Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38200601›Full record

ArticleMolecular autism2024

Autistic and non-autistic individuals show the same amygdala activity during emotional face processing.

Benedikt P Langenbach, Dominik Grotegerd, Peter C R Mulders, Indira Tendolkar, Jasper van Oort, Fleur Duyser, Philip van Eijndhoven, Janna N Vrijsen, Udo Dannlowski, Zarah Kampmann and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular autism, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.

Benedikt P LangenbachDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, LVR-University-Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147, Essen, Germany. Benedikt.Langenbach@lvr.de.
Dominik GrotegerdInstitute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Strasse 11, 48149, Munster, Germany.
Peter C R MuldersDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Indira TendolkarDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Jasper van OortDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Fleur DuyserDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Philip van EijndhovenDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Janna N VrijsenDepartment of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Udo DannlowskiInstitute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Strasse 11, 48149, Munster, Germany.
Zarah KampmannDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, LVR-University-Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147, Essen, Germany.
Katja KoelkebeckDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, LVR-University-Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147, Essen, Germany.
Radboud University Medical Center · NLUniversity Medical Center · USUniversity of Duisburg-Essen · DEUniversity of Münster · DECognitive Neuroimaging Lab · FREssen University Hospital · DERadboud University Nijmegen · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAutistic and non-autistic individuals often differ in how they perceive and show emotions, especially in their ability and inclination to infer other people's feelings from subtle cues like facial expressions. Prominent theories of autism have suggested that these differences stem from alterations in amygdala functioning and that amygdala hypoactivation causes problems with emotion recognition. Thus far, however, empirical investigations of this hypothesis have yielded mixed results and largely relied on relatively small samples.

methodsIn a sample of 72 autistic and 79 non-autistic participants, we conducted a study in which we used the Hariri paradigm to test whether amygdala activation during emotional face processing is altered in autism spectrum disorder, and whether common mental disorders like depression, ADHD or anxiety disorders influence any potential alterations in activation patterns.

resultsWe found no evidence for differences in amygdala activation, neither when comparing autistic and non-autistic participants, nor when taking into account mental disorders or the overall level of functional impairment. LIMITATIONS: Because we used one basic emotion processing task in a Dutch sample, results might not generalise to other tasks and other populations.

conclusionsOur results challenge the view that autistic and non-autistic processing of emotional faces in the amygdala is vastly different and call for a more nuanced view of differences between non-autistic and autistic emotion processing.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderAutistic DisorderFacial RecognitionAmygdalaEmotionsHumansAmygdalaAutismEmotion processingFace processingfMRI

Identifiers

PMID38200601
PMCPMC10782610
OpenAlexW4390705345

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.