Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults
Earlier research demonstrated robust cerebellar involvement in sequencing, including high-level social information sequencing that requires mental state attributions, termed mentalizing. Earlier research also found cerebellar deficiencies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which are characterized by...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.946482/full |
| _version_ | 1811211020613451776 |
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| author | Elien Heleven Tom Bylemans Qianying Ma Chris Baeken Chris Baeken Kris Baetens |
| author_facet | Elien Heleven Tom Bylemans Qianying Ma Chris Baeken Chris Baeken Kris Baetens |
| author_sort | Elien Heleven |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Earlier research demonstrated robust cerebellar involvement in sequencing, including high-level social information sequencing that requires mental state attributions, termed mentalizing. Earlier research also found cerebellar deficiencies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which are characterized by social difficulties. However, studies on high-level social sequencing functionality by persons with ASD are almost non-existent. In this study, we, therefore, perform a comparison between behavioral performances of high-functioning ASD and neurotypical participants on the Picture and Verbal Sequencing Tasks. In these tasks, participants are requested to put separate events (depicted in cartoon-like pictures or behavioral sentences, respectively) in their correct chronological order. To do so, some of these events require understanding of high-level social beliefs, of social routines (i.e., scripts), or nonsocial mechanical functionality. As expected, on the Picture Sequencing task, we observed longer response times for persons with ASD (in comparison with neurotypical controls) when ordering sequences requiring an understanding of social beliefs and social scripts, but not when ordering nonsocial mechanical events. This confirms our hypotheses that social sequence processing is impaired in ASD. The verbal version of this task did not reveal differences between groups. Our results are the first step toward new theoretical insights for social impairments of persons with ASD. They highlight the importance of taking into account sequence processing, and indirectly the cerebellum when investigating ASD difficulties. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:05:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e71274483954cad8ade76fa46ecb2ec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:05:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e71274483954cad8ade76fa46ecb2ec2022-12-22T03:46:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532022-09-011610.3389/fnbeh.2022.946482946482Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adultsElien Heleven0Tom Bylemans1Qianying Ma2Chris Baeken3Chris Baeken4Kris Baetens5Brain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumBrain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumBrain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumBrain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumDepartment of Head and Skin (UZGent), Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumBrain Body and Cognition, Department of Psychology, and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumEarlier research demonstrated robust cerebellar involvement in sequencing, including high-level social information sequencing that requires mental state attributions, termed mentalizing. Earlier research also found cerebellar deficiencies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which are characterized by social difficulties. However, studies on high-level social sequencing functionality by persons with ASD are almost non-existent. In this study, we, therefore, perform a comparison between behavioral performances of high-functioning ASD and neurotypical participants on the Picture and Verbal Sequencing Tasks. In these tasks, participants are requested to put separate events (depicted in cartoon-like pictures or behavioral sentences, respectively) in their correct chronological order. To do so, some of these events require understanding of high-level social beliefs, of social routines (i.e., scripts), or nonsocial mechanical functionality. As expected, on the Picture Sequencing task, we observed longer response times for persons with ASD (in comparison with neurotypical controls) when ordering sequences requiring an understanding of social beliefs and social scripts, but not when ordering nonsocial mechanical events. This confirms our hypotheses that social sequence processing is impaired in ASD. The verbal version of this task did not reveal differences between groups. Our results are the first step toward new theoretical insights for social impairments of persons with ASD. They highlight the importance of taking into account sequence processing, and indirectly the cerebellum when investigating ASD difficulties.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.946482/fullsocial action sequencingautismpicture sequencing taskverbal sequencing tasksocial cognitionmentalizing |
| spellingShingle | Elien Heleven Tom Bylemans Qianying Ma Chris Baeken Chris Baeken Kris Baetens Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience social action sequencing autism picture sequencing task verbal sequencing task social cognition mentalizing |
| title | Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| title_full | Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| title_fullStr | Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| title_short | Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| title_sort | impaired sequence generation a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults |
| topic | social action sequencing autism picture sequencing task verbal sequencing task social cognition mentalizing |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.946482/full |
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