ASD and existing ER theories, available research was examined to identify likely contributors to emotional dysregulation in ASD. Results Little is currently known about ER in youth with ASD. Some mechanisms that contribute to poor ER in ASD may be shared with other clinical populations (e.g., physiologic arousal, degree of negative and positive affect, alterations in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex), whereas other mechanisms may be more unique to ASD (e.g., differences in information processing/perception, cognitive factors [e.g., rigidity], less goal-directed behavior and more disorganized emotion in ASD). Conclusions Although assignment of concomitant psychiatric diagnoses is warranted in some cases, poor ER may be inherent in ASD and may provide a more parsimonious conceptualization for the many associated socioemotional and behavioral problems in this population. Further study of ER in youth with ASD may identify meaningful subgroups of patients and lead to more effective individualized treatments.

https://mmcri.org/deptPages/addirc/downloads/Mazefsky_Herrington_Siegel_2013_JAACAP_published_version1.pdf

The Role of Emotion Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism covers a wide spectrum of disorders for which there are many views, hypotheses and theories. Here we propose a unifying theory of autism, the Intense World Theory. The proposed neuropathology is hyper-functioning of local neural microcircuits, best characterized by hyper-reactivity and hyper-plasticity. Such hyper-functional microcircuits are speculated to become autonomous and memory trapped leading to the core cognitive consequences of hyper-perception, hyper-attention, hyper-memory and hyper-emotionality. The theory is centered on the neocortex and the amygdala, but could potentially be applied to all brain regions. The severity on each axis depends on the severity of the molecular syndrome expressed in different brain regions, which could uniquely shape the repertoire of symptoms of an autistic child. The progression of the disorder is proposed to be driven by overly strong reactions to experiences that drive the brain to a hyper-preference and overly selective state, which becomes more extreme with each new experience and may be particularly accelerated by emotionally charged experiences and trauma. This may lead to obsessively detailed information processing of fragments of the world and an involuntarily and systematic decoupling of the autist from what becomes a painfully intense world. The autistic is proposed to become trapped in a limited, but highly secure internal world with minimal extremes and surprises. We present the key studies that support this theory of autism, show how this theory can better explain past findings, and how it could resolve apparently conflicting data and interpretations. The theory also makes further predictions from the molecular to the behavioral levels, provides a treatment strategy and presents its own falsifying hypothesis.

/pdf/the-intense-world-theory-a-unifying-theory-of-the-1m3ss8gaf7.pdf

The intense world theory - a unifying theory of the neurobiology of autism.

The Nuer A Description Of The Modes Of Livelihood And Political Institutions Of A Nilotic People

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with severe impairments in social functioning. Because faces provide nonverbal cues that support social interactions, many studies of ASD have examined neural structures that process faces, including the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and superior and middle temporal gyri. However, increases or decreases in activation are often contingent on the cognitive task. Specifically, the cognitive domain of attention influences group differences in brain activation. We investigated brain function abnormalities in participants with ASD using a task that monitored attention bias to emotional faces. Methods: Twenty-four participants (12 with ASD, 12 controls) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study while performing an attention cuing task with emotional (happy, sad, angry) and neutral faces. Results: In response to emotional faces, those in the ASD group showed greater right amygdala activation than those in the control group. A preliminary psychophysiological connectivity analysis showed that ASD participants had stronger positive right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex coupling and weaker positive right amygdala and temporal lobe coupling than controls. There were no group differences in the behavioural measure of attention bias to the emotional faces. Limitations: The small sample size may have affected our ability to detect additional group differences. Conclusion: When attention bias to emotional faces was equivalent between ASD and control groups, ASD was associated with greater amygdala activation. Preliminary analyses showed that ASD participants had stronger connectivity between the amygdala ventromedial prefrontal cortex (a network implicated in emotional modulation) and weaker connectivity between the amygdala and temporal lobe (a pathway involved in the identification of facial expressions, although areas of group differences were generally in a more anterior region of the temporal lobe than what is typically reported for emotional face processing). These alterations in connectivity are consistent with emotion and face processing disturbances in ASD.

https://www.jpn.ca/content/jpn/35/2/105.full.pdf

Neural circuitry of emotional face processing in autism spectrum disorders.

