The neural substrates of cognitive control deficits in autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Executive functions deficits are among the most frequently reported symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), however, there have been few functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that investigate the neural substrates of executive functions deficits in ASDs, and only one in adolescents. The current study examined cognitive control -the ability to maintain task context online to support adaptive functioning in the face of response competition-in 22 adolescents aged 12-18 with autism spectrum disorders and 23 age, gender, and IQ matched typically developing subjects. During the cue phase of the task, where subjects must maintain information online to overcome a prepotent response tendency, typically developing subjects recruited significantly more anterior frontal (BA 10), parietal (BA 7, 40), and occipital regions (BA 18) for high control trials (25% of trials) versus low control trials (75% of trials). Both groups showed similar activation for low control cues, however the ASD group exhibited significantly less activation for high control cues. Functional connectivity analysis using time series correlation, factor analysis, and beta series correlation methods provided convergent evidence that the ASD group exhibited lower levels of functional connectivity and less network integration between frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. In the typically developing group, fronto-parietal connectivity was related to lower error rates on high control trials. In the autism group, reduced fronto-parietal connectivity was related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

Neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorder: brain structure and function across the lifespan

“…74 Nonetheless, consistent diff erences in brain activation occur in regions that also show structural abnormalities, as highlighted in several recent reviews. [75][76][77] Findings from many studies have shown decreased activation in regions comprising the social brain network during tasks related to emotional processing or social cognition, including the amygdala, temporal-parietal junction, insula, and inferior frontal cortex; 71,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84] in frontostriatal circuitry in response to cognitive control tasks and repetitive behaviours; 75,[85][86][87][88] in language circuitry during communication tasks; [89][90][91] and in reward circuitry. [92][93][94][95] By contrast, abnormal increases in Series activation are found in response to irritants and direct gaze.…”

Ultra-Rapid Categorization of Meaningful Real-Life Scenes in Adults With and Without ASD

“…As a consequence, the social recognition task is more complex and necessitates participants to actively integrate different sources of visual information. The observed difference in performance between people with or without ASD in social recognition might therefore not necessarily reflect a deficit in social cognition, but could also relate to problems in more complex information processing or executive functioning due to a larger cognitive task load (Schneider et al 2012;Solomon et al 2009). Such a deficit would also be in line with the increasing difference in RT performance between people with and without ASD after several consecutive test blocks in the animal/vehicle task.…”

A challenging, unpredictable world for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The authors concluded that the neural basis of impaired planning in ASD entails a lower degree of integration of information across certain cortical areas resulting from reduced intracortical connectivity (Just et al, 2007). Functional connectivity analysis performed during a cognitive control task (while subjects were preparing to overcome a prepotent response) also revealed lower levels of functional connectivity and less network integration between frontal, parietal, and occipital regions in the ASD group, associated with higher error rate in response to the most difficult trials that need greater involvement of cognitive control process (Solomon et al, 2009). Altogether these findings showed roughly similar performance in control and ASD groups but differences in the temporal connectivity of the different brain areas engaged by the cognitive task.…”