A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Neural responses to biological motion distinguish autistic and schizotypal traits
Authors: Hudson Matthew, Santavirta Severi, Putkinen Vesa, Seppälä Kerttu, Sun Lihua, Karjalainen Tomi, Karlsson Henry K, Hirvonen Jussi, Nummenmaa Lauri
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Publication year: 2023
Journal: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Journal name in source: SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Journal acronym: SOC COGN AFFECT NEUR
Article number: nsad011
Volume: 18
Issue: 1
Number of pages: 12
ISSN: 1749-5016
eISSN: 1749-5024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsad011
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsad011
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/179313168
Difficulties in social interactions characterize both autism and schizophrenia and are correlated in the neurotypical population. It is unknown whether this represents a shared etiology or superficial phenotypic overlap. Both conditions exhibit atypical neural activity in response to the perception of social stimuli and decreased neural synchronization between individuals. This study investigated if neural activity and neural synchronization associated with biological motion perception are differentially associated with autistic and schizotypal traits in the neurotypical population. Participants viewed naturalistic social interactions while hemodynamic brain activity was measured with fMRI, which was modeled against a continuous measure of the extent of biological motion. General linear model analysis revealed that biological motion perception was associated with neural activity across the action observation network. However, intersubject phase synchronization analysis revealed neural activity to be synchronized between individuals in occipital and parietal areas but desynchronized in temporal and frontal regions. Autistic traits were associated with decreased neural activity (precuneus and middle cingulate gyrus), and schizotypal traits were associated with decreased neural synchronization (middle and inferior frontal gyri). Biological motion perception elicits divergent patterns of neural activity and synchronization, which dissociate autistic and schizotypal traits in the general population, suggesting that they originate from different neural mechanisms.
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