Change Detection in Children with Autism: An Auditory Event-Related fMRI Study

Marie Gomot
Frédéric A Bernard
Matthew H Davis
Matthew K Belmonte
Chris Ashwin
Edward T Bullmore
Simon Baron-Cohen

NeuroImage 29(2):475-484 (January 2006)

ABSTRACT
Autism involves impairments in communication and social interaction, as well as high levels of repetitive, stereotypic and ritualistic behaviours, and extreme resistance to change. This latter dimension, whilst required for a diagnosis, has received less research attention. We hypothesise that this extreme resistance to change in autism is rooted in atypical processing of unexpected stimuli. We tested this using auditory event-related fMRI to determine regional brain activity associated with passive detection of infrequently-occurring frequency-deviant and complex novel sounds. Participants were 12 10-to-15-year-old children with autism, and a group of 12 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. During deviance-detection, significant activation common to both groups was located in the superior temporal and inferior frontal gyri. During novelty-detection, both groups showed activity in the superior temporal gyrus, the temporo-parietal junction, the superior and inferior frontal gyri and the cingulate gyrus. Children with autism showed reduced activation of the left anterior cingulate cortex during both deviance and novelty detection. During novelty-detection children with autism also showed reduced activation in the bilateral temporo-parietal region, and in the right inferior and middle frontal areas. This study confirms previous evidence from ERP studies of atypical brain function related to automatic change detection in autism, involving a cortical network known to have a role in attention-switching and attentional resource distribution. These results throw light on the neurophysiological processes underlying autistic `resistance to change'.

To receive a password that will enable you to download a reprint, enter your email address here:

DOWNLOAD REPRINT (requires password)

CITED IN PUBLICATIONS BY OTHERS:

  1. Baron-Cohen S. The hyper-systemizing, assortative mating theory of autism. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 30(5):865-872 (July 2006).
  2. Allen G. Cerebellar contributions to autism spectrum disorders. Clinical Neuroscience Research 6(3-4):195-207 (October 2006).
  3. Benga O, Benga I. What else is driving ritualized behavior, besides the "Hazard-Precaution System"? Developmental, psychopathological, and ethnological considerations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29(6):615-616 (December 2006).
  4. Yang YL, Raine A, Narr KL, Lencz T, LaCasse L, Colletti P, Toga, AW. Localisation of increased prefrontal white matter in pathological liars. British Journal of Psychiatry 190(2):174-175 (February 2007).
  5. Bogte H, Flamma B, van der Meere J, van Engeland H. Post-error adaptation in adults with high functioning autism. Neuropsychologia 45(8):1707-1714 (2007).
  6. Wetzel N, Schroger E. Modulation of involuntary attention by the duration of novel and pitch deviant sounds in children and adolescents. Biological Psychology 75(1):24-31 (April 2007).
  7. Miller SM, Ngo TT. Studies of caloric vestibular stimulation: implications for the cognitive neurosciences, the clinical neurosciences and neurophilosophy. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 19(3):183-203 (June 2007).
  8. Herbert MR, Kenet T. Brain abnormalities in language disorders and in autism. Pediatric Clinics of North America 54(3):563-583 (June 2007).
  9. Golan O, Baron-Cohen S, Hill JJ, Rutherford MD. The ‘Reading the Mind in the Voice’ Test — Revised: a study of complex emotion recognition in adults with and without autism spectrum conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 37(6):1096-1106 (July 2007).
  10. Kana RK, Keller TA, Minshew NJ, Just MA. Inhibitory control in high-functioning autism: Decreased activation and underconnectivity in inhibition networks. Biological Psychiatry 62(3):198-206 (1 August 2007).
  11. Shtyrov Y, Osswald K, Pulvermuller F. Memory traces for spoken words in the brain as revealed by the hemodynamic correlate of the mismatch negativity. Cerebral Cortex 18(1):29-37 (January 2008).
  12. Pratt H, Starr A, Michalewski HJ, Bleich N, Mittelman N. The auditory P-50 component to onset and offset of sound. Clinical Neurophysiology 119(2):376-387 (February 2008).
  13. Baharav E, Darling R. Case report: using an auditory trainer with caregiver video modeling to enhance communication and socialization behaviors in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 38(4):771-775 (April 2008).
  14. Shafritz KM, Dichter GS, Belger A. The neural circuitry mediating shifts in behavioral response and cognitive set in autism. Biological Psychiatry 63(10):974-980 (15 May 2008).
  15. Freitag CM, Konrad C, Häberlen M, Kleser C, von Gontard A, Reith W, Troje NF, Krick C. Perception of biological motion in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychologia 46(5):1480-1494 (2008).
  16. Ke XY, Hong SS, Tang TY, Zou B, Li HG, Hang YY, Zhou ZY, Ruan ZC, Lu ZH, Tao GT, Liu YJ. Voxel-based morphometry study on brain structure in children with high-functioning autism. NeuroReport 19(9):921-925 (11 June 2008).
  17. Crespi B, Badcock C. Psychosis and autism as diametrical disorders of the social brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(3):241-261 (June 2008).
  18. Thakkar KN, Polli FE, Joseph RM, Tuch DS, Hadjikhani N, Barton JJS, Manoach DS. Response monitoring, repetitive behaviour and anterior cingulate abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Brain 131(9):2464-2478 (September 2008).
  19. Ashburner J, Ziviani J, Rodger S. Sensory processing and classroom emotional, behavioral, and educational outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder. American Journal of Occupational Therapy 62(5):564-573 (September-October 2008).
  20. Walsh CA, Morrow EM, Rubenstein JLR. Autism and brain development. Cell 135(3):396-400 (31 October 2008).
  21. Crespi B. Genomic imprinting in the development and evolution of psychotic spectrum conditions. Bioogical Reviews 83(4):441-493 (November 2008).
  22. Di Martino A, Ross K, Uddin LQ, Sklar AB, Castellanos FX, Milham MP. Functional brain correlates of social and nonsocial processes in autism spectrum disorders: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry, in press.

CITED IN MY OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

  1. Gomot M, Belmonte MK, Bullmore ET, Bernard FA, Baron-Cohen S. Brain hyper-reactivity to auditory novel targets in children with high-functioning autism. Brain 131(9):2479-2488 (September 2008).