Although ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis requires the co-occurrence of socio-emotional deficits and inflexible behaviors, the interaction between these two domains remains unexplored. We used an emotional Wisconsin Card Sorting Test adapted to fMRI to explore this question. ASD and control participants matched a central card (a face) with one of four surrounding cards according to one of three rules: frame color, facial identity or expression. Feedback informed participants on whether to change or maintain the current sorting rule. For each rule, we modeled feedback onsets to change, switch (confirming the newly found rule) and maintenance events. "Bias error", which measures participants' willingness to switch, was larger in ASD participants for the emotional sorting rule. Brain activity to change events showed no group differences. In response to switch events significantly larger activity was observed for ASD participants in bilateral Inferior Parietal Sulci. Inflexibility in ASD appears characterized by the unwillingness to switch toward processing socio-emotional information, rather than a major disruption in cognitive flexibility. However, a larger activity to switch events in ASD highlights the need for a higher level of certainty before setting into a stable processing stage, which may be particularly detrimental in the highly changeable socio-emotional environment.

中文翻译：

---

自闭症谱系障碍中的僵化：对确定性的需求和非典型的情感处理是罪魁祸首。

尽管ASD（自闭症谱系障碍）诊断需要同时出现社会情感缺陷和不灵活的行为，但是这两个领域之间的相互作用尚待探索。我们使用了适用于功能磁共振成像的情感威斯康星卡片分类测试来探讨这个问题。ASD和控制参与者根据以下三个规则之一将中央卡片（一张脸）与四个周围的卡片之一匹配：框颜色，面部识别或表情。反馈告知参与者是否更改或维护当前的排序规则。对于每条规则，我们对反馈起点进行建模，以进行更改，切换（确认新发现的规则）和维护事件。在ASD参与者中，用于衡量参与者切换意愿的“偏差”（Bias error）在情感排序规则上更大。大脑活动改变事件没有显示出群体差异。响应开关事件，观察到双侧下顶沟ASD参与者的活动明显增加。ASD的不灵活性似乎表现为不愿转向处理社会情感信息，而不是认知灵活性的重大破坏。但是，在ASD中切换事件的较大活动强调了在进入稳定的处理阶段之前需要更高的确定性，这在高度多变的社会情感环境中可能尤其有害。ASD的不灵活性似乎表现为不愿转向处理社会情感信息，而不是认知灵活性的重大破坏。但是，在ASD中切换事件的较大活动强调了在进入稳定的处理阶段之前需要更高的确定性，这在高度多变的社会情感环境中可能尤其有害。ASD的不灵活性表现为不愿意转向处理社会情感信息，而不是认知灵活性的重大破坏。但是，在ASD中切换事件的较大活动强调了在进入稳定的处理阶段之前需要更高的确定性，这在高度多变的社会情感环境中可能尤其有害。