The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism
Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these ear...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.752274/full |
| _version_ | 1818964970458578944 |
|---|---|
| author | Peter Mundy Peter Mundy Jenifer Bullen |
| author_facet | Peter Mundy Peter Mundy Jenifer Bullen |
| author_sort | Peter Mundy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these early social attention symptoms and hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in their development. One model emphasizes mechanism involved in the spontaneous allocation of attention to faces, or social orienting. Alternatively, another model emphasizes mechanisms involved in the coordination of attention with other people, or joint attention, and the socially bi-directional nature of its development. This model raises the possibility that atypical responses of children to the attention or the gaze of a social partner directed toward themselves may be as important in the development of social attention symptoms as differences in the development of social orienting. Another model holds that symptoms of social attention may be important to early development, but may not impact older individuals with ASD. The alterative model is that the social attention symptoms in infancy (social orienting and joint attention), and social cognitive symptoms in childhood and adulthood share common neurodevelopmental substrates. Therefore, differences in early social attention and later social cognition constitute a developmentally continuous axis of symptom presentation in ASD. However, symptoms in older individuals may be best measured with in vivo measures of efficiency of social attention and social cognition in social interactions rather than the accuracy of response on analog tests used in measures with younger children. Finally, a third model suggests that the social attention symptoms may not truly be a symptom of ASD. Rather, they may be best conceptualized as stemming from differences domain general attention and motivation mechanisms. The alternative argued for here that infant social attention symptoms meet all the criteria of a unique dimension of the phenotype of ASD and the bi-directional phenomena involved in social attention cannot be fully explained in terms of domain general aspects of attention development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T13:09:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-209467b2c7504637b8208aabe3ddb9ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T13:09:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-209467b2c7504637b8208aabe3ddb9ba2022-12-21T19:39:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402022-01-011210.3389/fpsyt.2021.752274752274The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of AutismPeter Mundy0Peter Mundy1Jenifer Bullen2Department of Learning and Mind Sciences, School of Education, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and The MIND Institute, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, United StatesDepartment of Human Development, School of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDifferences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these early social attention symptoms and hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in their development. One model emphasizes mechanism involved in the spontaneous allocation of attention to faces, or social orienting. Alternatively, another model emphasizes mechanisms involved in the coordination of attention with other people, or joint attention, and the socially bi-directional nature of its development. This model raises the possibility that atypical responses of children to the attention or the gaze of a social partner directed toward themselves may be as important in the development of social attention symptoms as differences in the development of social orienting. Another model holds that symptoms of social attention may be important to early development, but may not impact older individuals with ASD. The alterative model is that the social attention symptoms in infancy (social orienting and joint attention), and social cognitive symptoms in childhood and adulthood share common neurodevelopmental substrates. Therefore, differences in early social attention and later social cognition constitute a developmentally continuous axis of symptom presentation in ASD. However, symptoms in older individuals may be best measured with in vivo measures of efficiency of social attention and social cognition in social interactions rather than the accuracy of response on analog tests used in measures with younger children. Finally, a third model suggests that the social attention symptoms may not truly be a symptom of ASD. Rather, they may be best conceptualized as stemming from differences domain general attention and motivation mechanisms. The alternative argued for here that infant social attention symptoms meet all the criteria of a unique dimension of the phenotype of ASD and the bi-directional phenomena involved in social attention cannot be fully explained in terms of domain general aspects of attention development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.752274/fulljoint attentionsocial orientingsocial motivationface processingdiagnosisintervention |
| spellingShingle | Peter Mundy Peter Mundy Jenifer Bullen The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism Frontiers in Psychiatry joint attention social orienting social motivation face processing diagnosis intervention |
| title | The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism |
| title_full | The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism |
| title_fullStr | The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism |
| title_short | The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism |
| title_sort | bidirectional social cognitive mechanisms of the social attention symptoms of autism |
| topic | joint attention social orienting social motivation face processing diagnosis intervention |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.752274/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT petermundy thebidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism AT petermundy thebidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism AT jeniferbullen thebidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism AT petermundy bidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism AT petermundy bidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism AT jeniferbullen bidirectionalsocialcognitivemechanismsofthesocialattentionsymptomsofautism |