Default mode network segregation and social deficits in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from non-medicated children.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yerys BE
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4573091 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:The default mode network (DMN), a brain system anchored in the posteromedial cortex, has been identified as underconnected in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, to date there have been no attempts to characterize this network and its involvement in mediating social deficits in children with ASD. Furthermore, the functionally heterogeneous profile of the posteromedial cortex raises questions regarding how altered connectivity manifests in specific functional modules within this brain region in children with ASD.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and an anatomically informed approach were used to investigate the functional connectivity of the DMN in 20 children with ASD and 19 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children. Multivariate regression analyses were used to test whether altered patterns of connectivity are predictive of social impairment severity.Compared with TD children, children with ASD demonstrated hyperconnectivity of the posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices with predominately medial and anterolateral temporal cortex. In contrast, the precuneus in ASD children demonstrated hypoconnectivity with visual cortex, basal ganglia, and locally within the posteromedial cortex. Aberrant posterior cingulate cortex hyperconnectivity was linked with severity of social impairments in ASD, whereas precuneus hypoconnectivity was unrelated to social deficits. Consistent with previous work in healthy adults, a functionally heterogeneous profile of connectivity within the posteromedial cortex in both TD and ASD children was observed.This work links hyperconnectivity of DMN-related circuits to the core social deficits in young children with ASD and highlights fundamental aspects of posteromedial cortex heterogeneity.
| S-EPMC3710546 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by deficits in social and communication processes. Recent data suggest that altered functional connectivity (FC), i.e. synchronous brain activity, might contribute to these deficits. Of specific interest is the FC integrity of the default mode network (DMN), a network active during passive resting states and cognitive processes related to social deficits seen in ASD, e.g. Theory of Mind. We investigated the role of altered FC of default mode sub-networks (DM-SNs) in 16 patients with high-functioning ASD compared to 16 matched healthy controls of short resting fMRI scans using independent component analysis (ICA). ICA is a multivariate data-driven approach that identifies temporally coherent networks, providing a natural measure of FC. Results show that compared to controls, patients showed decreased FC between the precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, DMN core areas, and other DM-SNs areas. FC magnitude in these regions inversely correlated with the severity of patients' social and communication deficits as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule and the Social Responsiveness Scale. Importantly, supplemental analyses suggest that these results were independent of treatment status. These results support the hypothesis that DM-SNs under-connectivity contributes to the core deficits seen in ASD. Moreover, these data provide further support for the use of data-driven analysis with resting-state data for illuminating neural systems that differ between groups. This approach seems especially well suited for populations where compliance with and performance of active tasks might be a challenge, as it requires minimal cooperation.
| S-EPMC3058935 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Social deficits are a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder; however, the perturbed neural mechanisms underpinning these deficits remain unclear. It has been suggested that social prediction errors-coding discrepancies between the predicted and actual outcome of another's decisions-might play a crucial role in processing social information. While the gyral surface of the anterior cingulate cortex signalled social prediction errors in typically developing individuals, this crucial social signal was altered in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Importantly, the degree to which social prediction error signalling was aberrant correlated with diagnostic measures of social deficits. Effective connectivity analyses further revealed that, in typically developing individuals but not in autism spectrum disorder, the magnitude of social prediction errors was driven by input from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These data provide a novel insight into the neural substrates underlying autism spectrum disorder social symptom severity, and further research into the gyral surface of the anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex could provide more targeted therapies to help ameliorate social deficits in autism spectrum disorder.
| S-EPMC5379861 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundFemales and males differ significantly in the prevalence and presentation of autism spectrum conditions. One theory of this effect postulates that autistic traits lie on a sex-related continuum in the general population, and autism represents the extreme male end of this spectrum. This theory predicts that any feature of autism in males should 1) be present in autistic females, 2) differentiate between the sexes in the typical population, and 3) correlate with autistic traits. We tested these three predictions for default mode network (DMN) hypoconnectivity during the resting state, one of the most robustly found neurobiological differences in autism.MethodsWe analyzed a primary dataset of adolescents (N = 121, 12-18 years of age) containing a relatively large number of females and a replication multisite dataset including children, adolescents, and adults (N = 980, 6-58 years of age). We quantified the average connectivity between DMN regions and tested for group differences and correlation with behavioral performance using robust regression.ResultsWe found significant differences in DMN intraconnectivity between female controls and females with autism (p = .001 in the primary dataset; p = .009 in the replication dataset), and between female controls and male controls (p = .036 in the primary dataset; p = .002 in the replication dataset). We also found a significant correlation between DMN intraconnectivity and performance on a mentalizing task (p = .001) in the primary dataset.ConclusionsCollectively, these findings provide the first evidence for DMN hypoconnectivity as a behaviorally relevant neuroimaging phenotype of the sex-related spectrum of autistic traits, of which autism represents the extreme case.
