@article {475, title = {Atypical brain responses to reward cues in autism as revealed by event-related potentials.}, journal = {J Autism Dev Disord}, volume = {41}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Nov}, pages = {1523-33}, abstract = {

Social motivation deficit theories suggest that children with autism do not properly anticipate and appreciate the pleasure of social stimuli. In this study, we investigated event-related brain potentials evoked by cues that triggered social versus monetary reward anticipation in children with autism. Children with autism showed attenuated P3 activity in response to cues associated with a timely reaction to obtain a reward, irrespective of reward type. We attribute this atypical P3 activity in response to reward cues as reflective of diminished motivated attention to reward signals, a possible contributor to reduced social motivation in autism. Thus, our findings suggest a general reward processing deficit rather than a specific social reward dysfunction in autism.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Autistic Disorder, Brain, Case-Control Studies, Child, Cues, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Male, Motivation, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Reward, Social Perception}, issn = {1573-3432}, doi = {10.1007/s10803-011-1177-1}, author = {Kohls, Gregor and Peltzer, Judith and Schulte-R{\"u}ther, Martin and Kamp-Becker, Inge and Remschmidt, Helmut and Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate and Konrad, Kerstin} }