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Heritability of reflexive social attention triggered by eye gaze and walking direction: common and unique genetic underpinnings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2019

Li Wang Open the ORCID record for Li Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Ying Wang ,
Qian Xu ,
Dong Liu ,
Haoyue Ji ,
Yiwen Yu ,
Zhaoqi Hu ,
Peijun Yuan  and
Yi Jiang
Li Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Ying Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Qian Xu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Dong Liu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Haoyue Ji
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Yiwen Yu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Zhaoqi Hu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Peijun Yuan
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
Yi Jiang*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing100101, P. R. China Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing100049, P. R. China
*
Author for correspondence: Yi Jiang, E-mail: yijiang@psych.ac.cn
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Abstract

Background

Social attention ability is crucial for human adaptive social behaviors and interpersonal communications, and the malfunction of which has been implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a highly genetic neurodevelopmental disorder marked by striking social deficits.

Methods

Using a classical twin design, the current study investigated the genetic contribution to individual variation in social and non-social attention abilities, and further probed their potential genetic linkage. Moreover, individual autistic traits were further measured in an independent group of non-twin participants to examine the hypothetical link between the core social attention ability and ASD.

Results

We found reliable genetic influences on the social attentional effects induced by two distinct cues (eye gaze and walking direction), with 91% of their covariance accounted for by common genetic effects. However, no evidence of heritability or shared genetic effects was observed for the attentional effect directed by a non-social cue (i.e. arrow direction) and its correlation with the social attention ability. Remarkably, one's autistic traits could well predict his/her heritable core social attention ability extracted from the conventional social attentional effect.

Conclusions

These findings together suggest that human social attention ability is supported by unique genetic mechanisms that can be shared across different social, but not non-social, processing. Moreover, they also encourage the identification of ‘social attention genes’ and highlight the critical role of the core human social attention ability in seeking the endophenotypes of social cognitive disorders including ASD.

Keywords

Behavioral geneticsbiological motioneye gazesocial cognitiontwin study
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , February 2020 , pp. 475 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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