Neural Mechanisms of Social Interaction Perception: Observing Interpersonal Synchrony Modulates Action Observation Network Activation and Is Spared in Autism.

How the temporal dynamics of social interactions are perceived arguably plays an important role in how one engages in social interactions and how difficulties in establishing smooth social interactions may occur. One aspect of temporal dynamics in social interactions is the mutual coordination of individuals' behaviors during social interaction, otherwise known as behavioral interpersonal synchrony (IPS). Behavioral IPS has been studied increasingly in various contexts, such as a feature of the social interaction difficulties inherent to autism.

Interacting with autistic virtual characters: intrapersonal synchrony of nonverbal behavior affects participants' perception.

Temporal coordination of communicative behavior is not only located between but also within interaction partners (e.g., gaze and gestures).

Differentiated, rather than shared, strategies for time-coordinated action in social and non-social domains in autistic individuals.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition with a highly heterogeneous adult phenotype that includes social and non-social behavioral characteristics. The link between the characteristics assignable to the different domains remains unresolved. One possibility is that social and non-social behaviors in autism are modulated by a common underlying deficit.

Intrapersonal synchrony analysis reveals a weaker temporal coherence between gaze and gestures in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

The temporal encoding of nonverbal signals within individuals, referred to as intrapersonal synchrony (IaPS), is an implicit process and essential feature of human communication. Based on existing evidence, IaPS is thought to be a marker of nonverbal behavior characteristics in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but there is a lack of empirical evidence. The aim of this study was to quantify IaPS in adults during an experimentally controlled real-life interaction task.

Introducing ACASS: An Annotated Character Animation Stimulus Set for Controlled (e)Motion Perception Studies.

Others' movements inform us about their current activities as well as their intentions and emotions. Research on the distinct mechanisms underlying action recognition and emotion inferences has been limited due to a lack of suitable comparative stimulus material. Problematic confounds can derive from low-level physical features (e.

Distinct functional roles of the mirror neuron system and the mentalizing system.

Movements can inform us about what people are doing and also about how they feel. This phenomenologically evident distinction has been suggested to correspond functionally with differential neural correlates denoted as mirror neuron system (MNS) and mentalizing system (MENT). To separate out the roles of the underlying systems we presented identical stimuli under different task demands: character animations showing everyday activities (mopping, sweeping) performed in different moods (angry, happy).

Sex-Related Cognitive Profile in Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed Late in Life: Implications for the Female Autistic Phenotype.

Females with high-functioning ASD are known to camouflage their autistic symptoms better than their male counterparts, making them prone to being under-ascertained and delayed in diagnostic assessment. Thus far the underlying cognitive processes that enable such successful socio-communicative adaptation are not well understood. The current results show sex-related differences in the cognitive profile of ASD individuals, which were diagnosed late in life exclusively.

Paralimbic cortical thickness in first-episode depression: evidence for trait-related differences in mood regulation.

Objective: Impaired mood regulation is a key deficit of major depressive disorder that is primarily mediated by an interaction between the paralimbic cortex (i.e., orbitofrontal, cingulate, insular, parahippocampal, and temporopolar cortices) and limbic regions.

Perceiving nonverbal behavior: neural correlates of processing movement fluency and contingency in dyadic interactions.

Despite the fact that nonverbal dyadic social interactions are abundant in the environment, the neural mechanisms underlying their processing are not yet fully understood. Research in the field of social neuroscience has suggested that two neural networks appear to be involved in social understanding: (1) the action observation network (AON) and (2) the social neural network (SNN). The aim of this study was to determine the differential contributions of the AON and the SNN to the processing of nonverbal behavior as observed in dyadic social interactions.

Morphometry of structural disconnectivity indicators in subjects at risk and in age-matched patients with schizophrenia.

Structural disconnectivity has been hypothesized as being accountable for the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Morphometric variables suitable for the empirical study of disconnectivity were studied aiming at the research question whether empirical indicators for disconnectivity are already informative in subjects at risk (SAR) and in young matched patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ). In MRI data of subjects of the two diagnostic groups SZ and SAR, the size of the corpus callosum (CC) as indicator for interhemispherical long distance connections and the gyrification index (GI) as indicator for cortico-cortical connections were analyzed compared to a healthy controls (HC).

Imaging derived cortical thickness reduction in high-functioning autism: key regions and temporal slope.

Cortical thickness (CT) changes possibly contribute to the complex symptomatology of autism. The aberrant developmental trajectories underlying such differences in certain brain regions and their continuation in adulthood are a matter of intense debate. We studied 28 adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 28 control subjects matched for age, gender, IQ and handedness.

Prefrontal cortex gyrification index in twins: an MRI study.

Cortical development and folding seems to be under environmental as well as genetic control. The aim of our study was to estimate the genetic influence on gyrification and cortical volumes, comparing prefrontal gyrification index (GI) in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, and unrelated pairs. Twenty-four subjects (6 pairs of MZ and 6 pairs of DZ twins) were included in this study.

Corpus callosum size in adults with high-functioning autism and the relevance of gender.

