{"id":345,"date":"2020-04-22T15:04:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T14:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-rocs\/?p=345"},"modified":"2020-08-21T14:07:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T13:07:21","slug":"interoception-is%e2%80%afimpaired-in%e2%80%afchildren-but%e2%80%afnot-adults-with%e2%80%afautism-spectrum-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/interoception-is%e2%80%afimpaired-in%e2%80%afchildren-but%e2%80%afnot-adults-with%e2%80%afautism-spectrum-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"Interoception is impaired in children but not adults with ASD"},"content":{"rendered":"

More information about the Kent author\u00a0here<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Find the full paper here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterised by a diminished ability to attribute mental states to others in order to explain and predict their behaviour<\/span> (theory of mind abilities)<\/span>. Recent findings have\u00a0<\/span>linked\u00a0<\/span>interoception (the senes of understanding\u00a0the internal state of the body-e.g., feeling hungry) <\/span>with theory of mind and<\/span> self-regulation. \u00a0Accordingly, it <\/span>has been argued<\/span> that<\/span> difficulties with self-other processing in ASD may be the<\/span> result of an underlying impairment in <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> awareness. Specifically, it is suggested that<\/span>\u00a0difficulties in interpreting one\u2019s own<\/span> internal bodily signals early on may interfere with learning<\/span> about the association between these <\/span>low-level<\/span> bodily signals<\/span> and other higher-level feelings and thoughts. This then restricts the<\/span> comprehension of oneself, which in turn would have similar<\/span> effects on understanding others.<\/span><\/p>\n

However,<\/span> studies of <\/span>interoception<\/span> in ASD offer\u00a0<\/span>mixed results.<\/span> Some have found differences in <\/span>interoception<\/span> between typically developing individuals and individuals with ASD, while others have not. Some concerns lie in tasks used to assess\u00a0<\/span>interoception: specifically<\/span>\u00a0that participants could compensate their <\/span>performance<\/span> with other strategies such as counting silently). The present research aimed to address these concerns and examine <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> accuracy in adults and children with and without ASD.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research Objectives<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Present research <\/span>measured c<\/span>ar<\/span>diac <\/span>interoception<\/span>, as well as<\/span> respiratory<\/span> interoceptive<\/span> accuracy<\/span> to test whether adults and children with ASD show <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> impairments<\/span>. <\/span>The researchers <\/span>included control tasks<\/span> designed to assess the extent to which alternative, compensatory<\/span> strategies might be used by individuals with ASD<\/span> to succeed on the <\/span>two <\/span>interoception<\/span> tasks. <\/span>They<\/span> also administered<\/span> measures of mindreading, depression and anxiety to allow<\/span> full characterisation of the sample and for the exploration<\/span> of underlying cognitive\/personality correlates of <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> accuracy. The researchers <\/span>predicted that adults with ASD would be<\/span> unimpaired on both the cardiac and respiratory <\/span>interoception<\/span> tasks and that this would reflect truly undiminished <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> accuracy (rather than compensatory strategy use).<\/span> Also<\/span>, they predicted that <\/span>children with ASD<\/span> would be <\/span>u<\/span>nimpaired on the heartbeat tracking task and that<\/span> this would reflect truly undiminished <\/span>interoceptive<\/span> accuracy<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Programme and Methodology<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Experiment 1<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a021 adults<\/span> with ASD (M<\/span>age<\/span>=37.24 years) and 2<\/span>1 typically developing <\/span>adults <\/span>(M<\/span>age<\/span>=41.19<\/span> years)\u00a0 were included<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Heartbeat Tracking Task<\/span><\/b> – <\/span>While <\/span>index finger was attached to a pulse <\/span>oximeter<\/span> which<\/span> measured <\/span>participant’s <\/span>heart rate<\/span>, <\/span>they were asked<\/span> to <\/span>silently count how many times they<\/span> felt their heart beat in between two auditory tones.