Brain hyperconnectivity in children with autism and its links to social deficits.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting nearly 1 in 88 children, is thought to result from aberrant brain connectivity. Remarkably, there have been no systematic attempts to characterize whole-brain connectivity in children with ASD. Here, we use neuroimaging to show that there are more instances of greater functional connectivity in the brains of children with ASD in comparison to those of typically developing children.

Set-shifting in children with autism spectrum disorders: reversal shifting deficits on the Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift Test correlate with repetitive behaviors.

Research examining set-shifting has revealed significant difficulties for adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, research with high-functioning children with ASDs has yielded mixed results. The current study tested 6- to 13-year-old high-functioning children with ASD and typically developing controls matched on age, gender, and IQ using the Intradimensional/Extradimensional (ID/ED) Shift Test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Brief report: Further evidence for inner speech deficits in autism spectrum disorders.

Recent research indicates that individuals with autism do not effectively use inner speech during the completion of cognitive tasks. We used Articulatory Suppression (AS) to interfere with inner speech during completion of alternate items from the Tower of London (TOL). AS detrimentally affected TOL performance among typically developing (TD) adolescents (n = 25), but did not significantly diminish performance among adolescents with high functioning (IQ > 80) autism spectrum disorders (n = 28).

Functional connectivity of the inferior frontal cortex changes with age in children with autism spectrum disorders: a fcMRI study of response inhibition.

Unmasking the neural basis of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), requires studying functional connectivity during childhood when cognitive skills develop. A functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) analysis was performed on data collected during Go/NoGo task performance from 24 children ages 8-12 years (12 with ASD; 12 controls matched on age and intellectual functioning). We investigated the connectivity of the left and right inferior frontal cortex (IFC; BA 47), key regions for response inhibition, with other active regions in frontal, striatal, and parietal cortex.

Atypical neural substrates of Embedded Figures Task performance in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Superior performance on the Embedded Figures Task (EFT) has been attributed to weak central coherence in perceptual processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural basis of EFT performance in 7- to 12-year-old ASD children and age- and IQ-matched controls. ASD children activated only a subset of the distributed network of regions activated in controls.

Disorganization: the forgotten executive dysfunction in high-functioning autism (HFA) spectrum disorders.

Executive function (EF) abilities were investigated in 72 children with high-functioning autism (HFA) spectrum disorders through the collection of parent ratings and performance on laboratory measures of EF. In addition, discrepancy analysis was used to isolate executive functioning on tasks that carry multiple demands. Comparison of HFA and Asperger Disorder (AD) groups did not reveal consistent differences in EF.