The neural basis of social interaction perception and its disruption in autism spectrum disorder

项目摘要 自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的主要特征是社会交往和沟通方面的缺陷。 然而，尽管存在这些明显的行为差异，但很难将高层次社会关系中的差异隔离开来。 自闭症的大脑区域一个重要的研究领域是对他人社会行为的感知。 交互.认识到他人的社会互动--两个或更多人之间有指导的、偶然的行动-- 是人类认知的核心领域。人类在观看时快速而毫不费力地提取大量信息 社会互动，并使用这些信息来指导自己的行动。社会互动感知明显 在自闭症中，这些缺陷被破坏，但这些缺陷的大脑基础仍然未知。最近在后部的一个区域 神经型（NT）成人的上级颞沟在观看时被选择性地占用 其他人在受控刺激和自然电影观看期间的社会互动。关键是， 大脑的选择性从未在ASD中被研究过。这项研究的长期目标是了解 在受控和自然环境中社会互动感知的大脑基础，以及自闭症中的破坏。 我们的总体目标是确定高功能性神经元对社会互动的神经反应的差异。 使用控制和电影刺激的ASD患者。我们的核心假设是社会互动 在控制和自然环境中，在NT受试者中参与pSTS的相同区域，并且这 自闭症患者的活动显著减少。目标1将确定大脑区域，选择性地回应社会 NT科目使用控制和自然的电影功能磁共振成像范例的相互作用。先进的机器学习 这些方法将在观看电影期间隔离社会互动的独特神经贡献， 直接比较受控刺激，社会神经科学的现状，和自然的电影刺激， 这是一个令人兴奋的新范式，它与生态学更相关，更好地驱动神经反应，并打开了大门。 对新人群的研究，包括儿童和更多受影响的自闭症患者， .目标2将确定 在控制和电影刺激中，ASD受试者的大脑区域对社会互动有选择性， 它们不同于目标1中确定的神经典型脑反应。建议的研究将为我们提供一个直接的 在控制和自然环境中社会互动感知的神经基础的比较，以及 对ASD中社会互动感知的神经基础有清晰的理解。这项工作也将开创 使用自然刺激研究神经发育障碍，创造一个新的框架，以了解 神经基础的高层次社会知觉在一系列的临床人群。

Project Summary Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized largely by deficits in social interaction and communication. However, despite these clear behavioral differences it has been difficult to isolate differences in high-level social brain regions in ASD. One important area that has been under-studied is the perception of others’ social interactions. Recognizing others’ social interactions—directed, contingent actions between two or more people— is a core area of human cognition. Humans quickly and effortlessly extract a wealth of information when viewing a social interaction and use this information to guide their own actions. Social interaction perception is notably disrupted in autism, but the brain basis of these deficits are still unknown. Recently a region in the posterior superior temporal sulcus in neurotypical (NT) adults has been identified that is selectively engaged when viewing others’ social interactions in both controlled stimuli and during natural movie viewing. Critically, social interaction selectivity in the brain has never been studied in ASD. The long-term goal of this research is to understand the brain basis of social interaction perception in controlled and naturalistic contexts, and its disruption in autism. Our overall objective is to identify differences in neural response to social interactions in high-functioning individuals with ASD using both controlled and movie stimuli. Our central hypotheses are that social interactions engage the same region of the pSTS in NT subjects in both controlled and naturalistic settings, and that this activity is significantly decreased in autism. Aim 1 will identify the brain regions that selectively respond to social interactions in NT subjects using both controlled and natural movie fMRI paradigms. Advanced machine learning methods will isolate the unique neural contribution of social interactions during movie viewing, allowing the first direct comparison between controlled stimuli, the status quo in social neuroscience, and natural movie stimuli, an exciting new paradigm that is more ecologically relevant, better drives neural responses, and opens the door to studies of new populations, including children and more impacted individuals with autism . Aim 2 will identify the brain regions that are selective to social interactions in ASD subjects in controlled and movie stimuli and how they differ from neurotypical brain responses identified in Aim 1. The proposed study will provide us with a direct comparison of the neural basis of social interaction perception in controlled and naturalistic settings, as well as a clear understanding of the neural basis of social interaction perception in ASD. This work will also pioneer the use of natural stimuli for studies of neurodevelopmental disorders, creating a new framework to understand the neural basis of high-level social perception in a range of clinical populations.