Altered functional connectivity of semantic processing in youths with autism
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have aberrant neural activity during semantic judgments. I aimed to examine age-dependent neural correlates of semantic processing in boys with ASD as compared to those in typically developing boys (TD). I used functional MRI to investigate 37 boys with ASD (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.4) and 35 age-, sex-, intelligence quotient (IQ)- and handedness-matched TD boys (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.7) from age 8 to 18 years. Participants had to indicate whether pairs of Chinese characters presented visually were related in meaning. Group (ASD, TD) x Age (Old, Young) ANOVA was used to examine the difference of age-related changes. Direct comparisons between the adolescent group and the child group were performed. Functional connectivity was also used to estimate the directional influence among brain regions for participants. The behavioral results showed that the ASD group had lower accuracy in the related condition relative to the TD group. The neuroimaging results showed greater activation in the cuneus and less activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in boys with ASD than TD boys. Children with ASD produced greater activation in the cuneus than TD children.
