Task-based functional neural correlates of social cognition across autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Lindsay D Oliver, Iska Moxon-Emre, Colin Hawco and 16 others
PMID 39252047WHAT IT FOUND
Brain scans did not separate autism, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and controls.
But across all groups, better social cognition scores tracked with stronger activation in social brain regions during an empathic accuracy task. The empathy task, not the imitation task, may work best for tracking brain changes in trials.
Key findings
01No significant group differences were detected in brain activation during the Imitate/Observe task or the empathic accuracy task between autism, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, and control groups.
02Across all diagnostic groups, both lower-level simulation and higher-level mentalizing scores were positively associated with brain activation during the empathic accuracy task.
03The autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorder groups both scored lower than controls on social cognitive measures, with the schizophrenia spectrum disorder group scoring lower than the autism group on empathic accuracy and mentalizing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The groups differed significantly in age, race, ethnicity, and education, even after attempts to match them. There were fewer female participants in the autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorder groups, limiting the ability to test for sex effects. The study only included participants with IQ scores in the average range, so findings do not generalize to those with co-occurring intellectual disability. Medication status was not accounted for in the analysis, though participants were clinically stable. The study design was cross-sectional, comparing different people at one time point, rather than following the same people over time.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors declared no other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of brain activation differences between diagnostic groups as proof that autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders share identical neural mechanisms for social cognition. The authors note that high variability within groups may have obscured true differences, and the study was not powered to detect small effects.