Social Motivation in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Social Genetic and Dev Psychiatry Centre
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Carré A
(2015)
Tracking social motivation systems deficits: the affective neuroscience view of autism.
in Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Chevallier C
(2013)
Salient social cues are prioritized in autism spectrum disorders despite overall decrease in social attention.
in Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Chevallier C
(2012)
Brief report: Selective social anhedonia in high functioning autism.
in Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Chevallier C
(2012)
Diminished social motivation negatively impacts reputation management: autism spectrum disorders as a case in point.
in PloS one
Chevallier C
(2011)
What's in a voice? Prosody as a test case for the Theory of Mind account of autism.
in Neuropsychologia
Chevallier C
(2012)
The social motivation theory of autism
in Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Coralie Chevallier (author)
(2010)
Comprendre les actions, emotions et etats mentaux d'autrui : psychologie et neurosciences
Coralie Chevallier (author)
(2011)
What's in a voice? : mindreading and prosody in autism spectrum disorders
in Neuropsychologia
Happé F
(2017)
The Structure of Social Cognition: In(ter)dependence of Sociocognitive Processes.
in Annual review of psychology
Happé F
(2016)
Recent progress in understanding skills and impairments in social cognition.
in Current opinion in pediatrics
| Description | Human beings are naturally interested in socialising: they are endowed with a unique motivation to seek interaction, they are biased to orient towards others and find their company rewarding. In such a highly social and interactive environment, it is important 1)to enjoy social interactions and 2)to present oneself as an interesting partner for such interactions. As a result, typically-developing children and adults are naturally keen to socialise, and spontaneously adjust their behaviour in order to preserve their reputation and convey their best image. By contrast, we found that teenagers with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD) i) report that they take less pleasure in social interactions than TD controls, ii) are less irresistibly attracted to social stimuli, iii) are more likely to favour honesty over reputation-management or flattery, and iv) that this measure of flattery correlates with self-reports of social pleasure. These results were obtained using a combination of techniques: self-report, reaction time, and observational measures. This work provides a new understanding of the basis of social impairments in autism, with possible implications for future intervention strategies. As such, our research will be of interest to psychologists involved in autism research but also to others in areas of research where social motivation is a key concept (economics and social psychology, in particular). This diversity of impacts is reflected in the journals and conferences that we selected to disseminate our findings. |
| Exploitation Route | Our work has had its main impact on psychologists involved in autism research: little is known regarding how much value is given to social stimuli in ASD and quantifying social interest has proven difficult. Our findings therefore bring about new ways to understand the social deficits found in autism, and to measure social interest. More specifically, our results have led to collaborations with Prof. Robert Schultz, at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Our research also has potential impact on other areas of research where social motivation is a key concept (economics, social psychology, and animal models of social cognition, for example). In particular, we collaborated with Dr. Pascal Huguet, a social psychologist at the Université d'Aix-Marseille specialising in the effects of social presence on cognitive performance, to design the task presented in Paper 3. This collaboration, in turn, has had an impact Dr. Huguet's research, who now intends to study similar effects in other pathological populations (e.g. depressed patients). Our work also prompted a collaboration with Dr. Edward Brodkin, an animal researcher who develops mouse models of autism at the University of Pennsylvania. This diversity of impacts is reflected in the journals and conferences that we selected to disseminate our findings. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare |
| Description | The data collected during the award led to three experimental papers, one review paper, two book chapters and one encyclopedia entry: 1. Chevallier, C., Grèzes, J., Molesworth, C., Berthoz, S. and Happé, F. (2012) Selective social anhedonia in high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 1504-1509. (IF=3.38). 2. Chevallier, C., Molesworth, C. and Happé, F. (2012) Diminished Social Motivation Negatively Impacts Reputation Management: Autism Spectrum Disorders as a Case in Point. PLoS ONE 7(1): e31107. (IF=4.4) 3. Chevallier, C, Huguet, P, Happé, F, George, N and Conty, L. (2013) Salient social cues are prioritized in Autism Spectrum Disorders despite overall decrease in social attention. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 43, 1642-51. Humans' environment is highly social and interactive. In such an environment, it is important 1) to enjoy social interactions and 2) to present oneself as an interesting partner for such interactions. As a result, typically-developing (TD) children and adults are naturally keen to socialise, and spontaneously adjust their behaviour in order to preserve their reputation and convey their best image. By contrast, we found that teenagers with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD) i) report that they take less pleasure in social interactions than TD controls, ii) are less irresistibly attracted to social stimuli, iii) are more likely to favour honesty over reputation-management or flattery, and iv) that this measure of flattery correlates with self-reports of social pleasure. These results were obtained using a combination of techniques: self-report, reaction time, and observational measures. This work provides a new understanding of the basis of social impairments in autism, with possible implications for future intervention strategies. Our work has had its main impact on psychologists involved in autism research: little is known regarding how much value is given to social stimuli in ASD and quantifying social interest has proven difficult. Our findings therefore bring about new ways to understand the social deficits found in autism, and to measure social interest. More specifically, our results have led to collaborations with Prof. Robert Schultz, at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Our research also has potential impact on other areas of research where social motivation is a key concept (economics, social psychology, and animal models of social cognition, for example). In particular, we collaborated with Dr. Pascal Huguet, a social psychologist at the Université d'Aix-Marseille specialising in the effects of social presence on cognitive performance, to design tasks. This collaboration, in turn, has had an impact Dr. Huguet's research, who now intends to study similar effects in other pathological populations (e.g. depressed patients). Our work also prompted a collaboration with Dr. Edward Brodkin, an animal researcher who develops mouse models of autism at the University of Pennsylvania. This diversity of impacts is reflected in the journals and conferences (including schools events and meetings for parents and teachers of those with ASD) that we selected to disseminate our findings. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Education,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | The cognitive requirements of cumulative culture: experiments with typically developing and autistic people ( Francesca Happe) |
| Amount | £25,686 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/M006042/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2015 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| Description | 8th International Congress Autism Europe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited keynote for audience of teachers, parents, clinicians and researchers interested in autism. Raised awareness. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Autism and Developmental Disorders Colloquium Series, MIT and Autism Consortium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Health professionals |
| Results and Impact | Invited to give a talk in the 'Autism and Developmental Disorders Colloquium Series', MIT and Autism Consortium, for students, clinicians and researchers. Led to planned collaboration with researchers in MIT media labs interested in computer training of e.g. emotion recognition in autism. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Conference in Aalborg, Denmark |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Health professionals |
| Results and Impact | Presented 'fractionated triad' hypothesis and relevant recent research to an audience of clinicians and related professionals. Raised awareness of latest autism research, new views of autism, established possible future collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Joint Royal Society/BA Discussion Meeting 'Talent & Autism' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Organised and presented at a 2 day public Discussion Meeting on 'Talent and Autism' for researchers, parents, clinicians and interested lay audience. Publication of special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and a book (OUP). Media coverage in press and on radio. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | MIT invited colloquium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited to speak in the Simons Center Colloquium Series, at the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://scsb.mit.edu/event/scsb-colloquium-series-francesca-happe-ph-d/ |
| Description | National Autistic Society conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Over 300 teachers, parents and other profesionals attended an NAS conference on PDA. Many completed questionnaire measures for our research. School contacts were made. We received and answered questions via email or post from many concerned parents/teachers. School contacts were made. We received and answered questions via email or post from many concerned parents/teachers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |