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Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Behavioral studies have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired ability to read the mind in the eyes. Although this impairment is central to their social malfunctioning, its structural neural correlates remain unclear. To investigate this issue, we assessed Reading t...

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Autores principales: Sato, Wataru, Uono, Shota, Kochiyama, Takanori, Yoshimura, Sayaka, Sawada, Reiko, Kubota, Yasutaka, Sakihama, Morimitsu, Toichi, Motomi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28747876
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00361
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author Sato, Wataru
Uono, Shota
Kochiyama, Takanori
Yoshimura, Sayaka
Sawada, Reiko
Kubota, Yasutaka
Sakihama, Morimitsu
Toichi, Motomi
author_facet Sato, Wataru
Uono, Shota
Kochiyama, Takanori
Yoshimura, Sayaka
Sawada, Reiko
Kubota, Yasutaka
Sakihama, Morimitsu
Toichi, Motomi
author_sort Sato, Wataru
collection PubMed
description Behavioral studies have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired ability to read the mind in the eyes. Although this impairment is central to their social malfunctioning, its structural neural correlates remain unclear. To investigate this issue, we assessed Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, revised version (Eyes Test) and acquired structural magnetic resonance images in adults with high-functioning ASD (n = 19) and age-, sex- and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing (TD) controls (n = 19). On the behavioral level, the Eyes Test scores were lower in the ASD group than in the control group. On the neural level, an interaction between group and Eyes Test score was found in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ). A positive association between the Eyes Test score and gray matter volume of this region was evident in the control group, but not in the ASD group. This finding suggests that the failure to develop appropriate structural neural representations in the TPJ may underlie the impaired ability of individuals with ASD to read the mind in the eyes. These behavioral and neural findings provide support for the theories that impairments in processing eyes and the ability to infer others’ mental states are the core symptoms of ASD, and that atypical features in the social brain network underlie such impairments.
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spelling pubmed-55061862017-07-26 Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder Sato, Wataru Uono, Shota Kochiyama, Takanori Yoshimura, Sayaka Sawada, Reiko Kubota, Yasutaka Sakihama, Morimitsu Toichi, Motomi Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience Behavioral studies have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired ability to read the mind in the eyes. Although this impairment is central to their social malfunctioning, its structural neural correlates remain unclear. To investigate this issue, we assessed Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, revised version (Eyes Test) and acquired structural magnetic resonance images in adults with high-functioning ASD (n = 19) and age-, sex- and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing (TD) controls (n = 19). On the behavioral level, the Eyes Test scores were lower in the ASD group than in the control group. On the neural level, an interaction between group and Eyes Test score was found in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ). A positive association between the Eyes Test score and gray matter volume of this region was evident in the control group, but not in the ASD group. This finding suggests that the failure to develop appropriate structural neural representations in the TPJ may underlie the impaired ability of individuals with ASD to read the mind in the eyes. These behavioral and neural findings provide support for the theories that impairments in processing eyes and the ability to infer others’ mental states are the core symptoms of ASD, and that atypical features in the social brain network underlie such impairments. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5506186/ /pubmed/28747876 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00361 Text en Copyright © 2017 Sato, Uono, Kochiyama, Yoshimura, Sawada, Kubota, Sakihama and Toichi. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Sato, Wataru
Uono, Shota
Kochiyama, Takanori
Yoshimura, Sayaka
Sawada, Reiko
Kubota, Yasutaka
Sakihama, Morimitsu
Toichi, Motomi
Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_fullStr Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full_unstemmed Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_short Structural Correlates of Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_sort structural correlates of reading the mind in the eyes in autism spectrum disorder
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28747876
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00361
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