Attention function and dysfunction in autism

Abstract

Impairments of attention are among the most consistently reported cognitive deficits in autism, and they continue to be a key focus of research. This is in no doubt due to the importance of normal attention function to the development of many so-called "higher level" cognitive operations, and to the likely involvement of attention dysfunction in certain clinical features of autism. Autistic individuals display a wide range of attentional abilities and deficits across the many domains of attention function, including selective, sustained, spatial, and shifting attention operations. This unique pattern of attention function and dysfunction has profound implications for the development and treatment of autistic children. The present review will explore this pattern of attentional strengths and weaknesses and the neural defects that underlie them.

Environmental Enrichment Reverses Behavioral Alterations in Rats Prenatally Exposed to Valproic Acid: Issues for a Therapeutic Approach in Autism

“…We previously presented evidence that administration of VPA on day 12.5 of gestation also has long-term effects on postnatal behaviors in male rats, which include lower sensitivity to pain and higher sensitivity to nonpainful stimuli; diminished acoustic prepulse inhibition; locomotor and repetitive, stereotypic-like hyperactivity combined with lower exploratory activity; decreased number of social behaviors; and increased latency to social behaviors (Schneider et al, 2001;Schneider and Przewlocki, 2005). Similar behavioral abnormalities have been observed in autistic persons (Militerni et al, 2000;Ayres and Tickle, 1980;Allen and Courchesne, 2001;McAlonan et al, 2002;De Moura-Serra, 1990;Pierce and Courchesne, 2001;American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Autistic patients also exhibit enhanced reaction to stress (Tordjman et al, 1997(Tordjman et al, , 1999aMaher et al, 1975;Jansen et al, 2003).…”

The Neural Circuitry Mediating Shifts in Behavioral Response and Cognitive Set in Autism

“…This negative relationship between RRB scores and BOLD activation in brain regions associated with executive and attentional processes (45)(46)(47) might indicate that repetitive behaviors in autism are driven, at least in part, by more general deficits in attention, target detection, and response preparation (48). Because the correlation results were part of an exploratory analysis, they should be considered preliminary; further investigation into the possible relations between neural activation during cognitive tasks and RRB severity in autism is necessary to draw more definitive conclusions.…”

Neural dynamics of autistic behaviors: Cognitive, emotional, and timing substrates.

“…Courchesne and Allen have proposed that the parietal lobe and the cerebellum are both involved in the pathophysiology of autism with cerebellar modulation of the use of attentional resources (Allen and Courchesne, 2001). The iSTART model is compatible with this proposal, but also points to a series of interacting mechanisms that give rise to autistic symptoms that go beyond the Courchesne proposal.…”