Biology subjects

Crockford, S. K.

Publications and source records attributed to Crockford, S. K..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Modelling punctuated similarity

Inter-subject, pairwise similarity models provide a methodological resource for flexibly measuring complex, non-linear relationships between brain and behavior. Similarity models, however, can extend beyond brain behavior relationships and can be readily applied to any data where they may be useful. The work presented in this paper introduces a new way of modelling similarity, termed punctuated similarity, where dissimilarity is modelled at a specific point within a given sample of continuous data. With this model researchers can select a value at which they expect dissimilarity or similarity to occur and evaluate it against real similarity distributions. To demonstrate how this model works two separate proof-of-concept experimental analyses were conducted on publicly available data, the results of which are reported in this paper. The first investigated puberty as a critical time-point for growth in a sample of children aged five to nineteen obtained from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. The second investigated the COVID-19 pandemic as a critical time-point for market volatility in stock price data for market indices from seven different countries. Both experiments showed that the similarity model presented in this paper was effective at modelling critical time points for increased variance in stock market prices and growth development of children. Finally, this paper is accompanied by an open-source R library to recreate the similarity models presented, providing a tool for future researchers to use in their own analysis.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2023

Detection of idiosyncratic gaze fingerprint signatures in humans

Do individuals possess a gaze fingerprint that reveals how they uniquely look at the world? We tested this question by examining intra- and inter-subject gaze similarity across 700 static pictures of complex natural scenes. Independent discovery (n=105) and replication (n=46) datasets revealed that gaze fingerprinting is possible at relatively high rates (e.g., 52- 63%) compared to chance (e.g., 1-2%). We also introduce the idea of a gaze fingerprint barcode, which can reveal how an individual can be gaze fingerprinted across a large array of stimuli. Pre-registered longitudinal follow-up experiments show that gaze fingerprint barcodes are stable within-individual over short (e.g., weeks to months) and long (e.g., years) time frames. Finally, we find that increased gaze fingerprintability is associated with decreased levels of autistic traits. Overall, this work showcases the potential of gaze fingerprinting and may help reveal precision biomarkers relevant for studying conditions with atypical gaze patterns, such as autism.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Assessing the relationship between cognitive empathy, age, and face perception using a sequential Bayesian analysis

The ability to correctly identify emotions in social stimuli such as faces is proposed to affect ones level of cognitive empathy. The Fusiform Face Area shows a heightened neural response during the perception of faces relative to objects. We tested whether neural responses to social stimuli were associated with performance in a measure of cognitive empathy, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task. To quantify face perception, participants were presented with images during a fast serial presentation task which elicited a steady state visual evoked potential, measured using electroencephalography. A Sequential Bayesian Analysis was used to assess if face specific neural responses were associated with either cognitive empathy or age. Data were collected from a participant group of both neurotypical individuals and individuals on the autistic spectrum. We found no significant relationship between the face-specific neural signature, cognitive empathy or age. This study highlights the efficiency of the Sequential Bayesian Analysis as an effective method of participant recruitment.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Salivary sex hormone levels following oxytocin administration in autistic and typical women

Oxytocin administration, which may be of therapeutic value for social disabilities, likely influences endogenous levels of other socially-relevant hormones. However, to date, the effects of oxytocin administration on endogenous hormones have only been examined in typical males. The need to consider multi-hormone interactions is particularly warranted in oxytocin trials for autism due to evidence of irregularities in both oxytocin and sex steroid systems. Here, as part of a larger trial with a double-blind cross-over design, we assessed salivary testosterone and oestradiol levels in 16 autistic and 29 typical women before and after intranasal administration of 24IU oxytocin or placebo. Distinct patterns of change in testosterone and oestradiol across time were observed between groups, with autistic women showing increases in both hormones 90 min post-administration and typical women showing small decreases (mean %change oestradiol: +12% Autism, -10% Typical, 95%CI of difference: 5.0-39.4%, p=0.01; mean %change testosterone: +8% Autism, -14% Typical, 95%CI of difference: 7.8-35.6%, p=0.002). Under the oxytocin condition, the group difference in %change testosterone was amplified (+14.4% Autism, -15.2% Typical, p=0.018). Although baseline hormone levels did not differ between groups, greater baseline oestradiol relative to testosterone was negatively correlated with autistic-like traits (r= -0.36, p=0.019) and positively correlated (r=0.35, p=0.02) with self-reported empathy in the overall sample. These results provide further evidence that oxytocin influences endogenous testosterone, with autistic women showing increases similar to previous reports in typical men. These findings may help to identify autistic people expected to benefit most from interventions involving oxytocin.

neuroscience↗