Demographic and clinical variables of study participants.

<p>Abbreviations: IQ (WAIS), intelligence quotient assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Forth Edition (WAIS-IV) <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102471#pone.0102471-Wechsler1" target="_blank">[68]</a>; AQ, Autism Spectrum Quotient <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102471#pone.0102471-BaronCohen2" target="_blank">[45]</a>.</p

Correlation between angry MMN amplitudes and autistic traits.

<p>Correlation between angry MMN amplitudes and autistic traits.</p

The MMN scalp potential distribution and the respective current source density (CSD) maps in people with ASC and controls.

<p>(A) A frontocentral minimum (or peak negativity) was similarly identified across the groups and categories. (B) The exploratory source distribution analyses on CSDs indicated that MMN received a major distribution from the bilateral auditory cortex. Additionally, for MMN to angry and angry-derived deviants, there was a trend toward a posterior temporal source in the ASC group.</p

MMN amplitudes to emotional syllables and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds in people with ASC and controls at the electrode site Fz.

<p>MMN to angry deviants (black line) was significantly stronger in amplitude than MMN to happy deviants (gray line) in the controls (<i>p</i><.001), whereas no differentiation was identified in people with ASC (<i>p</i> = .67). Nonvocal deviants that retained the acoustic features of emotional syllables were derived from angry (angry-derived) and happy (happy-derived) syllables. People with ASC exhibited weaker emotional-derived MMN than did the controls.</p

Atypical Mismatch Negativity in Response to Emotional Voices in People with Autism Spectrum Conditions

<div><p>Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are characterized by heterogeneous impairments of social reciprocity and sensory processing. Voices, similar to faces, convey socially relevant information. Whether voice processing is selectively impaired remains undetermined. This study involved recording mismatch negativity (MMN) while presenting emotionally spoken syllables <i>dada</i> and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds to 20 subjects with ASC and 20 healthy matched controls. The people with ASC exhibited no MMN response to emotional syllables and reduced MMN to nonvocal sounds, indicating general impairments of affective voice and acoustic discrimination. Weaker angry MMN amplitudes were associated with more autistic traits. Receiver operator characteristic analysis revealed that angry MMN amplitudes yielded a value of 0.88 (<i>p</i><.001). The results suggest that people with ASC may process emotional voices in an atypical fashion already at the automatic stage. This processing abnormality can facilitate diagnosing ASC and enable social deficits in people with ASC to be predicted.</p></div

Grand average standard and deviant ERP waveforms for emotional syllables and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds in people with ASC and controls.

<p>Grand average standard and deviant ERP waveforms for emotional syllables and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds in people with ASC and controls.</p

Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis.

<p>The amplitude of angry MMN is suitable for predicting whether a person has a clinical diagnosis of ASC.</p

Data_Sheet_1_The anti-anxiety drug lorazepam changes implicit behaviors but not explicit evaluations of sense of agency under authoritative pressure: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study.DOCX

Previous research on coercion has neglected the fact that agents under authoritative pressure may also suffer from coercive power, which can trigger anxiety-like emotional negativity on its victims. Furthermore, high levels of neuroticism and/or anxiety have been found to be associated with the compliance of various forms of social pressure. In this study, we investigate the effects of the anxiolytic GABAA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) modulator, lorazepam, on behavioral and neural responses to coercive power. Here, we applied a virtual obedience to authority paradigm alongside lorazepam administration (versus placebo), and during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Our results show that lorazepam administration exerted differential effects on the reaction times (RTs) when initiating harming versus helping behaviors, with longer harming RTs compared to helping RTs, despite comparable subjective ratings regarding perceived coercion. Coercive harming significantly increased activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Lorazepam administration decreased amygdala and hippocampus activity, but increased dlPFC and right temporoparietal junction activations. The lower activity in the hippocampus predicted higher ratings for perceived coercion. Furthermore, lorazepam significantly decreased the functional connectivity of the hippocampus with the dlPFC during coercive harming. In conclusion, we provide evidence –by incorporating multimodal indices, including neuroimaging, neuropharmacological interventions, and behavioral assessments– to posit that the GABAA agonist, lorazepam, might aid as a possible intervention in service of coping strategies against coercion.</p