Journal
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
Volume 47, Issue -, Pages 410-430Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.012
Keywords
Autism; Oxytocin; Interoception; Bayesian predictive coding; Neuromodulation; Active inference; Emotional affordance; Sensory attenuation; Self-awareness
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Funding
- Wellcome Trust [088130/Z/09/Z]
- Wellcome Trust [088130/Z/09/Z] Funding Source: researchfish
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Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by profound social and verbal communication deficits, stereotypical motor behaviors, restricted interests, and cognitive abnormalities. Autism affects approximately 1% of children in developing countries. Given this prevalence, identifying risk factors and therapeutic interventions are pressing objectives-objectives that rest on neurobiologically grounded and psychologically informed theories about the underlying pathophysiology. In this article, we review the evidence that autism could result from a dysfunctional oxytocin system early in life. As a mediator of successful procreation, not only in the reproductive system, but also in the brain, oxytocin plays a crucial role in sculpting socio-sexual behavior. Formulated within a (Bayesian) predictive coding framework, we propose that oxytocin encodes the saliency or precision of interoceptive signals and enables the neuronal plasticity necessary for acquiring a generative model of the emotional and social 'self.' An aberrant oxytocin system in infancy could therefore help explain the marked deficits in language and social communication - as well as the sensory, autonomic, motor, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities - seen in autism. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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