Impairments in recognition of emotional facial expressions, affective prosody, and multisensory facilitation of response time in high-functioning autism

IntroductionDeficits in emotional perception are common in autistic people, but it remains unclear to which extent these perceptual impairments are linked to specific sensory modalities, specific emotions or multisensory facilitation.MethodsThis study aimed to investigate uni- and bimodal perception of emotional cues as well as multisensory facilitation in autistic (n = 18, mean age: 36.72 years, SD: 11.36) compared to non-autistic (n = 18, mean age: 36.41 years, SD: 12.18) people using auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli.ResultsLower identification accuracy and longer response time were revealed in high-functioning autistic people. These differences were independent of modality and emotion and showed large effect sizes (Cohen’s d 0.8–1.2). Furthermore, multisensory facilitation of response time was observed in non-autistic people that was absent in autistic people, whereas no differences were found in multisensory facilitation of accuracy between the two groups.DiscussionThese findings suggest that processing of auditory and visual components of audiovisual stimuli is carried out more separately in autistic individuals (with equivalent temporal demands required for processing of the respective unimodal cues), but still with similar relative improvement in accuracy, whereas earlier integrative multimodal merging of stimulus properties seems to occur in non-autistic individuals

Essaysammlung zu mentaler Gesundheit

Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser, das folgende Buch enthält Aufsätze von Studierenden, die im Rahmen eines Seminars zu psychischer Gesundheit und Resilienz von Medizinstudierenden entstanden sind. Um die Mühe und die gelungenen Aufsätze zu würdigen, haben wir entschieden einige der Ausätze im Rahmen dieses Sammelbandes zu veröffentlichen. Vorausschicken möchte ich jedoch den Hinweis, dass es sich um Seminararbeiten handelt, die zwar informativ und für einige sicherlich interessant zu lesen sind, jedoch nicht an den wissenschaftlichen Standard eines Reviewartikels heranreichen können oder wollen. Die Studierenden wurden dazu angehalten Primärliteratur zu verwenden und nach wissenschaftlichen Standards zu zitieren, es konnte jedoch nicht ausführlich überprüft werden, inwiefern dieser Maßstab umgesetzt wurde. Es bleibt Ihnen als Leserin oder Leser selbst überlassen die Informationen selbst zu prüfen und kritisch zu hinterfragen, wenn Sie wissenschaftlich damit arbeiten möchten. In jedem Fall wünschen wir viel Freude bei der Lektüre und gute Inspirationen! Dr. med. Michael Alexander Pelzl Nürnberg, 6. November 202

The effects of prolonged single night session of videogaming on sleep and declarative memory.

Use of electronic media is widespread among adolescents. Many male adolescents spend a major part of their evenings playing video games. The increased exposure to artificial light as well as the exciting nature of this pastime is under suspicion to impair sleep. Sleep is considered to be important for memory consolidation, so there is also a potential risk for memory impairment due to video gaming. As learning and gaining knowledge is a very important part of adolescence, we decided to study the effects of prolonged video gaming on sleep and memory. The study was structured in a repeated measures design. Eighteen male participants played either the violent video game "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" or the board game "Monopoly" for five hours each on two Saturday nights. The game evenings were followed by sleep studies. Memory testing and vigilance evaluation was performed the next morning. During the course of the study, saliva samples were taken to determine melatonin and cortisol levels. The results of this crossover study showed slightly reduced sleep efficiency after "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" (-3.5%, p = .017) and impaired declarative memory recall (p = .005) compared to "Monopoly". Melatonin levels at bedtime were lower after "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" (p = .005), cortisol levels were elevated while playing the video game (p = .031). Negative effects on sleep were not strong but consistent with more wake after sleep onset (+12 min) and a higher arousal index after "Counter Strike: Global Offensive". We conclude that excessive video gaming in the evening can contribute to worsened sleep and impaired memory in male adolescents

Reduced impact of nonverbal cues during integration of verbal and nonverbal emotional information in adults with high-functioning autism

BACKGROUND: When receiving mismatching nonverbal and verbal signals, most people tend to base their judgment regarding the current emotional state of others primarily on nonverbal information. However, individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) have been described as having difficulties interpreting nonverbal signals. Recognizing emotional states correctly is highly important for successful social interaction. Alterations in perception of nonverbal emotional cues presumably contribute to misunderstanding and impairments in social interactions. METHODS: To evaluate autism-specific differences in the relative impact of nonverbal and verbal cues, 18 adults with HFA (14 male and four female subjects, mean age 36.7 years (SD 11.4) and 18 age, gender and IQ-matched typically developed controls [14 m/4 f, mean age 36.4 years (SD 12.2)] rated the emotional state of speakers in video sequences with partly mismatching emotional signals. Standardized linear regression coefficients were calculated as a measure of the reliance on the nonverbal and verbal components of the videos for each participant. Regression coefficients were then compared between groups to test the hypothesis that autistic adults base their social evaluations less strongly on nonverbal information. Further exploratory analyses were performed for differences in valence ratings and response times. RESULTS: Compared to the typically developed control group, nonverbal cue reliance was reduced in adults with high-functioning autism [t(23.14) = −2.44, p = 0.01 (one-sided)]. Furthermore, the exploratory analyses showed a tendency to avoid extreme answers in the HFA group, observable via less positive as well as less negative valence ratings in response to emotional expressions of increasingly strong valence. In addition, response time was generally longer in HFA compared to the control group [F (1, 33) = 10.65, p = 0.004]. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest reduced impact of nonverbal cues and longer processing times in the analysis of multimodal emotional information, which may be associated with a subjectively lower relevance of this information and/or more processing difficulties for people with HFA. The less extreme answering tendency may indicate a lower sensitivity for nonverbal valence expression in HFA or result from a tendency to avoid incorrect answers when confronted with greater uncertainty in interpreting emotional states