ArticleThe American journal of psychiatry2026
Youth Autistic Traits and Brain Activation States During Socioemotional Processing.
Article in The American journal of psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveDifferent aspects of social-emotional processing are linked to unique whole-brain patterns of neural activity termed "activation states." Autistic traits in youths include impairments in socioemotional processing that vary depending on age and comorbidity. Characterizing differences in activation states associated with these impairments may explain why youths with high autistic traits process socioemotional information differently than peers.
methodsThis study examined the frequency of three previously identified activation states in 545 youths (ages 5-15 years, 39% female, 54% White, 68% non-Hispanic) from the Healthy Brain Network study as they watched a socially engaging movie. Regressions examined associations between autistic traits (measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd ed.) and overall time spent in activation states, and whether these associations varied with age or co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety symptoms (measured by the Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment of ADHD and Normal Behavior and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders).
resultsAt younger ages (<9 years), children with more autistic traits spent more time in an activation state associated with increased activation in somatomotor and visual networks. At older ages (>14 years), children with more autistic traits spent more time in an activation state characterized by greater default mode and ventral attention network activation. Across all ages, children with more ADHD symptoms spent less time in an activation state associated with greater cingulo-opercular network activation.
conclusionsAutistic traits are associated with differences in brain activation during socioemotional processing that vary with age and co-occurring mental health symptoms. Youths with more autistic traits may experience an altered developmental trajectory of social-emotional processing compared to peers with fewer autistic traits. Results inform personalized interventions and progress monitoring for youths with social impairments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.