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) involve a core deficit in social functioning and impairments in the ability to recognize face emotions. In an emotional faces task designed to constrain group differences in attention, the present study used functional MRI to characterize activation in the amygdala, ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), and striatum, three structures involved in socio-emotional processing in adolescents with ASD. Methods: Twenty-two adolescents with ASD and 20 healthy adolescents viewed facial expressions (happy, fearful, sad and neutral) that were briefly presented (250 ms) during functional MRI acquisition. To monitor attention, subjects pressed a button to identify the gender of each face. Results: The ASD group showed greater activation to the faces relative to the control group in the amygdala, vPFC and striatum. Follow-up analyses indicated that the ASD relative to control group showed greater activation in the amygdala, vPFC and striatum (p < .05 small volume corrected), particularly to sad faces. Moreover, in the ASD group, there was a negative correlation between developmental variables (age and pubertal status) and mean activation from the whole bilateral amygdala; younger adolescents showed greater activation than older adolescents. There were no group differences in accuracy or reaction time in the gender identification task. Conclusions: When group differences in attention to facial expressions were limited, adolescents with ASD showed greater activation in structures involved in socio-emotional processing. Keywords: Autism, adolescents, fMRI, faces, emotion.

/pdf/neural-activation-to-emotional-faces-in-adolescents-with-46vilxn5gj.pdf

Neural Activation to Emotional Faces in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The sacred texts of five world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism) use similar belief systems to set limits on sexual behavior We propose that this similarity is a shared cultural solution to a biological problem: namely male uncertainty over the paternity of offspring Furthermore, we propose the hypothesis that religious practices that more strongly regulate female sexuality should be more successful at promoting paternity certainty Using genetic data on 1,706 father–son pairs, we tested this hypothesis in a traditional African population in which multiple religions (Islam, Christianity, and indigenous) coexist in the same families and villages We show that the indigenous religion enables males to achieve a significantly (P = 0019) lower probability of cuckoldry (13% versus 29%) by enforcing the honest signaling of menstruation, but that all three religions share tenets aimed at the avoidance of extrapair copulation Our findings provide evidence for high paternity certainty in a traditional African population, and they shed light on the reproductive agendas that underlie religious patriarchy

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/109/25/9781.full.pdf

Religion as a means to assure paternity

In discussing the effects of grandparents on child survival in natural fertility populations, Coall & Hertwig (C&H) rely extensively on the review by Sear and Mace (2008). We conducted a more detailed summary of the same literature and found that the evidence in favor of beneficial associations between grandparenting and child survival is generally weak or absent. The present state of the data on human alloparenting supports a more restricted use of the term “cooperative breeding.” Human stem family situations with celibate helpers-at-the-nest can be described as cooperatively breeding, but the term is a poor fit to many human family systems.

Are humans cooperative breeders?: Most studies of natural fertility populations do not support the grandmother hypothesis

Evolutionary anthropologists have proposed that unilineal kinship promotes collective action and that patriliny occurs when the reproductive payoff from passing wealth to sons is greater than that for daughters. We assess both of these theoretical perspectives as well as indirect reciprocity and kin selection as possible contributors to patrilineal cooperation in the Dogon of Mali. The mean coefficient of relatedness for males (N = 4,724) in 31 Dogon patrilineages is r = 0.03, which is very low (akin to second cousins). However, relatedness in the 638 work-eat groups (WEGs) that make up the patrilineages is very high (r = 0.32), or greater than for half siblings. Indirect reciprocity and collective action explain cooperation among fictive kin in the patrilineage as a whole: the old men at the apex of the lineage help to stabilize cooperation by using their gerontocratic authority to punish cheaters. However, kin selection is a more useful theory for explaining cooperative behavior within WEGs, and both qu...

Nikhil T. Kurapati

Papers

Neural circuitry of emotional face processing in autism spectrum disorders.

Neural Activation to Emotional Faces in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Religion as a means to assure paternity

Are humans cooperative breeders?: Most studies of natural fertility populations do not support the grandmother hypothesis

What Explains Patrilineal Cooperation