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Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • SI: Emotion Regulation and Psychiatric Comorbidity in ASD
  • Published:
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Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by high rates of comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders. One mechanistic account of these comorbidities is that ASD is characterized by impaired emotion regulation (ER) that results in deficits modulating emotional responses. We assessed neural activation during cognitive reappraisal of faces in high functioning adults with ASD. Groups did not differ in looking time, pupilometry, or subjective ratings of faces during reappraisal. However, instructions to increase positive and negative emotional responses resulted in less increase in nucleus accumbens and amygdala activations (respectively) in the ASD group, and both regulation instructions resulted in less change in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in the ASD group. Results suggest a potential mechanistic account of impaired ER in ASD.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the clinicians at Chapel Hill Division TEACCH for consultation on the cognitive reappraisal training instructions. Portions of these findings were presented at the 2014 Society for Biological Psychiatry in New York City. We thank BIAC MRI technologists Susan Music, Natalie Goutkin, and Luke Poole for assistance with data acquisition, and BIAC Director Allen Song for assistance with various aspects of this project. This research was supported by MH081285, MH085254, MH073402, HD079124, HD40127, H325D070011, and a UNC-CH Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship (CRD). Assistance with participant recruitment was provided by the Clinical Translational Core of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (HD079124).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, CB# 3366, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7160, USA

    J. Anthony Richey, Cara R. Damiano, Alison Rittenberg & Gabriel S. Dichter

  2. Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Chris Petty, Josh Bizzell, James Voyvodic & Gabriel S. Dichter

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, CB# 7160, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7160, USA

    Josh Bizzell & Gabriel S. Dichter

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3026, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Moria Smoski & Gabriel S. Dichter

  5. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Davie Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3270, USA

    Cara R. Damiano, Antoinette Sabatino & Gabriel S. Dichter

  6. Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    J. Anthony Richey & Marika C. Coffman

  7. Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Aaron S. Heller

  8. Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Richard J. Davidson

  9. Geisinger-Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute, Lewisburg, PA, USA

    Antoinette Sabatino

Authors
  1. J. Anthony Richey
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  2. Cara R. Damiano
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  3. Antoinette Sabatino
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  4. Alison Rittenberg
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  5. Chris Petty
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  6. Josh Bizzell
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  7. James Voyvodic
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  8. Aaron S. Heller
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  9. Marika C. Coffman
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  10. Moria Smoski
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  11. Richard J. Davidson
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  12. Gabriel S. Dichter
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel S. Dichter.

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Richey, J.A., Damiano, C.R., Sabatino, A. et al. Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 3409–3423 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2359-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2359-z

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