title: Atypical brain responses to reward cues in autism as revealed by event-related potentials.
abstract: Social motivation deficit theories suggest that children with autism do not properly anticipate and appreciate the pleasure of social stimuli. In this study, we investigated event-related brain potentials evoked by cues that triggered social versus monetary reward anticipation in children with autism. Children with autism showed attenuated P3 activity in response to cues associated with a timely reaction to obtain a reward, irrespective of reward type. We attribute this atypical P3 activity in response to reward cues as reflective of diminished motivated attention to reward signals, a possible contributor to reduced social motivation in autism. Thus, our findings suggest a general reward processing deficit rather than a specific social reward dysfunction in autism.
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. kohlsg@email.chop.edu
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kohls
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peltzer
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulte-Rüther
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kamp-Becker
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Remschmidt
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herpertz-Dahlmann
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konrad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward; D012938:Social Perception