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Comparative Study
. 2012;7(12):e49033.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049033. Epub 2012 Dec 26.

Social cognition, the male brain and the autism spectrum

Jeremy Hall  1 , Ruth C M Philip, Katie Marwick, Heather C Whalley, Liana Romaniuk, Andrew M McIntosh, Isabel Santos, Reiner Sprengelmeyer, Eve C Johnstone, Andrew C Stanfield, Andy W Young, Stephen M Lawrie
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Social cognition, the male brain and the autism spectrum

Jeremy Hall et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Behavioral studies have shown that, at a population level, women perform better on tests of social cognition and empathy than men. Furthermore Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), which are characterized by impairments in social functioning and empathy, occur more commonly in males than females. These findings have led to the hypothesis that differences in the functioning of the social brain between males and females contribute to the greater vulnerability of males to ASD and the suggestion that ASD may represent an extreme form of the male brain. Here we sought to investigate this hypothesis by determining: (i) whether males and females differ in social brain function, and (ii) whether any sex differences in social brain function are exaggerated in individuals with ASD. Using fMRI we show that males and females differ markedly in social brain function when making social decisions from faces (compared to simple sex judgements) especially when making decisions of an affective nature, with the greatest sex differences in social brain activation being in the inferior frontal cortex (IFC). We also demonstrate that this difference is exaggerated in individuals with ASD, who show an extreme male pattern of IFC function. These results show that males and females differ significantly in social brain function and support the view that sex differences in the social brain contribute to the greater vulnerability of males to ASDs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Brain activation during approachability judgements in A) males and B) females (SPM thresholded P<0.001).
C) Between group comparison showing greater activation of inferior frontal cortex (IFC) in males than in females during approachability judgements (SPM thresholded P<0.005).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Convergent activation changes in the left inferior frontal cortex in males and individuals with ASD.
Red scale indicates regions showing greater activation in males than females. Blue scale indicates regions showing greater activation in participants with ASD than controls. Green scale indicates regions correlating with empathy in males. A) Transverse view, B) Coronal view, C) Saggital view. All contrasts thresholded at T>2.5.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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