The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism
BackgroundAutism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders both represent severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorders with marked impairments in social functioning. Despite an increased incidence of psychosis in autism, and substantial overlap in symptoms and cognitive markers, it is unclear whether...
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doaj-878d349452d84f91861f8feed00022eb2020-11-25T02:06:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402020-08-011110.3389/fpsyt.2020.00759560429The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without AutismArija Maat0Sebastian Therman1Hanna Swaab2Tim Ziermans3Department of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, NetherlandsMental Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandClinical Child & Adolescent Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, NetherlandsDepartment of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsBackgroundAutism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders both represent severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorders with marked impairments in social functioning. Despite an increased incidence of psychosis in autism, and substantial overlap in symptoms and cognitive markers, it is unclear whether such phenotypes are specifically related to risk for psychosis or perhaps reflect more general, idiosyncratic autism traits. The attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) is primarily defined by the presence of attenuated psychotic symptoms, which currently constitute the best and most-replicated clinical predictors of psychosis, and are common in clinical youth with and without autism. The aims of this study were to test the hypothesis that facial affect processing is impaired in adolescents with APS and to explore whether such deficits are more indicative of psychotic or autistic phenotypes on a categorical and dimensional level.Materials and MethodFifty-three adolescents with APS and 81 typically developing controls (aged 12–18) were included. The APS group consisted of adolescents with (n = 21) and without (n = 32) a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Facial affect recognition was assessed with the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks using a cascade model of cognitive processing, in which disturbances in “lower-level” cognitive abilities (pattern recognition), affect “higher-level” cognitive processes (face recognition and facial affect recognition). For associations with schizotypal and autistic-like traits the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and Social Communication Questionnaire were used in a confirmatory item factor analysis framework.ResultsContrary to expectation, APS in adolescents was not associated with impairments in pattern, face, or facial affect recognition. However, the APS group with autism spectrum disorder showed a general latency in response time to social and non-social stimuli. Dimensionally assessed schizotypal and autistic-like traits did not predict the accuracy or the speed of face or facial affect recognition.ConclusionFacial affect processing performance was not associated with APS in adolescence and represents an unlikely early vulnerability marker for psychosis. APS individuals with a more autistic-like profile were characterized by slower responses to social- and non-social stimuli, suggesting that the combined effect of APS and autism spectrum disorder on cognition is larger than for APS alone.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00759/fullautism spectrum disorderpsychosisschizophreniaultra-high risksocial cognitionemotion perception |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Arija Maat Sebastian Therman Hanna Swaab Tim Ziermans |
spellingShingle |
Arija Maat Sebastian Therman Hanna Swaab Tim Ziermans The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism Frontiers in Psychiatry autism spectrum disorder psychosis schizophrenia ultra-high risk social cognition emotion perception |
author_facet |
Arija Maat Sebastian Therman Hanna Swaab Tim Ziermans |
author_sort |
Arija Maat |
title |
The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism |
title_short |
The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism |
title_full |
The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism |
title_fullStr |
The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome and Facial Affect Processing in Adolescents With and Without Autism |
title_sort |
attenuated psychosis syndrome and facial affect processing in adolescents with and without autism |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychiatry |
issn |
1664-0640 |
publishDate |
2020-08-01 |
description |
BackgroundAutism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders both represent severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorders with marked impairments in social functioning. Despite an increased incidence of psychosis in autism, and substantial overlap in symptoms and cognitive markers, it is unclear whether such phenotypes are specifically related to risk for psychosis or perhaps reflect more general, idiosyncratic autism traits. The attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) is primarily defined by the presence of attenuated psychotic symptoms, which currently constitute the best and most-replicated clinical predictors of psychosis, and are common in clinical youth with and without autism. The aims of this study were to test the hypothesis that facial affect processing is impaired in adolescents with APS and to explore whether such deficits are more indicative of psychotic or autistic phenotypes on a categorical and dimensional level.Materials and MethodFifty-three adolescents with APS and 81 typically developing controls (aged 12–18) were included. The APS group consisted of adolescents with (n = 21) and without (n = 32) a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Facial affect recognition was assessed with the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks using a cascade model of cognitive processing, in which disturbances in “lower-level” cognitive abilities (pattern recognition), affect “higher-level” cognitive processes (face recognition and facial affect recognition). For associations with schizotypal and autistic-like traits the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and Social Communication Questionnaire were used in a confirmatory item factor analysis framework.ResultsContrary to expectation, APS in adolescents was not associated with impairments in pattern, face, or facial affect recognition. However, the APS group with autism spectrum disorder showed a general latency in response time to social and non-social stimuli. Dimensionally assessed schizotypal and autistic-like traits did not predict the accuracy or the speed of face or facial affect recognition.ConclusionFacial affect processing performance was not associated with APS in adolescence and represents an unlikely early vulnerability marker for psychosis. APS individuals with a more autistic-like profile were characterized by slower responses to social- and non-social stimuli, suggesting that the combined effect of APS and autism spectrum disorder on cognition is larger than for APS alone. |
topic |
autism spectrum disorder psychosis schizophrenia ultra-high risk social cognition emotion perception |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00759/full |
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