J Korean Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry.
2024 Jul;35(3):197-209. 10.5765/jkacap.240008.
The Relationship Between Brain Activation for Taking Others’ Perspective and Interoceptive Abilities in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An fMRI Study
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea
- 2Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
- 3Autism and Developmental Disorders Treatment Center, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea
- 4Department of Psychiatry, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 5Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
- KMID: 2557734
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.5765/jkacap.240008
Abstract
Objectives
In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we aimed to investigate the differences in brain activation between individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) individuals during perspective taking. We also examined the association between brain activation and empathic and interoceptive abilities.
Methods
During scanning, participants from the ASD (n=17) and TD (n=22) groups were shown pain stimuli and asked to rate the level of the observed pain from both self- and other-perspectives. Empathic abilities, including perspective taking, were measured using an empathic questionnaire, and three dimensions of interoception were assessed: interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive sensibility, and interoceptive trait prediction errors.
Results
During self-perspective taking, the ASD group exhibited greater activation in the left precuneus than the TD group. During other-perspective taking, relative hyperactivation extended to areas including the right precuneus, right superior frontal gyrus, left caudate nucleus, and left amygdala. Brain activation levels in the right superior frontal gyrus while taking other-perspective were negatively correlated with interoceptive accuracy, and those in the left caudate were negatively correlated with perspective taking ability in the ASD group.
Conclusion
Individuals with ASD show atypical brain activation during perspective taking. Notably, their brain regions associated with stress reactions and escape responses are overactivated when taking other-perspective. This overactivity is related to poor interoceptive accuracy, suggesting that individuals with ASD may experience difficulties with the self-other distinction or atypical embodiment when considering another person’s perspective.
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