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Neural mechanisms of encoding social and non-social context information in autism spectrum disorder.
- Source :
-
Neuropsychologia [Neuropsychologia] 2012 Dec; Vol. 50 (14), pp. 3440-9. Date of Electronic Publication: 2012 Sep 24. - Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often fail to attach context to their memories and are specifically impaired in processing social aspects of contextual information. The aim of the present study was to investigate the modulatory influence of social vs. non-social context on neural mechanisms during encoding in ASD. Using event-related fMRI, 13 boys with ASD and 13 typically developing boys comparable for age and IQ were investigated during encoding of neutral objects presented either with a social (faces) or a non-social (houses) context. A memory paradigm was then applied to identify brain activation patterns associated with encoding of subsequently recollected versus non-recollected objects. On the behavioural level, no significant between-group differences emerged. In particular, no differential effects of context on memory performance were observed. Neurally, however, context-specific group differences were observed in several brain regions. During encoding of subsequently recollected objects presented with a face, ASD subjects (compared to controls) showed reduced neural activation in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule. Neural activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with memory performance in controls, but negatively in ASD individuals. During encoding of subsequently non-recollected objects presented in the non-social context, ASD subjects showed increased activation in the dorsal MPFC. Our findings suggest that in ASD subjects, fronto-parietal brain regions subserving memory formation and the association of contextual information are activated atypically when a social context is presented at encoding. The data add to findings from related research fields indicating that in ASD, socioemotional impairment extends into domains beyond social cognition. Increased activation in the dorsal MPFC in ASD individuals might reflect supervisory cognitive processes related to the suppression of a distracting non-social context.<br /> (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Adolescent
Analysis of Variance
Brain blood supply
Brain pathology
Child
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Intelligence
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Mental Recall physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Oxygen blood
Pattern Recognition, Visual physiology
Photic Stimulation
Reaction Time physiology
Statistics as Topic
Brain physiopathology
Brain Mapping
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive pathology
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive physiopathology
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive psychology
Social Behavior
Social Perception
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-3514
- Volume :
- 50
- Issue :
- 14
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Neuropsychologia
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 23017597
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.09.029