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Theory of "social motivation" in autism spectrum disorder

Theory of "social motivation" in autism spectrum disorder

Theory of "social motivation" in autism spectrum disorder

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Theory of "social motivation" in autism spectrum disorder

2 Jul 2020
The view that a lack of social motivation plays a major role in autism has recently come to the fore.
 
Such a theory has in fact created a new direction in autism research, as previous theories have generally focused on the cognitive deficits of autism. For example, the theory of "defect in the theory of mind" or "defect in executive functions" can be mentioned, which are more focused on the cognitive problems of people with autism and less attention to their motivational problems. This article tries to examine the role of motivation in the development of autism symptoms by reviewing various evidences. While offering to read the full text of this article to interested people, we present a summary of its contents.
 
It seems that thought processes affect social cognition, and thus a deficit in social cognition is in fact the result of motivational deficits, not its cause. To fully understand the issue of "social motivation", we need direct and final explanations of this phenomenon. The direct explanation states what a particular behavior performs, and the ultimate explanation explains why this behavior was chosen in the evolutionary path.
 
At the level of direct explanation, social motivation can be defined as a set of physiological tendencies and biological mechanisms that lead a person to face the social world, to seek and find pleasure in social interactions, and to strive to strengthen and maintain dependence. Leads social networks. In the final explanation, social motivation is an evolutionary adaptive process that increases individual adaptation in a collaborative environment.
 
In this paper, a comprehensive model of social motivation in natural evolutionary conditions at three levels of behavior, biological and evolutionary is explained and then the characteristics of people with autism spectrum disorder at these three levels are examined.
 
 
Behavioral level: There are at least three types of behavioral manifestations of social attention:
 
 
1. Social Orienting: In evolutionary natural conditions, social signs such as the human face and body quickly attract attention.
Face changes are better detectable than changes in other things, and covered faces are discovered faster and more accurately than covered objects. This
There is a natural tendency from the early stages of development in a normal child.
 
 
2. Seeking and Liking: Social interactions have a rewarding effect and people enjoy these interactions. also
People prefer to have fun in an interactive process rather than individually. This desire is an innate desire and the reason is happiness
It is the inner that creates, not the receiving of the external reward, as it has been shown that the external reward may even reduce this desire.
 
 
3. Tendency to consolidate and maintain interactions (Social Maintaining): Studies have shown that behaviors that reinforce and maintain interactions, from
There are early stages of human evolution and it often seems to be outside the realm of self-awareness. An example of these behaviors is the subconscious tendency to imitate the non-verbal behaviors of others, the intensity of which can be commensurate with the degree of empathy.
 
 
At the biological level, areas of the brain including the amygdala, anterior striatum, and the pre-frontal orbital and ventromedial areas in the social motivation process
They play an important role. Of course, these areas do not operate separately, but each has a specific role to play in completing this cycle. Functional differences in the orbitofrontal-striatum-amygdala network have been shown to be associated with personal differences in social motivation. Studies have also shown that social motivation mechanisms are at least partially influenced by neuropeptide signals, and in this context the role of oxytocin in interacting with dopamine is very important.
In addition, endogenous opioids, cannabinoids, and dopamine, glutamate, and cholinergic mechanisms are important in the phenomenon of social motivation.
The evolutionary function of social motivation has also been shown in various studies and sources, and humans in collaborative activities are qualitatively different from others.
Organisms are distinct, and it has also been shown that the motivation for social interactions based on interdependence is different from other social motivations.
People with autism spectrum disorder have a deficit in all aspects of social motivation. Consistent with behavioral findings that confirm defects in motivational components
It is social, and biological findings also indicate defects in the orbitofrontal-striatum-amygdala cycle in people with autism spectrum disorders.
Of course, it should be noted that these findings are not yet complete and the debate about their importance in scientific texts continues. From an evolutionary point of view, some studies have shown that what is particularly deficient in autism is "social tendencies based on cooperative dependence on community members" and other social motivations such as dependence on parents and children and levels of sexual instincts in These people remain intact.
 
The authors of the article review the research and propose the theory of "social motivation deficit" as a comprehensive theory to justify social deficits in autism spectrum disorders. Of course, they also point to the shortcomings of this theory, including the fact that it is not able to justify the antisocial defects of autism - such as repetitive behaviors and limited interests. Another challenge to this theory is that deficits in social motivation and cognition are not limited to autism and are found in other disorders (including schizophrenia).
 
These deficiencies are, of course, challenging when it comes to justifying the symptoms of autism based on a single theory. But if to autism as Looking at this disorder with multiple defects, different theories can be used to justify different categories of symptoms.
 
In fact, the main competitors of this theory are theories based on defects in social cognition. The authors of this article believe that it is the defect in social motivation that leads to the defect in social cognition, not the other way around. They also cite reasons in favor of this belief: first, the lack of social cognition is seen only in a subset of people with autism, while the lack of social motivation is prevalent in autistic people. The second reason is that from an ontological point of view, social motivation precedes social cognition, as social inclination emerges much earlier than the formation of social cognition.
The third reason is that a decrease in social attention, regardless of the type of diagnosis, leads to a decrease in social cognition. Finally, if we assume that a decrease in social motivation and attention leads to a deficiency in social cognition, the strengthening of social attention should lead to an improvement in social cognition; This has been confirmed in various researches.
The practical implication of this theory is that effective social intervention in autism should focus on social attention and motivation rather than specific social skills training. Such an approach would in fact change the common orientation of social skills training interventions.
 

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2 Jul 2020
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