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Blow Comparison Task<\/span><\/b> – <\/span>P<\/span>articipants<\/span> exhaled into a peak flow meter at a<\/span> particular level of effort (a \u201ctarget blow\u201d) and then attempted<\/span> to reproduce exactly the intensity of the target blow in a second<\/span> exhalation 15 s later (a \u201ccomparator blow\u201d).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Time Estim<\/span><\/b>ation<\/span><\/b> (<\/span>participants were asked to count<\/span> the number of seconds of three different time intervals (19,<\/span> 37, and 49 s), with the order of intervals being randomised<\/span> across participants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Memory task <\/span><\/b>– P<\/span>articipants <\/span>were asked<\/span> to press the \u201cb\u201d key of a keyboard down, producing a tone<\/span> and then release <\/span>the key whenever they wanted to.<\/span> Subsequently,<\/span> they <\/span>were asked<\/span> to repeat the task with the aim of<\/span> pressing the button down for the same length of time<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Experiment 2<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a02<\/span>1<\/span> children with ASD (M<\/span>age<\/span>=12.95<\/span> years) and 2<\/span>1 typically developing children <\/span>(M<\/span>age<\/span>=12.70<\/span> years)<\/span> were included<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0All participants followed the same procedure as in Experiment 1, but <\/span>did not complete the Blow Comparison Task<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Findings<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Experiment 1<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0N<\/span>o differences<\/span> between autistic and non-autistic adults in cardiac<\/span> interoceptive<\/span> accuracy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0R<\/span>espiratory <\/span>interoception<\/span> showed no differences between <\/span>autistic and non-autistic adults<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Experiment 2<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Interoceptive<\/span> accuracy performance on the <\/span>heartbeat tracking<\/span> task was significantly lower in the ASD group than in the<\/span> NT group<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2022 \u00a0The current findings offer new and important insight on interoceptive accuracy in ASD individuals<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Interoceptive accuracy impairments may be present in children with ASD, but these impairments resolve over time and are absent by adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I<\/span>nteroception<\/span>\u00a0may be\u00a0<\/span>linked<\/span> with<\/span> emotion-processing<\/span> development. This <\/span>means<\/span> that<\/span> a<\/span> \u201c<\/span>decoupling<\/span>\u201d <\/span>of<\/span> interoception<\/span> and<\/span> emotion<\/span> processing<\/span> among<\/span> some <\/span>children<\/span> with<\/span> ASD leads to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>emotions<\/span> never<\/span> being<\/span> fully<\/span> anchored<\/span> within<\/span> the<\/span> body and so,<\/span>\u00a0make<\/span>\u00a0emotions<\/span> difficult<\/span> to <\/span>understand<\/span> in <\/span>self<\/span> and<\/span> others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 A<\/span>lternatively the process of<\/span> building theories of emotions is impaired in ASD <\/span>independent <\/span><\/i>of <\/span>interoception<\/span> difficulties<\/span>. This explains that <\/span>emotion-processing<\/span> difficulties<\/span> persist<\/span> in ASD <\/span>even<\/span> after<\/span> i<\/span>nteroceptive<\/span> difficulties<\/span> have<\/span> resolved.<\/span>\u00a0Also<\/span>\u00a0emotion-processing<\/span> abilities<\/span> are not<\/span> necessarily<\/span> reliably<\/span> associated<\/span> with<\/span> interoceptive<\/span> accuracy<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0The current study offers new and important avenues for future research<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0This\u00a0study points towards a potential link between\u00a0emotional processing and\u00a0interception. Future studies could examined this link and how\u00a0it\u00a0could improve emotional processing in ASD through development and into adulthood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More information about the Kent author\u00a0here Find the full paper here About\u00a0 Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterised by a diminished ability to attribute mental states to others in order to explain and predict their behaviour (theory of mind abilities). Recent findings have\u00a0linked\u00a0interoception (the senes of understanding\u00a0the internal state of the body-e.g., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2814,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/2814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}