Barman Adriana, Richter Sylvia, Soch Joram, Deibele Anna, Richter Anni, Assmann Anne, Wüstenberg Torsten, Walter Henrik, Seidenbecher Constanze I, Schott Björn H
Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Nov;10(11):1537-47. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsv044. Epub 2015 May 4.
Autism spectrum disorder refers to a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterized by deficits in social cognition and behavior. Subclinically, autistic features are supposed to be present in healthy humans and can be quantified using the Autism Quotient (AQ). Here, we investigated a potential relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social and monetary reward processing, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in young, healthy participants. In an incentive delay task with either monetary or social reward, reward anticipation elicited increased ventral striatal activation, which was more pronounced during monetary reward anticipation. Anticipation of social reward elicited activation in the default mode network (DMN), a network previously implicated in social processing. Social reward feedback was associated with bilateral amygdala and fusiform face area activation. The relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social reward processing varied in a gender-dependent manner. In women and, to a lesser extent in men, higher AQ was associated with increased posterior DMN activation during social reward anticipation. During feedback, we observed a negative correlation of AQ and right amygdala activation in men only. Our results suggest that social reward processing might constitute an endophenotype for autism-related traits in healthy humans that manifests in a gender-specific way.
自闭症谱系障碍是一种神经发育状况，主要特征是社交认知和行为存在缺陷。在亚临床层面，健康人身上也被认为存在自闭症特征，并且可以使用自闭症商数（AQ）进行量化。在此，我们利用功能磁共振成像技术，对年轻健康参与者进行研究，以探究AQ与社交和金钱奖励处理的神经关联之间的潜在关系。在一个涉及金钱或社交奖励的激励延迟任务中，奖励预期引发腹侧纹状体激活增加，在金钱奖励预期期间这种激活更为明显。社交奖励预期引发默认模式网络（DMN）激活，该网络先前被认为与社交处理有关。社交奖励反馈与双侧杏仁核和梭状面孔区激活相关。AQ与社交奖励处理的神经关联之间的关系因性别而异。在女性中，以及在较小程度上在男性中，较高的AQ与社交奖励预期期间后扣带回默认模式网络激活增加有关。在反馈过程中，我们仅在男性中观察到AQ与右侧杏仁核激活呈负相关。我们的结果表明，社交奖励处理可能构成健康人自闭症相关特质的一种内表型，且以性别特异性方式表现出来。
