Atypical connectivity between the sensorimotor and salience networks for observed touch in autism
Poster No:
346
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Haemy Lee Masson1
Institutions:
1Psychology Department, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
First Author:
Introduction:
Autistic adults experience difficulties in recognizing social and emotional cues during social interactions. In the context of social touch, brain imaging studies have shown that these challenges may be linked to atypical somatosensory responses to affective cues displayed in touch gestures (Lee Masson et al., 2019). Neurotypical adults (NT) easily interpret the meaning of touch during mere observation (Lee Masson and Op de Beeck, 2018). The neural mechanism supporting this ability involves increased communication between brain networks involved in visual, somatosensory, and social processing (Lee Masson et al., 2020). In autism, it is unclear how functional communication between these networks is modulated in response to social vs. nonsocial touch. The current study aims to determine how brain networks involved in various cognitive functions work together to process complex social touch information in autism spectrum condition (ASC).
Methods:
Forty-two adults watched 39 social (e.g., hugging a person) and 36 nonsocial video clips (e.g., carrying a box) during MRI scans in our previous study (Lee Masson et al., 2019). Independent component analysis (ICA) applied to this dataset yielded 28 brain networks. Nine networks were associated with noise (e.g., networks located in the ventricles). The temporal sorting method identified ten brain networks that showed temporally coherent BOLD signal fluctuations during touch observation. These task-relevant networks include visual, social perceptual, sensorimotor, executive control, four default mode, and two salience networks (Figure 1). A generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis was applied to these networks to examine changes in functional connectivity during social vs. nonsocial touch observation. Finally, subject-level gPPI results were analyzed using a mixed-model repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with one between-subjects (group: NT vs. ASC) and one within-subjects factor (touch type: social vs. nonsocial).
Results:
A mixed model ANOVA on gPPI results, with multiple comparisons correction, revealed a significant group x condition interaction in the strength of functional connectivity between the sensorimotor and salience networks (F (1, 40) = 15.1, P FDR = 0.02). The sensorimotor network encompasses the bilateral precentral and postcentral gyrus along with the parietal operculum. The salience network consists of bilateral insula, middle and superior temporal gyrus (MTG and STG). In NT adults, these networks demonstrated enhanced functional synchronization during the observation of social touch (T (20) = 2.73, P = 0.01), whereas enhanced functional synchronization was observed in autistic adults during nonsocial condition (T (20) = -2.76, P = 0.01). No other network pairs showed significant differences in the strength of connectivity between the two groups.
Conclusions:
The postcentral gyrus and insula, which are part of the sensorimotor and salience networks respectively, have previously been implicated in vicarious affective touch (Morrison et al., 2011; Bolognini et al., 2013). Salience network 1 includes mid to anterior MTG and STG implicated in social processing. The current findings suggest that, even though autistic adults exhibit a comparable functional network architecture during touch observation, the atypical communication patterns between the sensorimotor and salience networks may be associated with the inefficient use of affective touch as a communicative tool during social interactions. Hyper-connectivity in the salience network has been linked to sensory over-responsivity in autism (Green et al., 2016). The challenges in recognizing social touch expressions in autism may be attributed to an atypical allocation of attention to nonsocial information rather than relevant social cues.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Social Cognition 2
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural)
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Perception: Visual
Keywords:
Autism
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Social Interactions
Somatosensory
Vision
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
·Figure 1
·Figure 2
Provide references using author date format
Green SA, Hernandez L, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M (2016) Salience network connectivity in autism is related to brain and behavioral markers of sensory overresponsivity. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 55:618–626.
Lee Masson H, Op de Beeck H (2018) Socio-affective touch expression database. PLOS ONE 13:e0190921.
Lee Masson H, Pillet I, Amelynck S, Van De Plas S, Hendriks M, Op De Beeck H, Boets B (2019) Intact neural representations of affective meaning of touch but lack of embodied resonance in autism: a multi-voxel pattern analysis study. Molecular Autism 10:39.
Lee Masson H, Pillet I, Boets B, Op de Beeck H (2020) Task-dependent changes in functional connectivity during the observation of social and non-social touch interaction. Cortex 125.
Morrison I, Bjornsdotter M, Olausson H (2011) Vicarious Responses to Social Touch in Posterior Insular Cortex Are Tuned to Pleasant Caressing Speeds. Journal of Neuroscience 31:9554–9562.
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