Pearl H. Chiu

Self responses along cingulate cortex reveal quantitative neural phenotype for high-functioning autism.

Attributing behavioral outcomes correctly to oneself or to other agents is essential for all productive social exchange. We approach this issue in high-functioning males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using two separate fMRI paradigms. First, using a visual imagery task, we extract a basis set for responses along the cingulate cortex of control subjects that reveals an agent-specific eigenvector (self eigenmode) associated with imagining oneself executing a specific motor act. Second, we show that the same self eigenmode arises during ones own decision (the self phase) in an interpersonal exchange game (iterated trust game). Third, using this exchange game, we show that ASD males exhibit a severely diminished cingulate self response when playing the game with a human partner. This diminishment covaries parametrically with their behaviorally assessed symptom severity, suggesting its value as an objective endophenotype. These findings may provide a quantitative assessment tool for high-functioning ASD.

Social-cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation impairments: understanding anxiety in autism spectrum disorder.

Anxiety is one of the most common clinical problems among children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet we know little about its etiology in the context of ASD. We posit that emotion regulation (ER) impairments are a risk factor for anxiety in ASD. Specifically, we propose that one reason why anxiety disorders are so frequently comorbid with ASD is because ER impairments are ubiquitous to ASD, stemming from socio‐cognitive, physiological, and neurological processes related to impaired cognitive control, regulatory processes, and arousal. In this review, we offer a developmental model of how ER impairments may arise in ASD, and when (moderating influences) and how (meditational mechanisms) they result in anxiety.

Understanding Interpersonal Function in Psychiatric Illness Through Multiplayer Economic Games

Interpersonal factors play significant roles in the onset, maintenance, and remission of psychiatric conditions. In the current major diagnostic classification systems for psychiatric disorders, some conditions are defined by the presence of impairments in social interaction or maintaining interpersonal relationships; these include autism, social phobia, and the personality disorders. Other psychopathologies confer significant difficulties in the social domain, including major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychotic disorders. Still other mental health conditions, including substance abuse and eating disorders, seem to be exacerbated or triggered in part by the influence of social peers. For each of these and other psychiatric conditions, the extent and quality of social support is a strong determinant of outcome such that high social support predicts symptom improvement and remission. Despite the central role of interpersonal factors in psychiatric illness, the neurobiology of social impairments remains largely unexplored, in part due to difficulties eliciting and quantifying interpersonal processes in a parametric manner. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging, combined with multiplayer exchange games drawn from behavioral economics, and computational/quantitative approaches more generally, provide a fitting paradigm within which to study interpersonal function and dysfunction in psychiatric conditions. In this review, we outline the importance of interpersonal factors in psychiatric illness and discuss ways in which neuroeconomics provides a tractable framework within which to examine the neurobiology of social dysfunction.

Depressive Symptoms and Mental Health Treatment in an Ethnoracially Diverse College Student Sample

Abstract Objectives: To study (a) the prevalence of depressive symptoms and (b) the utilization of mental health treatment in an ethnoracially diverse sample consisting primarily of Asian Americans, European Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Participants: Five hundred eighty-nine college students. Method: A questionnaire packet that included the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered to students in introductory psychology courses. Results: (a) There were no differences among ethnoracial groups in levels of depressive symptoms as measured by the CES-D; (b) 71% of participants with high levels of depressive symptoms had not received any mental health treatment in the previous 12 months; and (c) European Americans were 3.7 times more likely to have received mental health treatment in the previous 12 months than other students. Conclusion: Outreach efforts designed to improve utilization of mental health treatment services by depressed college students, especially by members of ethnoracial minority groups, should be increased.

Damage To Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Affects Tradeoffs Between Honesty And Self-Interest

Substantial correlational evidence suggests that prefrontal regions are critical to honest and dishonest behavior, but causal evidence specifying the nature of this involvement remains absent. We found that lesions of the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) decreased the effect of honesty concerns on behavior in economic games that pit honesty motives against self-interest, but did not affect decisions when honesty concerns were absent. These results point to a causal role for DLPFC in honest behavior.

