Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Maya G Mosner; Jessica L Kinard; Sean McWeeny; Jasmine S Shah; Nathan D Markiewitz; Cara R Damiano-Goodwin; Margaret R Burchinal; Helena J V Rutherford; Rachel K Greene; Michael T Treadway; Gabriel S Dichter

doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3220-3

Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders

J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Oct;47(10):2992-3006. doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3220-3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA. mosner@email.unc.edu.
² Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, 27510, USA.
³ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA.
⁴ Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27705, USA.
⁵ Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-8185, USA.
⁶ Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA.

Abstract

This study investigated vicarious effort-based decision-making in 50 adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to 32 controls using the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. Participants made choices to win money for themselves or for another person. When choosing for themselves, the ASD group exhibited relatively similar patterns of effort-based decision-making across reward parameters. However, when choosing for another person, the ASD group demonstrated relatively decreased sensitivity to reward magnitude, particularly in the high magnitude condition. Finally, patterns of responding in the ASD group were related to individual differences in consummatory pleasure capacity. These findings indicate atypical vicarious effort-based decision-making in ASD and more broadly add to the growing body of literature addressing social reward processing deficits in ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Effort-based decision-making; Social motivation; Vicarious reward.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology*
Case-Control Studies
Decision Making*
Female
Humans
Male
Motivation*
Reward*
Task Performance and Analysis

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding