Social and monetary reward processing in autism spectrum disorders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Research

Background:

• Social motivation theory posits that impaired social reward processing contributes to social deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Previous research has not clarified whether reward processing abnormalities in ASD are specific to social stimuli or extend to other reward types.
• Understanding these distinctions is crucial for developing targeted interventions for ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if reward processing abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are specific to social stimuli or generalize to monetary rewards.
• To explore the relationship between reward processing and behavioral impairments observed in ASD.

Main Methods:

• Utilized adapted social and monetary incentive delay tasks in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study.
• Analyzed blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses during reward anticipation and receipt in 21 males with ASD and 21 age/IQ-matched controls.
• Employed a factorial design to compare brain activity between groups and across reward types.

Main Results:

• Behaviorally, the ASD group exhibited a smaller reduction in reaction time for rewarded versus unrewarded trials compared to controls.
• fMRI revealed no significant group differences in reward circuitry during reward anticipation.
• During reward receipt, a significant interaction in the dorsal striatum (DS) showed reduced activity in the ASD group for social rewards, but not monetary rewards, compared to controls.

Conclusions:

• The ASD group demonstrated reduced dorsal striatum (DS) activation during the receipt of social rewards, supporting social motivation theory.
• No significant differences in processing monetary rewards were found between groups.
• DS activation during social reward processing was correlated with behavioral impairments in ASD, including repetitive behaviors.