Autism, Emotional Processing, and the Amygdala

NCT04549506 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: YM102035
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 51
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Empathy imbalance hypothesis suggests that individuals with autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) should have a deficit of cognitive empathy and a surfeit of emotional empathy. Considering that inconsistent amygdala reactivity to emotional faces might be ascribed to aberrant attention in ASD, the investigators hypothesized to investigate if there would be an imbalance between conscious and nonconscious emotional processing. This fMRI study recruited 26 youths and young adults with autism spectrum disorder and 25 matched controls, and measured their amygdala reactivity and functional connectivity in response to conscious and nonconscious (backward masked) perception of threatening faces. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder; amygdala reactivity; emotional processing; fMRI

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Age

  Age in years

  1 minutes

• Anxiety scores

  State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

  10 minutes

• Severity of Austism-Spectrum Disorders

  Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ)

  20 minutes

• Color identification task

  During fMRI scanning, subjects watched emotional faces and performed the color identification task, in which they were asked to judge the color of each face (pseudo-colored in either red, yellow, or blue) and to indicate the answer by a keypad button press.

  10 minutes

• Detection task

  Immediately after fMRI scanning, participants underwent the detection task, during which they were shown all of the stimuli again and alerted of the presence of fearful faces. The subjects were administered a forced-choice test under the same presentation conditions as those during scanning and asked to indicate whether they observed a fearful face or not.

  10 minutes

• fMRI response

  During fMRI scanning, subjects watched emotional faces and performed the color identification task, in which they were asked to judge the color of each face (pseudo-colored in either red, yellow, or blue) and to indicate the answer by a keypad button press.

  10 minutes

Study Arms (2)

ASD group

There is no intervention to be administered in this study. Here, this fMRI study used the backwardly masked paradigm to elucidate how perceiving emotional expressions affects amygdala engagement and its related functional connectivity across two participant groups: ASD with and controls. All ASD participants were diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition's (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria (APA, 2013) and confirmed by clinical consensus. ASD individuals were recruited from a community autism program and referred to children's health doctors and child psychiatrists. Exclusion criteria for all participants were neurological abnormalities, a history of epilepsy or seizures, head trauma and IQ \<75. The subjects did not participate in any intervention or drug programs during the experimental period.

Control group

There is no intervention to be administered in this study. Here, this fMRI study used the backwardly masked paradigm to elucidate how perceiving emotional expressions affects amygdala engagement and its related functional connectivity across two participant groups: ASD with and controls. The participants in the age- and sex-matched control group were recruited from the local community, and screened for major psychiatric illnesses by conducting structured interviews.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Autism group: 26 individuals with ASD meeting DSM-V criteria Control group: 25 gender, and age matched healthy controls

You may qualify if:

• Clinical diagnosis of severity of Autism-Spectrum Disorders
• IQ \> 75

You may not qualify if:

• Neurological abnormalities,
• A history of epilepsy or seizures, head trauma a
• IQ \<75

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Yawei Cheng: lead

Related Publications (5)

• Liddell BJ, Williams LM, Rathjen J, Shevrin H, Gordon E. A temporal dissociation of subliminal versus supraliminal fear perception: an event-related potential study. J Cogn Neurosci. 2004 Apr;16(3):479-86. doi: 10.1162/089892904322926809.

  PMID: 15072682 BACKGROUND

• Williams LM, Kemp AH, Felmingham K, Liddell BJ, Palmer DM, Bryant RA. Neural biases to covert and overt signals of fear: dissociation by trait anxiety and depression. J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 Oct;19(10):1595-608. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.10.1595.

  PMID: 17854280 BACKGROUND

• Schumann CM, Amaral DG. Stereological analysis of amygdala neuron number in autism. J Neurosci. 2006 Jul 19;26(29):7674-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1285-06.2006.

  PMID: 16855095 BACKGROUND

• Eimer M, Kiss M, Holmes A. Links between rapid ERP responses to fearful faces and conscious awareness. J Neuropsychol. 2008 Mar;2(Pt 1):165-81. doi: 10.1348/174866407X245411.

  PMID: 19330049 BACKGROUND

• Hall GB, Doyle KA, Goldberg J, West D, Szatmari P. Amygdala engagement in response to subthreshold presentations of anxious face stimuli in adults with autism spectrum disorders: preliminary insights. PLoS One. 2010 May 25;5(5):e10804. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010804.

  PMID: 20520836 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 20, 2017
• First Posted: September 16, 2020
• Study Start: April 19, 2014
• Primary Completion: September 21, 2016
• Study Completion: June 16, 2017
• Last Updated: September 16, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share