Cited by 458Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentNeuroendocrine regulation and behavior

Reward processing in autism

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Scott‐Van Zeeland, Ashley A., Dapretto, Mirella, Ghahremani, Dara G., Poldrack, Russell A., Bookheimer, Susan Y.·2010·Autism Research

Abstract

The social motivation hypothesis of autism posits that infants with autism do not experience social stimuli as rewarding, thereby leading to a cascade of potentially negative consequences for later development. While possible downstream effects of this hypothesis such as altered face and voice processing have been examined, there has not been a direct investigation of social reward processing in autism. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine social and monetary rewarded implicit learning in children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Sixteen males with ASD and sixteen age‐ and IQ‐matched typically developing (TD) males were scanned while performing two versions of a rewarded implicit learning task. In addition to examining responses to reward, we investigated the neural circuitry supporting rewarded learning and the relationship between these factors and social development. We found diminished neural responses to both social and monetary rewards in ASD, with a pronounced reduction in response to social rewards (SR). Children with ASD also demonstrated a further deficit in frontostriatal response during social, but not monetary, rewarded learning. Moreover, we show a relationship between ventral striatum activity and social reciprocity in TD children. Together, these data support the hypothesis that children with ASD have diminished neural responses to SR, and that this deficit relates to social learning impairments.

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  • Scott-Van Zeeland et al. found diminished ventral striatal response during social-reward outcomes and also, but to a lesser extent, with monetary-reward outcomes in children with ASDs.

    “They found diminished ventral striatal response during social-reward outcomes and also, but to a lesser extent, with monetary-reward outcomes.”
  • Activity within the ventral striatum predicted social reciprocity within the control group but not the ASD group.

    “Activity within the ventral striatum was found to predict social reciprocity within the control group but not the ASD group.”
  • The orbitofrontal-striatum-amygdala circuit is abnormal in ASD, particularly in response to social stimuli such as faces, social approval, or social rejection.

    “The orbitofrontal–striatum-amygdala circuit has been repeatedly highlighted as abnormal in ASD[76], in particular in response to social stimuli such as faces [77], social approval [78], or social rejection [79].”

    From The social motivation theory of autism (2012) · cites this paper as [78]

  • Few neuroimaging studies have directly addressed social versus non-social reward processing in ASD, and findings to date have not been entirely consistent.

    “only few neuroimaging studies have directly addressed the basis of social vs. non-social reward processing in ASD and findings to date have not been entirely consistent (perhaps, in part, due to the lack of potent social reward paradigms) [78,80]”

    From The social motivation theory of autism (2012) · cites this paper as [78]

  • Lowering the threshold to an uncorrected voxel height of p < 0.005 with an extent cluster size of at least 20 voxels, the ASD group, compared to TDC and ADHD, showed diminished activation in ventral striatum in response to monetary reward.

    “However, lowering the threshold to an uncorrected voxel height of p < 0.005 with an extent cluster size of at least 20 voxels (according to Scott-Van Zeeland et al., 2010), which still produces desirable balance between Types I and II errors comparable to false discovery rate (Lieberman and Cunningham, 2009), the ASD group, compared to TDC and ADHD, showed diminished activation in ventral striatum”

    From Differentiating neural reward responsiveness in autism versus ADHD (2014) · cites this paper as Scott-Van Zeeland et al., 2010

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Dawson G Meltzoff AN Osterling J Rinaldi J Brown E 1998b Children with autism fail to orient to naturally occurring social stimuli Journal of autism and developmental disorders 28 479 9932234

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Authors
Scott‐Van Zeeland, A. A., Dapretto, M., Ghahremani, D. G., Poldrack, R. A., & Bookheimer, S. Y.
Affiliations
University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Corresponding author
Bookheimer, Susan Y.
Venue
Autism Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2010-03-31
Volume
3
Issue
2
Pages
53-67
ISSN
  • 1939-3792 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-3806
OpenAlex
W2087480671
Cited by
458
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 26
FWCI
14.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Autism Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Autism Speaks (AS1626)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH079645, T32MH073526)
  • National Center for Research Resources (P41RR013642, RR 13642, RR00865, M01RR000865, UL1RR025774, C06RR012169)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P0I HD035470, P01HD035470, P50HD055784, R01HD065280)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, social reward processing, monetary rewards, implicit learning, ventral striatum, frontostriatal circuits, social reciprocity, children
MeSH terms
Adult, Autistic Disorder, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Reward, Severity of Illness Index, Social Perception

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