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Recent theories propose that autism is characterized by an impairment in determining when to learn and when not. We investigated this by estimating learning rate in environments varying in volatility and uncertainty. Specifically, we correlated autistic traits (in 163 neurotypical participants) with modelled learning behaviour during probabilistic reward learning under the following three conditions: a Stationary Low Noise condition with stable reward contingencies, a Volatile condition with changing reward contingencies and a Stationary High Noise condition where reward probabilities for all options were 60%, resulting in an uncertain, noisy environment. Consistent with earlier findings, we found less optimal decision-making in the Volatile condition for participants with more autistic traits. However, we observed no correlations between underlying adjustments in learning rates and autistic traits, suggesting no impairment in updating learning rates in response to volatile versus noisy environments. Exploratory analyses indicated that impaired performance in the Volatile condition in participants with more autistic traits, was specific to trials with reward contingencies opposite to those initially learned, suggesting a primacy bias. We conclude that performance in volatile environments is lower in participants with more autistic traits, but this cannot be unambiguously attributed to difficulties with adjusting learning rates.

This review was performed to investigate the characteristics of vestibular dysfunctions in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). The majority of the included studies reported central and/or peripheral vestibular aberrations in a subset of these children. These alterations may result in symptoms of distorted motor coordination or postural instability, and might explain some of the balance problems observed in this population. However, high-quality studies with an extensive vestibular test battery are required to further characterize the vestibular function in NDDs since current findings are ambiguous and mainly based on evaluation of the horizontal semicircular canals alone. Importantly, since vestibular dysfunctions may result in comparable characteristics as found in NDDs, clinicians should be aware of these similarities when establishing the NDD diagnosis.

Extensive research has shown that observers are able to efficiently extract summary information from groups of people. However, little is known about the cues that determine whether multiple people are represented as a social group or as independent individuals. Initial research on this topic has primarily focused on the role of static cues. Here, we instead investigate the role of dynamic cues. In two experiments with male and female human participants, we use EEG frequency tagging to investigate the influence of two fundamental Gestalt principles ‐ synchrony and common fate ‐ on the grouping of biological movements. In Experiment 1, we find that brain responses coupled to four point‐light figures walking together are enhanced when they move in sync vs. out of sync, but only when they are presented upright. In contrast, we found no effect of movement direction (i.e., common fate). In Experiment 2, we rule out that synchrony takes precedence over common fate by replicating the null effect of movement direction while keeping synchrony constant. These results suggest that synchrony plays an important role in the processing of biological group movements. In contrast, the role of common fate is less clear and will require further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with problems in empathy. Recent research suggests that impaired control over self-other overlap based on motor representations in individuals with autism spectrum disorder might underlie these difficulties. In order to investigate the relationship of self-other distinction and empathy for pain in high-functioning autism and matched controls, we manipulated self-other distinction by using a paradigm in which participants are either imitated or not by a hand on a computer screen. A strong pain stimulus is then inflicted on the observed hand. Behavioral and physiological results in this study showed that overall affective responses while watching pain movies were the same in adults with high-functioning autism as in controls. Furthermore, controls showed higher affective responding after being imitated during the whole experiment, replicating previous studies. Adults with high-functioning autism, however, showed increased empathic responses over time after being imitated. Further exploratory analyses suggested that while affective responding was initially lower after being imitated compared to not being imitated, affective responding in the latter part of the experiment was higher after being imitated. These results shed new light on empathic abilities in high-functioning autism and on the role of control over self-other representational sharing.

Individual differences in affective flexibility may be an important factor in understanding how emotion regulation is associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms. The current study explored the role of affective flexibility as a moderator in the relationship between the use of both adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms in 65 young adolescents (11-13 years). Affective flexibility was indicated by the reaction time and accuracy index on the Emotional Flexible Items Selection Task. Emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms were assessed by the use of self-report questionnaires. Contrary to the hypotheses, affective flexibility did not moderate the relationship between emotion regulation and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Instead, only a direct effect of the use of adaptive emotion regulations strategies on adolescents' depressive symptoms was found. Additionally, post-hoc analyses revealed that there may exist an indirect relationship between affective flexibility and adolescents' depressive symptoms through the use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. These findings help to formulate a better understanding of how emotion regulation and affective flexibility in early adolescents are related to depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of imitation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is controversial. Researchers have argued that deficient control of self- and other-related motor representations (self-other distinction) might explain imitation difficulties. In a recent EEG study, we showed that control of imitation relies on high-level as well as on low-level cognitive processes. Here, we aimed to further our insights into control of imitation deficits in ASD. We focused on congruency effects in the P3 (high-level), the N190 and the readiness potential (RP; low-level). We predicted smaller congruency effects within the P3 in the ASD group. However, we found differences in the RP and not in the P3-component. Thus, high-level self-other distinction centred on motor actions may be preserved in ASD, while impairments are reflected during motor preparation.

Humans are inclined to preferentially process self-related content, referred to as the "self-bias." Different paradigms have been used to study this effect. However, not all paradigms included a familiar other condition (but rather an unfamiliar other condition), needed to differentiate self-specific effects from the impact of familiarity. The primary goal of our study was to test the suitability for studying the self-bias of two paradigms that provide robust measures of salience effects—that is, the Repetition Blindness (RB) effect and the Emotional Stroop (ES) interference—while addressing the familiarity confound. We further explored whether self-bias effects were related to autism symptomatology, as a reduced self-bias in autism has been reported in previous research. In an online procedure, 82 adults performed an RB task and an ES task in a counterbalanced order, while being presented with both self- and familiar other-related stimuli. Results of both frequentist and Bayesian analyses did not provide evidence in favour of a specific self-bias on either task: we found no significant modulation of the RB effect, nor of the ES interference, for the own versus a close other's name. Moreover, no link with autism symptomatology was found. Tackling a crucial shortcoming from earlier studies, our investigation raises awareness on the importance of accounting for familiarity when investigating self-related processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]