Reward processing in autism

Abstract

The social motivation hypothesis of autism posits that infants with autism do not experience social stimuli as rewarding, thereby leading to a cascade of potentially negative consequences for later development. While possible downstream effects of this hypothesis such as altered face and voice processing have been examined, there has not been a direct investigation of social reward processing in autism. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine social and monetary rewarded implicit learning in children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Sixteen males with ASD and sixteen age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) males were scanned while performing two versions of a rewarded implicit learning task. In addition to examining responses to reward, we investigated the neural circuitry supporting rewarded learning and the relationship between these factors and social development. We found diminished neural responses to both social and monetary rewards in ASD, with a pronounced reduction in response to social rewards (SR). Children with ASD also demonstrated a further deficit in frontostriatal response during social, but not monetary, rewarded learning. Moreover, we show a relationship between ventral striatum activity and social reciprocity in TD children. Together, these data support the hypothesis that children with ASD have diminished neural responses to SR, and that this deficit relates to social learning impairments.

Dopaminergic Dynamics Contributing to Social Behavior

“…Recording in vivo during this behavioral test, higher NAc activity was also found when animals chose to explore the social chamber compared with the neutral one (Fig. 3C,D), suggesting that increased NAc activity is a correlate of native prosocial behavior independent of any exogenous neural manipulation, corroborating previous reports from human neuroimaging (Scott-Van Zeeland et al 2010).…”

“…Several neuroimaging studies have supported the notion of lacking social reward in ASD, accompanied by changes in striatal circuitry implicated in motivation. Several studies showed pronounced impairment in learning to choose social rewards compared with monetary rewards in ASD, which was associated with decreased frontostriatal response during social but not monetary reward learning (Scott-Van Zeeland et al 2010;Lin et al 2012). In typically developing children, the authors also found a positive correlation between ventral striatal activity and social reciprocity (Scott-Van Zeeland et al 2010).…”

“…Several studies showed pronounced impairment in learning to choose social rewards compared with monetary rewards in ASD, which was associated with decreased frontostriatal response during social but not monetary reward learning (Scott-Van Zeeland et al 2010;Lin et al 2012). In typically developing children, the authors also found a positive correlation between ventral striatal activity and social reciprocity (Scott-Van Zeeland et al 2010). Yet another study showed that oxytocin, a prosocial neuropeptide being explored as a potential therapy for ASD, enhances VTA activation to social reward and social punishment cues (Groppe et al 2013).…”

Modulation of motor cortex activity when observing rewarding and punishing actions

“…Arbib and Mundhenk (2005) extended this proposal and suggested that dysfunctions in the mirror neuron system may also contribute to deficits in self-monitoring in schizophrenia. Pathological conditions that express deficits in social cognition and social functioning have also been found to have underlying abnormalities in reward processing, including ASDs (Dichter, Richey, Rittenberg, Sabatino, & Bodfish, 2012;Scott-Van Zeeland, Dapretto, Ghahremani, Poldrack, & Bookheimer, 2010) and schizophrenia (Gold, Waltz, Prentice, Morris, & Heerey, 2008). It may be the case that in such clinical populations, patients may have abnormal experiences of reward and punishment from social stimuli, caused by an underlying general breakdown in reward processing.…”

Domain-general and domain-specific aspects of temporal discounting in children with ADHD and autism spectrum disorders (ASD): A proof of concept study

“…In particular, studies suggest an insensitivity to social reward (Demurie, Roeyers, Baeyens, & Sonuga-Barke, 2011;Garretson, Fein, & Waterhouse, 1990;Geurts, Luman, & van Meel, 2008;Schultz, 2005;Scott-Van Zeeland, Dapretto, Ghahremani, Poldrack, & Bookheimer, 2010; but see Dichter, Richey, Rittenberg, Sabatino, & Bodfish, 2012;Kohls et al, 2012).…”