Objective

One of the common findings in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited selective attention toward social objects, such as faces. Evidence from both human and nonhuman primate studies suggests that selection of objects for processing is guided by the appraisal of object values. We hypothesized that impairments in selective attention in ASD may reflect a disruption of a system supporting learning about object values in the social domain.

Method

We examined value learning in social (faces) and nonsocial (fractals) domains in preschoolers with ASD (n = 25) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 28), using a novel value learning task implemented on a gaze-contingent eye-tracking platform consisting of value learning and a selective attention choice test.

Results

Children with ASD performed more poorly than TD controls on the social value learning task, but both groups performed similarly on the nonsocial task. Within-group comparisons indicated that value learning in TD children was enhanced on the social compared to the nonsocial task, but no such enhancement was seen in children with ASD. Performance in the social and nonsocial conditions was correlated in the ASD but not in the TD group.

Conclusion

The study provides support for a domain-specific impairment in value learning for faces in ASD, and suggests that, in ASD, value learning in social and nonsocial domains may rely on a shared mechanism. These findings have implications both for models of selective social attention deficits in autism and for identification of novel treatment targets.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍学龄前儿童面部价值学习受损

客观的

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的常见发现之一是对社交对象（例如脸部）的选择性关注有限。来自人类和非人类的灵长类动物研究的证据表明，要处理的对象的选择受对象价值评估的指导。我们假设，ASD选择性注意的障碍可能反映了支持学习社交领域中对象价值的系统的破坏。

方法

我们使用在凝视视线下实现的新型价值学习任务，研究了具有ASD（n = 25）和典型地发展（TD）控件（n = 28）的学龄前儿童在社交（面部）和非社交（分形）领域的价值学习。跟踪平台，包括价值学习和选择性注意选择测试。

结果

自闭症儿童在社交价值学习任务上的表现比TD对照差，但两组在非社交任务上的表现相似。小组内比较表明，与非社会任务相比，TD儿童的价值学习在社交上得到了增强，但在ASD儿童中没有看到这种提高。在社交和非社交条件下的表现与ASD相关，但与TD组无关。

结论

这项研究为ASD的面孔的价值学习中的特定领域障碍提供了支持，并建议在ASD中，社会和非社会领域的价值学习可能依赖于一种共享的机制。这些发现对于自闭症中选择性的社会注意力缺陷模型和新治疗靶标的确定都具有意义。