| S-EPMC4936761 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are nosologically distinct neurodevelopmental disorders with similar deficits in social cognition, including the ability to form mental representations of others (i.e., mentalizing). However, the extent of patient deficit overlap in underlying neural mechanisms is unclear. Our goal was to examine deficits in mentalizing task-related (MTR) activity modulation in schizophrenia and ASD and the relationship of such deficits with social functioning and psychotic symptoms in patients. Adults, ages 18-34, diagnosed with either ASD or schizophrenia, and typically developed controls (n = 30/group), performed an interactive functional MRI Domino task. Using independent component analysis, we analyzed game intervals known to stimulate mentalizing in the default mode network (DMN), i.e., medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, and temporoparietal junction (TPJ), for group differences in MTR activity and associations between MTR activity and social and psychosis measures. Compared to controls, both schizophrenia and ASD groups showed MTR activity deficits in PCC and TPJ. In TPJ and MPFC, MTR activity modulation was associated with social communication impairments only in ASD. In precuneus, MTR activity was associated with increased self-reported fantasizing only in schizophrenia. In schizophrenia, we found no indication of over-mentalizing activity or an association between MTR activity and psychotic symptoms. Results suggest shared neural deficits between ASD and schizophrenia in mentalizing-associated DMN regions; however, neural organization might correspond to different dimensional social deficits. Our results therefore indicate the importance of examining both categorical-clinical diagnosis and social functioning dimensional constructs when examining neural deficits in schizophrenia and ASD.
| S-EPMC7381691 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Neuroimaging studies can shed light on the neurobiological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Studies of the resting brain have shown both altered baseline metabolism from PET/SPECT and altered functional connectivity (FC) of intrinsic brain networks based on resting-state fMRI. To date, however, no study has investigated these two physiological parameters of resting brain function jointly, or explored the relationship between these measures and ASD symptom severity.Here, we used pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling with 3D background-suppressed GRASE to assess resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) and FC in 17 youth with ASD and 22 matched typically developing (TD) children.A pattern of altered resting perfusion was found in ASD versus TD children including frontotemporal hyperperfusion and hypoperfusion in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. We found increased local FC in the anterior module of the default mode network (DMN) accompanied by decreased CBF in the same area. In our cohort, both alterations were associated with greater social impairments as assessed with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-total T scores). While FC was correlated with CBF in TD children, this association between FC and baseline perfusion was disrupted in children with ASD. Furthermore, there was reduced long-range FC between anterior and posterior modules of the DMN in children with ASD.Taken together, the findings of this study--the first to jointly assess resting CBF and FC in ASD--highlight new avenues for identifying novel imaging markers of ASD symptomatology.
| S-EPMC4589806 | biostudies-other
Project description:Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been widely used to examine the relationships between brain function and phenotypic features in neurodevelopmental disorders. Techniques such as resting-state functional connectivity (FC) have enabled the identification of the primary networks of the brain. One fMRI network, in particular, the default mode network (DMN), has been implicated in social-cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attentional deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Given the significant clinical and genetic overlap between ASD and ADHD, surprisingly, no reviews have compared the clinical, developmental, and genetic correlates of DMN in ASD and ADHD and here we address this knowledge gap. We find that, compared with matched controls, ASD studies show a mixed pattern of both stronger and weaker FC in the DMN and ADHD studies mostly show stronger FC. Factors such as age, intelligence quotient, medication status, and heredity affect DMN FC in both ASD and ADHD. We also note that most DMN studies make ASD versus ADHD group comparisons and fail to consider ASD+ADHD comorbidity. We conclude, by identifying areas for improvement and by discussing the importance of using transdiagnostic approaches such as the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) to fully account for the phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity and overlap of ASD and ADHD.
