The effects of context processing on social cognition impairments in adults with Aspergers syndrome

Social cognition—the basis of all communicative and otherwise interpersonal relationships—is embedded in specific contextual circumstances which shape intrinsic meanings. This domain is compromised in the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including Asperger’s syndrome (AS) (DSM-V). However, the few available reports of social cognition skills in adults with AS have largely neglected the effects of contextual factors. Moreover, previous studies on this population have also failed to simultaneously (a) assess multiple social cognition domains, (b) examine executive functions, (c) follow strict sample selection criteria, and (d) acknowledge the cognitive heterogeneity typical of the disorder. The study presently reviewed (Baez et al., 2012), addressed all these aspects in order to establish the basis of social cognition deficits in adult AS patients. Specifically, we assessed the performance of AS adults in multiple social cognition tasks with different context-processing requirements. The results suggest that social cognition deficits in AS imply a reduced ability to implicitly encode and integrate contextual cues needed to access social meaning. Nevertheless, the patients’ performance was normal when explicit social information was presented or when the situation could be navigated with abstract rules. Here, we review the results of our study and other relevant data, and discuss their implications for the diagnosis and treatment of AS and other neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, frontotemporal dementia). Finally, we analyze previous results in the light of a current neurocognitive model of social-context processing.Fil: Báez Buitrago, Sandra Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Ibanez Barassi, Agustin Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad Diego Portales; Chile. Universidad Autónoma del Caribe; Colombia. Australian Research Council; Australi

First Steps Toward a Computational Theory of Autism

A computational model with three interacting components for context sensitive reinforcement learning, context processing and automation can autonomously learn a focus attention and a shift attention task. The performance of the model is similar to that of normal children, and when a single parameter is changed, the performance on the two tasks approaches that of autistic children

The Use of Infographics to Assess Context Processing

Among high-order cognitive functions is the use of context to enhance comprehension of language or visual scenes. Although use of context is known to be impaired in certain clinical populations (e.g., schizophrenia), no existing test adequately assesses this construct. To fill this gap, we developed and attempted to validate a test of context use that employed Infographics (information graphics), which requires the use of context to interpret visual displays. The primary hypothesis was that interpreting Infographics would be sensitive to context processing. We further hypothesized that different levels of cognitive processing (requiring basic perceptual, real-world application, or verbal reasoning), as well as different categories of Infographics (Data Display, Maps, Diagrams, or Timelines) would tap differential cognitive functions. Forty Infographics test items were developed based upon design principles of Infographics. Following development of items, the Infographics test, as well as a battery of neuropsychological tests, were administered to 161 participants. Overall, results revealed that our Infographics did target context. However, the test also places significant demands on verbal reasoning and similar cognitive functions apply to each level of cognitive processing. Finally, results indicated that similar cognitive functions applied to all categories of Infographics, with the exception of the three of the categories of Data Display, Maps, and Diagrams, which were associated with graphical literacy skills, whereas Timeline was not. In sum, we present data that a newly developed Infographics test is a valuable tool to assess context, and may be applied to evaluate individual differences among healthy individuals, as well as to evaluate impairment in patients with specific clinical diagnoses. However, test performance is not specific to context processing and the test is also sensitive to other high-order cognitive functions, including verbal reasoning

Context processing as a function of anxiety level

The present study aims to establish a direct link between insufficiences in context processing and cognitive deficits related to anxiety symptoms and thus enhance the overall understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the observed discrepancies in cognitive performance. The goal of the present investigation was to apply Braver\u27s model of cognitive control to groups selected on their differences in trait anxiety and explore their relationship. The main goal is to demonstrate that Braver and colleagues context processing theory of cognitive control provides a parsimonious explanation of processing deficits found in those showing anxiety symptoms. A total of 458 Cal State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) undergraduates participated in the pre-screening phase of this experiment and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Form Y (STAI-Y-2). From the 458 pre-screened students, 212 met the STAI-Y-2 criteria and were selected to be either the low or the high anxiety group. The remaining 246 participants were not selected to continue because they did not meet the test criteria

Software Architecture Patterns for a Context-Processing Middleware Framework

International audienceUbiquitous applications are characterised by variations of their execution context. Their correct operation requires some continual adaptations based on the observation of their execution context. The design and the implementation of these observation policies is then the cornerstone of any ubiquitous applications. In this article, we propose COSMOS which is a framework for the principled specification and composition of context observation policies. With COSMOS, these policies are decomposed into fine-grained units called \emph{context nodes} implemented as software components. These units perform basic context-related operations (\emph{e.g.}, gathering data from a system or network probe, computing threshold or average values) and are assembled with a set of well-identified architectural design patterns. In this article, COSMOS is motivated and illustrated with an example from the domain of mobile e-commerce applications

Differential effects of negative and positive affect on context processing

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 15, 2009)Includes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2007.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Psychology.Context processing is thought to be a central component of cognitive control involved in maintaining goals. Context processing impairments have been implicated in psychopathology, with suggestions that the interaction between context processing and the occurrence of emotions might be important for some mental disorders. However, the specific influence, if any, of briefly elicited negative and positive affect on context processing remains unclear. In this research, I used three separate tasks (i.e., the Preparing to Overcome Prepotency (POP) task, Stroop task, and AX-CPT task, respectively) to examine the influence of briefly elicited negative and positive affect on context processing in undergraduate students. In the first study, negative affect facilitated context processing performance; whereas positive affect impaired context processing. However, the influence of affect on context processing in this task may have been confounded by the influence of affect on decision processes. In contrast to the first study, the second and third studies found evidence that briefly elicited negative affect increased errors on context processing tasks. Conversely, positive affect did not have a significant effect on context processing performance. Overall, these results suggest that negative affect may disrupt context processing and the maintenance of task critical goals. An influence of negative affect on context processing could have important implications for some aspects of psychopathology

Dynamic Context Processing

The idea that the context of an utterance may have dynamic properties is not new, as explicated in various works in quite different ways (please see Garnham 1987: 47; James 1890; McClelland & Rumelhart 1981). However, there still seem to exist problematic points in studying context under this assumption; below is an attempt to discuss some of these points briefly

The interference of negative emotional stimuli on context processing in mildly depressed undergraduates

Although previous studies reported a relationship between cognitive dysfunction and depressive symptoms, whether context processing relates to symptoms of depression remains unclear. Hence, the question of whether context processing in depressed individuals is negatively specific or a general deficit also remains unanswered. The purpose of our study was to investigate whether mildly depressed individuals would evince a context processing deficit in response to negative emotional stimuli interference. We employed Emotional AX-CPT (AX version Continuous Performance Task), in which negative distractors were presented in the interval between cue and probe stimuli. ANOVAs revealed that when negative distractors were presented, the depressed group made more BX errors than the non-depressed group, and that the depressed group made more BX errors in response to negative distractors than to neutral distractors. Our results suggest that mildly depressed individuals show a context processing deficit when negatively charged stimuli interfere with retaining contextual information