title: A specific hypoactivation of right temporo-parietal junction/posterior superior temporal sulcus in response to socially awkward situations in autism.
abstract: People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty comprehending social situations in the complex, dynamic contexts encountered in the real world. To study the social brain under conditions which approximate naturalistic situations, we measured brain activity with FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING: while participants watched a full-length episode of the sitcom The Office. Having quantified the degree of social awkwardness at each moment of the episode, as judged by an independent sample of controls, we found that both individuals with ASD and control participants showed reliable activation of several brain regions commonly associated with social perception and cognition (e.g. those comprising the 'mentalizing network') during the more awkward moments. However, individuals with ASD showed less activity than controls in a region near right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ) extending into the posterior end of the right superior temporal sulcus (RSTS). Further analyses suggested that, despite the free-form nature of the experimental design, this group difference was specific to this RTPJ/RSTS area of the mentalizing network; other regions of interest showed similar activity across groups with respect to both location and magnitude. These findings add support to a body of evidence suggesting that RTPJ/RSTS plays a special role in social processes across modalities and may function atypically in individuals with ASD navigating the social world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University-Bloomington 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA, pcpantel@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Pantelis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University-Bloomington 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Byrge
authors.affiliation: Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA, and.
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tyszka
authors.affiliation: Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA, and Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Adolphs
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University-Bloomington 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D063132:Connectome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012938:Social Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056345:Theory of Mind; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autism; fMRI; mentalizing; right posterior superior temporal sulcus; right temporo-parietal junction; social cognition