ArticleMolecular autism2018
Altered reward system reactivity for personalized circumscribed interests in autism.
Article in Molecular autism, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of the Positive Valence System in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Neuropsychology review · 2021Pooled it
- The functional neural architecture of dysfunctional reward processing in autism.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Pooled it
- Evaluation of the Social Motivation Hypothesis of Autism: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2018Pooled it
- Special Interests in Autism: Functions, Benefits, and Challenges.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Impact of screen time on white matter integrity and neurodevelopment in children with autism spectrum disorder: a diffusional kurtosis imaging mediation analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Initial Validation of the Mandarin Translation of the Stanford Social Dimensions Scale (SSDS).Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Reward processing differences in autism: current understandings and future directions.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Review
- Advancing scientific understanding of the drive to socially engage: from broad constructs to transdiagnostic 'building blocks'.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Autistic interests: wide-ranging and intellectually oriented.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- How Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Impact Cognitive Flexibility in Children With Autism.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Incorporating special interests to investigate the language system in autism: A feasibility pilot fMRI study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Sex differences in neural representations of social and nonsocial reward in the medial prefrontal cortex.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Personalized Neuroimaging Reveals the Impact of Children's Interests on Language Processing in the Brain.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Spontaneous instrumental approach-avoidance learning in social contexts in autism.Molecular autism · 2024Article
- Personalized neuroimaging reveals the impact of children's interests on language processing in the brain.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Attentional bias toward pictures related to circumscribed interests in children with autism spectrum disorder.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2024Article
- Intrinsic Structural Connectivity of the Default Mode Network and Behavioral Correlates of Executive Function and Social Skills in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Article
- Processing of social and monetary rewards in autism spectrum disorders.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2023Article
- The role of the prefrontal cortex in social interactions of animal models and the implications for autism spectrum disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Perinatal Stressors as a Factor in Impairments to Nervous System Development and Functions: Review of In Vivo Models.Neuroscience and behavioral physiology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Neurobiological research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has paid little attention on brain mechanisms that cause and maintain restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBIs). Evidence indicates an imbalance in the brain's reward system responsiveness to social and non-social stimuli may contribute to both social deficits and RRBIs. Thus, this study's central aim was to compare brain responsiveness to individual RRBI (i.e., circumscribed interests), with social rewards (i.e., social approval), in youth with ASD relative to typically developing controls (TDCs). Methods: We conducted a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to investigate the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent effect of personalized circumscribed interest rewards versus social rewards in 39 youth with ASD relative to 22 TDC. To probe the reward system, we employed short video clips as reinforcement in an instrumental incentive delay task. This optimization increased the task's ecological validity compared to still pictures that are often used in this line of research. Results: Compared to TDCs, youth with ASD had stronger reward system responses for CIs mostly within the non-social realm (e.g., video games) than social rewards (e.g., approval). Additionally, this imbalance within the caudate nucleus' responsiveness was related to greater social impairment. Conclusions: The current data support the idea of reward system dysfunction that may contribute to enhanced motivation for RRBIs in ASD, accompanied by diminished motivation for social engagement. If a dysregulated reward system indeed supports the emergence and maintenance of social and non-social symptoms of ASD, then strategically targeting the reward system in future treatment endeavors may allow for more efficacious treatment practices that help improve outcomes for individuals with ASD and their families.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.