Exploring the social cognition network in young adults with autism spectrum disorder using graph analysis

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Vagnetti, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5192-1756, Pino, MC, Masedu, F, Peretti, S, Le Donne, I, Rossi, R, Valenti, M and Mazza, M, 2020. Exploring the social cognition network in young adults with autism spectrum disorder using graph analysis. Brain and Behavior, 10 (3): e01524. ISSN 2162-3279

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1524

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by an impairment in social cognition (SC). SC is a cognitive construct that refers to the capacity to process information about social situations. It is a complex network that includes distinct components. Exploring how SC components work together leads to a better understanding of how their interactions promote adequate social functioning. Our main goal was to use a novel statistical method, graph theory, to analyze SC relationships in ASD and Typically Developing (TD) individuals.

Methods: We applied graph theory to SC measures to verify how the SC components interact and to establish which of them are important within the interacting SC network for TD and ASD groups.

Results: The results showed that, in the TD group, the SC nodes are connected; their network showed increased betweenness among nodes, especially for the Theory of Mind. By contrast, in the SC network in the ASD group the nodes are highly disconnected, and the efficient connection among the components is absent.

Conclusion: ASD adults do not show SC competencies and functional communication among these skills. Under this regard, specific components are crucial, suggesting they could represent critical domains for ASD SC.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Brain and Behavior
Creators:	Vagnetti, R., Pino, M.C., Masedu, F., Peretti, S., Le Donne, I., Rossi, R., Valenti, M. and Mazza, M.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	March 2020
Volume:	10
Number:	3
ISSN:	2162-3279
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/brb3.1524 DOI 1750325 Other
Rights:	© 2020 the authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	14 Apr 2023 14:37
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2023 14:37
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/48747