DataSheet_1_Atypical Reward-Driven Modulation of Mimicry-Related Neural Activity in Autism.docx

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social functioning and difficulties in forming social bonds. According to the social motivation theory of ASD, people with ASD fail to attend social stimuli because they do not experience them as rewarding, resulting in deficits in social cognition. In neurotypical (NT) individuals, more rewarding faces have been shown to elicit greater spontaneous facial mimicry. This association between reward and mimicry is reduced in people with high autistic traits, suggesting that altered reward processing might explain the deficits in spontaneous facial mimicry observed in individuals with ASD. In a previous study, we observed that learned reward value of a face modulates mimicry-related neural response to it and that this modulation is reduced in people with high autistic traits. Using an identical evaluative conditioning paradigm where neutral faces were conditioned with high and low rewards, we tested the modulating effect of reward value on mimicry-related brain activity in a group of adults with and without ASD. We focused on the activity in a cluster within the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) identified through an independent meta-analysis of 139 neuroimaging studies of mimicry, in response to passively viewing videos of the conditioned faces. The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response contrast of high- vs. low-reward faces was reduced in participants with ASD compared to NT controls. The extent of reward-driven modulation was negatively correlated with autistic traits across the whole sample. Our results indicate that the mimicry-related brain response is less modulated by learned reward value in individuals with ASD when compared to NT controls. In previous studies, we found in a similar sample that being mimicked by faces was associated with less reward-related brain response in individuals ASD compared to an NT sample, suggesting that the link between reward and mimicry is affected in both directions in ASD. Together, this reduced bidirectional link between reward and mimicry can point to a potential mechanism underlying some of the social cognitive features of ASD.

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）以其社交功能缺陷和建立社交联系困难为特征。根据自闭症谱系障碍的社交动机理论，自闭症谱系障碍患者未能关注社交刺激，因为他们并未将其视为具有奖赏性，从而导致了社交认知的缺陷。在神经典型（NT）个体中，研究表明，更具奖赏性的面孔能引发更强烈的自发面部模仿。这种奖赏与模仿之间的关联在具有高度自闭症特质的人群中减弱，暗示了奖赏处理方式的改变可能解释了自闭症谱系障碍个体所观察到的自发面部模仿缺陷。在先前的研究中，我们观察到面孔的学习奖赏价值调节了对该面孔的模仿相关神经反应，并且这种调节在具有高度自闭症特质的人群中减弱。我们采用了一种相同的评价性条件化范式，其中中性面孔被条件化为高奖励和低奖励，以测试奖励价值对自闭症谱系障碍个体和非自闭症谱系障碍个体模仿相关大脑活动调节效应。我们关注了通过独立荟萃分析139项模仿神经影像学研究确定的下额叶回（IFG）内簇群的活动，这些研究针对被动观看条件化面孔的视频。与神经典型对照组相比，自闭症谱系障碍参与者的高奖励与低奖励面孔的血液氧水平依赖（BOLD）响应对比减弱。在整个样本中，奖励驱动的调节程度与自闭症特质呈负相关。我们的结果表明，与神经典型对照组相比，自闭症谱系障碍个体的模仿相关大脑反应较少受到学习奖赏价值的调节。在先前的研究中，我们发现，在一个相似的样本中，与面孔的模仿相关联的自闭症谱系障碍个体比神经典型样本表现出较少的与奖励相关的脑部反应，这表明在自闭症谱系障碍中，奖励与模仿之间的联系在双向上均受到影响。总之，这种奖励与模仿之间减少的双向联系可能指向自闭症谱系障碍某些社交认知特征的潜在机制。