Contingent Negative Variation to Emotional In- and Out-Group Stimuli Differentiates High- and Low-Prejudiced Individuals

Low- and high-prejudiced individuals exhibited differential cortical and behavioral responses to the pending and actual evaluation of emotional in- and out-group faces. Participants viewed warning stimuli indicating the subsequent presentation of an angry or happy African-American or Caucasian face. Upon presentation of the face, participants judged whether they would enjoy working with the individual. The contingent negative variation (CNV) component of the event-related potential in response to the pending presentation of in- and out-group emotional stimuli distinguished low- from high-prejudiced individuals. Specifically, low-prejudiced individuals showed greater early CNV in anticipation of angry African-American targets, and increased reaction time to evaluating these faces. High-prejudiced individuals showed decreased early CNV in anticipation of angry African-American faces, accompanied by decreased response latencies, and enhanced CNV in anticipation of happy Caucasian faces. Notably, no group differences emerged in either the pending or actual evaluation of happy out-group faces. The data are discussed with regard to implications for understanding the nature of prejudice, and underscore both the importance of emotional expression on how a target is appraised and also the utility of using converging measures to clarify processes that may contribute to social behavior.

Risky decision making in a laboratory driving task is associated with health risk behaviors during late adolescence but not adulthood

Adolescence is characterized by increasing incidence of health risk behaviors, including experimentation with drugs and alcohol. To fill the gap in our understanding of the associations between risky decision-making and health risk behaviors, we investigated associations between laboratory-based risky decision-making using the Stoplight task and self-reported health risk behaviors. Given that there has been no examination of potential age differences in the associations between risky decision-making and health risk behaviors, we also examined whether the association of risky decision-making with health risk behaviors is consistent across adolescence and adulthood using two-group structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated significant differences across the two age groups: adolescents (17–20 year olds) who took more risks on the Stoplight task reported greater frequency and earlier onset of substance use, whereas stoplight performance was not associated with substance use frequency or onset among adults (31–61 year olds). Our findings suggest that a laboratory-based measure of risky decision-making is significantly related to health risk behaviors among adolescents but not among adults.

Diminished neural responses predict enhanced intrinsic motivation and sensitivity to external incentive

The duration and quality of human performance depend on both intrinsic motivation and external incentives. However, little is known about the neuroscientific basis of this interplay between internal and external motivators. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation, operationalized as the free-choice time spent on a task when this was not required, and tested the neural and behavioral effects of external reward on intrinsic motivation. We found that increased duration of free-choice time was predicted by generally diminished neural responses in regions associated with cognitive and affective regulation. By comparison, the possibility of additional reward improved task accuracy, and specifically increased neural and behavioral responses following errors. Those individuals with the smallest neural responses associated with intrinsic motivation exhibited the greatest error-related neural enhancement under the external contingency of possible reward. Together, these data suggest that human performance is guided by a “tonic” and “phasic” relationship between the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation (tonic) and the impact of external incentives (phasic).

Alterations in affective processing of attack images following September 11, 2001†‡

The events of September 11, 2001 created unprecedented uncertainty about safety in the United States and created an aftermath with significant psychological impact across the world. This study examined emotional information encoding in 31 healthy individuals whose stress response symptoms ranged from none to a moderate level shortly after the attacks as assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Participants viewed attack-related, negative (but attack-irrelevant), and neutral images while their event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Attack images elicited enhanced P300 relative to negative and neutral images, and emotional images prompted larger slow waves than neutral images did. Total symptoms were correlated with altered N2, P300, and slow wave responses during valence processing. Specifically, hyperarousal and intrusion symptoms were associated with diminished stimulus discrimination between neutral and unpleasant images; avoidance symptoms were associated with hypervigilance, as suggested by reduced P300 difference between attack and other images and reduced appraisal of attack images as indicated by attenuated slow wave. The findings in this minimally symptomatic sample are compatible with the alterations in cognition in the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) literature and are consistent with a dimensional model of PTSD.

Executive functioning and substance use in adolescence: Neurobiological and behavioral perspectives

&NA; The current review is guided by the theoretical perspective that emphasizes the regulating role of executive functioning (Carver et al., 2009) and presents studies that elucidate the ways that executive functioning (inhibition and working memory) explain individual differences in adolescent substance use independently or by regulating the reactive system (reward and punishment sensitivity). Behavioral studies indicate that main effects of executive functioning on adolescent substance use are often nonsignificant or weak in effect sizes. In contrast, emerging evidence suggests consistent and stronger regulating effects of executive functioning over reward and punishment sensitivity. Functional neuroimaging studies reveal significant associations between executive functioning task‐related hemodynamic responses and substance use with strong effect sizes. There is also direct evidence from studies testing statistical interactions of the regulating effects of EF‐related brain activation, and indirect evidence in studies examining functional connectivity, temporal discounting, and reinforced control. We note key future directions and ways to address limitations in existing work. HighlightsExtant literature suggests a regulatory system represented by executive functioning (EF).Main effects of EF on adolescent substance use are weak in behavioral research.The reward/punishment sensitivity and EF interaction predicts substance use.Research should consider regulating effects of EF at neural and behavioral levels.