Processing of social and monetary rewards in autism spectrum disorders.
Sarah BaumeisterCarolin MoessnangNico BastSarah HohmannPascal-M AggensteinerAnna KaiserJulian TillmannDavid GoyardTony CharmanSara AmbrosinoSimon Baron-CohenChristian BeckmannSven BölteThomas BourgeronAnnika RauschDaisy CrawleyFlavio Dell'AcquaGuillaume DumasSarah DurstonChristine EckerDorothea L FlorisVincent FrouinHannah HaywardRosemary HoltMark H JohnsonEmily J H JonesMeng-Chuan LaiMichael V LombardoLuke MasonBethany OakleyMarianne OldehinkelAntonio M PersicoAntonia San José CáceresThomas WolfersEva LothDeclan G M MurphyJan K BuitelaarHeike TostAndreas Meyer-LindenbergTobias BanaschewskiDaniel Brandeisnull nullPublished in: The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science (2023)
Our results do not support current theories linking atypical social interaction in ASD to specific alterations in social reward processing. Instead, they point towards a generalised hypoactivity of ventral striatum in ASD during anticipation of both social and monetary rewards. We suggest this indicates attenuated reward seeking in ASD independent of social content and that elevated ADHD symptoms may attenuate altered reward seeking in ASD.