The goal of the study was to investigate the size of the corpus callosum (CC) and its subsegments in relation to total brain volume (TBV) as an empirical indicator of impaired connectivity in autism with special respect to gender. In MRI data sets of 29 adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 29 age-, gender- and IQ-matched control subjects, the TBV was measured and the CC was analyzed as a whole and in subsegments employing two different manual segmentation procedures. With respect to diagnosis, there were no significant differences in the dependent variables (CC, CC subsegments, and TBV).

Minds made for sharing: initiating joint attention recruits reward-related neurocircuitry.

The ability and motivation to share attention is a unique aspect of human cognition. Despite its significance, the neural basis remains elusive. To investigate the neural correlates of joint attention, we developed a novel, interactive research paradigm in which participants' gaze behavior--as measured by an eye tracking device--was used to contingently control the gaze of a computer-animated character.

Hippocampal surface analysis in subjective memory impairment, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia.

Background/aims: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is preceded by prodromal states. To determine the neuroanatomical basis for the relationship among such states, we assessed surface conformations of the hippocampus in AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective memory impairment (SMI).

Methods: Hippocampal surfaces were reconstructed three-dimensionally via large-deformation high-dimensional MRI brain mapping in 14 SMI, 15 MCI, 12 AD and 13 controls.

The hippocampus in families with schizophrenia in relation to obstetric complications.

Background: Hippocampal volume reduction is a well replicated finding in schizophrenia. Evidence indicates a contribution of genetic and environmental factors, especially the influence of obstetric complications to this volume reduction. The aim of this study was to compare hippocampal volume of schizophrenic patients as well as and their relatives with control subjects and to quantify the additional contribution of obstetric complications.

Automated gray level index measurements reveal only minor cytoarchitectonic changes of Brodmann area 9 in schizophrenia.

Using an automatized gray level index (GLI) method, we recently found cytoarchitectonic abnormalities in schizophrenia in Brodmann area 10 (BA10) [Vogeley, K., Tepest, R., Schneider-Axmann, T.

Reduction of the internal capsule in families affected with schizophrenia.

Background: The anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC), connecting cortical and subcortical structures, is involved in functional important circuits. To detect volumetric changes in ALIC, including the influence of genetic factors, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of families affected with schizophrenia was performed.

Methods: The study sample comprised 22 family members with schizophrenia (FM-SZ), 34 family members without schizophrenia (FM-NSZ), and 43 control subjects.

Disturbed frontal gyrification within families affected with schizophrenia.

Objective: Recently, in a post-mortem and a subsequent structural MR study, a significantly increased gyrification index (GI) was demonstrated in the frontal lobe in individuals with schizophrenia. To examine whether frontal lobe hypergyria is region-specific and whether this might be a suitable endophenotype in the search for the genetic basis of schizophrenia, the frontal as well as parieto-occipital GI were determined in MRI scans of families affected with schizophrenia.

Method: In the MRI scans of 48 subjects suffering from schizophrenia, in 82 of their first-degree relatives and in 41 control subjects, the GI was determined in three sections anterior to the genu of the corpus callosum and three sections posterior to the splenium, thus allowing for a selective determination of this measure in the frontal as well as the parietal lobe.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in subjects at risk for schizophrenia.

We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) to examine biochemical characteristics of the brain tissue in subjects at risk for schizophrenia. Nineteen participants fulfilling research criteria for an early (n=10) or a late (n=9) at-risk syndrome, 21 patients with full disease according to DSM IV and 31 healthy control subjects were included in the study. Single-voxel 1H MRS was performed in the left frontal lobe, the anterior cingulate gyrus and the left superior temporal lobe.

Volume reduction of the entorhinal cortex in subjective memory impairment.

To examine the biological basis of subjective memory impairment (SMI), defined as the feeling of memory worsening with normal memory performance, we measured the volume of the entorhinal cortex (EC) and the hippocampus in SMI subjects, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy controls (CO). Compared with controls, the EC was smaller in the SMI group (left: p=0.060; right: p=0.

Intact hippocampal gray matter in schizophrenia as revealed by automatized image analysis postmortem.

Implicated as a key structure in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, the hippocampus is at the forefront of neuropathological and neuroimaging research. To elucidate the cellular basis of hippocampal pathology in schizophrenia, we studied the postmortem hippocampal sections of 16 patients suffering from schizophrenia and 16 controls applying the gray-level index (GLI) method. We determined the area-percentage covered by neuronal perikarya in relation to the total area of the pyramidal cell layer in the four subdivisions of the ammon's horn (cornu ammonis, CA1-4) bilaterally.

Relation between cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter and white matter changes in families with schizophrenia.

Background: Gray matter reduction and ventricular enlargement belong to the best replicated findings in schizophrenia. Brain morphologic changes were also found in non-schizophrenic family members (FM). The intention of this study was to examine whether non-psychotic first-degree relatives reveal similar morphologic changes as schizophrenic patients and how state of genetic loading contribute to these abnormalities.

Shape changes in prefrontal, but not parieto-occipital regions: brains of schizophrenic patients come closer to a circle in coronal and sagittal view.

There is some evidence for prefrontal (PF) lobe changes in schizophrenia while the parieto-occipital (PO) region seems to be unaffected. This magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study was performed to examine shape differences as part of the spectrum of structural abnormalities in schizophrenia. The measurements were done on families affected with schizophrenia to identify the influence of genetic and environmental factors on these changes.