Social Cognition and Individual Variability as Measured by Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation in Autism and Schizophrenia

Poster Session C - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Soroush Bagheri¹, Ju-Chi Yu¹, Julia Gallucci^1,3, Vinh Tan^1,3, Lindsay Oliver¹, Erin Dickie^1,2, George Foussias^1,2,3, Meng-Chaun Lai^{1,2,4,8,10,11}, Robert Buchanan⁵, Anil Malhotra^6,7,8, Aristotle Voineskos^1,2,3, Stephanie Ameis^1,2,4, Colin Hawco^1,2,3; ¹Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ²Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ³Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, ⁴Research Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada, ⁵Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, ⁶Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY, USA, ⁷The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Department of Psychiatry, Hempstead, NY, USA, ⁸Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA, ⁹Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ¹⁰Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, ¹¹Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

We aimed to use fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) in autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (ASD and SSD) to explore group differences, individual variability and the relationship with social cognition. fALFF from 440 participants (175 controls, 59 ASD, and 206 SSD) was computed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging as signal power within slow-4 (0.027 – 0.073 Hz) and slow-5 (0.01 – 0.027 Hz), normalized by the power in the remaining frequency spectrum. Mentalizing score was derived from a factor score of multiple higher-order social processing tests. Permutation analysis of linear models were employed to investigate the relationship of cortical fALFF with group, mentalizing, and group x mentalizing interaction. Each participant’s average distance of fALFF map to all others was defined as a variability score with higher score indicating less typical maps. Lower slow-4 and slow-5 fALFF in visual and motor regions were found in both SSD and ASD compared to controls. SSD showed differences from controls in insula and medial prefrontal cortex. No significant differences were observed between SSD and ASD. There was a widespread association between slow-4 and slow-5 fALFF values with mentalizing scores, but no mentalizing by group interaction. Further, greater individual variability in fALFF maps was significantly negatively associated with mentalizing scores (p < 0.0001). Common pattern of fALFF in ASD and SSD suggests shared neurobiological mechanisms between the two groups with social cognitive deficits in ASD and SSD sharing a common pattern with poor performers in the control group.

Topic Area: METHODS: Neuroimaging