| S-EPMC8112713 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Atypical social impairments (i.e., impaired social cognition and social communication) are vital manifestations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients, and the incidence rate of ASD is significantly higher in males than in females. Characterizing the atypical brain patterns underlying social deficits of ASD is significant for understanding the pathogenesis. However, there are no robust imaging biomarkers that are specific to ASD, which may be due to neurobiological complexity and limitations of single-modality research. To describe the multimodal brain patterns related to social deficits in ASD, we highlighted the potential functional role of white matter (WM) and incorporated WM functional activity and gray matter structure into multimodal fusion. Gray matter volume (GMV) and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations of WM (WM-fALFF) were combined by fusion analysis model adopting the social behavior. Our results revealed multimodal spatial patterns associated with Social Responsiveness Scale multiple scores in ASD. Specifically, GMV exhibited a consistent brain pattern, in which salience network and limbic system were commonly identified associated with all multiple social impairments. More divergent brain patterns in WM-fALFF were explored, suggesting that WM functional activity is more sensitive to ASD's complex social impairments. Moreover, brain regions related to social impairment may be potentially interconnected across modalities. Cross-site validation established the repeatability of our results. Our research findings contribute to understanding the neural mechanisms underlying social disorders in ASD and affirm the feasibility of identifying biomarkers from functional activity in WM.
| S-EPMC11372822 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeHigh-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves pragmatic impairment of language skills. Among numerous tasks for assessing pragmatic linguistic skills, idioms are important to evaluating high-functioning ASD. Nevertheless, no assessment tool has been developed with specific consideration of Korean culture. Therefore, we designed the Korean Autism Social Language Task (KASLAT) to test idiom comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to introduce this novel psychological tool and evaluate idiom comprehension deficits in high-functioning ASD.Materials and methodsThe participants included 42 children, ages 6-11 years, who visited our child psychiatric clinic between April 2014 and May 2015. The ASD group comprised 16 children; the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) group consisted of 16 children. An additional 10 normal control children who had not been diagnosed with either disorder participated in this study. Idiom comprehension ability was assessed in these three groups using the KASLAT.ResultsBoth ASD and ADHD groups had significantly lower scores on the matched and mismatched tasks, compared to the normal control children (matched tasks mean score: ASD 11.56, ADHD 11.56, normal control 14.30; mismatched tasks mean score: ASD 6.50, ADHD 4.31, normal control 11.30). However, no significant differences were found in scores of KASLAT between the ADHD and ASD groups.ConclusionThese findings suggest that children with ASD exhibit greater impairment in idiom comprehension, compared to normal control children. The KASLAT may be useful in evaluating idiom comprehension ability.
| S-EPMC4630050 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Time-invariant resting-state functional connectivity studies have illuminated the crucial role of the right anterior insula (rAI) in prominent social impairments of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, a recent dynamic connectivity study demonstrated that rather than being stationary, functional connectivity patterns of the rAI vary significantly across time. The present study aimed to explore the differences in functional connectivity in dynamic states of the rAI between individuals with ASD and typically developing controls (TD). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from a publicly available database were analyzed in 209 individuals with ASD and 298 demographically matched controls. A k-means clustering algorithm was utilized to obtain five dynamic states of functional connectivity of the rAI. The temporal properties, frequency properties, and meta-analytic decoding were first identified in TD group to obtain the characteristics of each rAI dynamic state. Multivariate analysis of variance was then performed to compare the functional connectivity patterns of the rAI between ASD and TD groups in obtained states. Significantly impaired connectivity was observed in ASD in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, which are two critical hubs of the default mode network (DMN). States in which ASD showed decreased connectivity between the rAI and these regions were those more relevant to socio-cognitive processing. From a dynamic perspective, these findings demonstrate partially impaired resting-state functional connectivity patterns between the rAI and DMN across states in ASD, and provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social impairments in individuals with ASD.
| S-EPMC6865537 | biostudies-literature