Contributions of Affective States and Traits to Autistic Features

Godfrey, Kate J.

Contributions of Affective States and Traits to Autistic Features

dc.contributor.advisor	Bray, Signe
dc.contributor.advisor	Harris, Ashley D.
dc.contributor.author	Godfrey, Kate J.
dc.contributor.committeemember	McMorris, Carly
dc.contributor.committeemember	Protzner, Andrea
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-24T16:12:32Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-24T16:12:32Z
dc.date.issued	2024-04
dc.description.abstract	This thesis considered the role of affect and reward in autistic features, based on the important role affective brain systems play in emotion and motivated behaviors known to be impacted in autistic individuals. I directly tested multiple affect-based hypotheses in children with and without an autism diagnosis and aimed to inform future clinical work by exploring several methodologies for examining both inter-individual (trait) and intra-individual (state) variation in measures of affect and reward. I first examined multiple behavioral domains (reward sensitivity, anxiety symptoms, and executive function) for associations with interest intensity in early childhood autism. I report that the executive functioning domain of attention shifting associated with interest intensity in early childhood, while there was no relation with general sensitivity to reward and anxiety symptoms. I then considered how to better characterize inter-individuality in reward sensitivity during early childhood, specifically regarding social rewards. I therefore developed and validated the Social Reward Questionnaire–Early Childhood (SRQ-EC) to quantify wanting and liking of distinctly rewarding social situations in young children. I found that autistic-like traits in a community sample associated with reduced wanting and liking of social rewards, particularly for large group interactions, suggesting potential utility of the SRQ-EC for future autism research. I additionally considered a protocol for investigating brain functional connectivity for associations with intra-individual affect variation in a community sample of adults, with relevance for designing future studies to examine neurobiological mechanisms of affective disorders that commonly co-occur in autism. My work replicates recent findings that variance in functional connectivity is largely attributable to individual identity, and that variance attributable to intra-individual affect variation is 7–100x smaller than what can be attributed to viewing condition. This thesis advances methodologies for measuring and modeling both inter- and intra-individual variation in autism, specifically in relation to affective processes which are difficult to measure in a laboratory setting. The methods presented and refined here could be used in future work to better understand state- and trait-like features in autism.
dc.identifier.citation	Godfrey, K. J. (2024). Contributions of affective states and traits to autistic features (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118470
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Autism
dc.subject	Affect
dc.subject	Reward
dc.subject	Measurement
dc.subject	fMRI
dc.subject.classification	Neuroscience
dc.title	Contributions of Affective States and Traits to Autistic Features
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Medicine – Neuroscience
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.