Communication in context in neurotypical and ASD populations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized
by deficits in social interaction and communication. Deficits in communication
are most evident in social situations where literal meaning and the speaker*s
intention strongly diverge, such as in the case of irony and sarcasm (Tesink et
al, 2009; Zalla et al, 2014). Understanding communication deficits in ASD may
ultimately result in new targets for interventions aimed at improving social
communication in ASD patients. Surprisingly, however, communication deficits in
ASD have rarely been studied during live interactions. Furthermore, when
investigating communication deficits in ASD, it is important to take social
anxiety into account, which is prevalent in ASD, influences social abilities
and could be a particularly strong confound when investigating live social
interactions (as in this study).

Recent evidence suggest that humans understand each other because they
continuously develop and coordinate a shared conceptual space that provides
context to select and interpret their communicative behaviours. Here, we aim to
investigate whether ASD patients have difficulties in using the conceptual
space defined by an ongoing interaction to resolve the pervasive ambiguity of
human communicative signals.

We aim to provide a neurocognitive account of communicative disabilities in
patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focussing on shared
representations of a communicative context. We expect that ASD patients show
impaired shared representations of a communicative context compared to NT and
high socially anxious (SA) controls.

In this crossesctional study, 52 patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
52 high-SA controls and 52 healthy participants will participate in two fMRI
sessions. As we are interested in social interactions, we will invite 2
participants to simulataneously participate in the study and play a
communication game during fMRI scanning (dual-fMRI). Differences in
communicative succes and alignment between pairs of ASD patients, pairs of SAD
patients and pairs of healthy participants will be investigated.

It has been shown that social experience shapes people*s social abilities
(Stolk, Hunnius, Bekkering, & Toni, 2013). The high-SA group will provide a
control for potentially reduced social experience in autism as a consequence of
avoiding social interactions throughout life.

After completion of the cross-sectional fMRI study, participants will be
reinvited at the DCCN to participate in thea follow-up EEG-study at the DCCN
(optional). EEG measures the brain potentials generated by the brain and is not
harmful for the participants. The EEG study will also consist of two sessions,
each taking one hour, in which participants perform similar communicative tasks
as in the fMRI study. We will again offer the possibility to our participants
to schedule the second EEG-session on a separate day.

All participants will be invited to the lab for two fMRI scanning sessions,
during which they will perform two well-established communication tasks. fMRI
scanning is not harmful for the participants. All procedures described in this
protocol are well established, carry negligible risk, and constitute a minimal
burden for the participants. Additionally, we offer the possibility to our
participants to schedule the second fMRI scanning session on a different day.
To further minimize participants* burden, we will administer a battery of
questionnaires online, allowing participants to fill out these questionnaire at
home at a convenient time. No pharmacological or otherwise invasive
interventions are applied. The EEG-procedures are also safe, well establised,
carry negligible risk and consistute minimal burden for the participants.