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Published on: August 20, 2016
Impaired inhibitory control is associated with higher-order repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders
M W Mosconi1, M Kay, A-M D'Cruz
1Department of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
Background:
Impairments in executive cognitive control, including a reduced ability to inhibit prepotent responses, have been reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These deficits may underlie patterns of repetitive behaviors associated with the disorder.
Method:
Eighteen individuals with ASD and 15 age- and IQ-matched healthy individuals performed an antisaccade task and a visually guided saccade control task, each with gap and overlap conditions. Measures of repetitive behaviors were obtained using the Autism Diagnostic Inventory-Revised (ADI-R) and examined in relation to neurocognitive task performance.
Results:
Individuals with an ASD showed increased rates of prosaccade errors (failures to inhibit prepotent responses) on the antisaccade task regardless of task condition (gap/overlap). Prosaccade error rates were associated with the level of higher-order (e.g. compulsions, preoccupations) but not sensorimotor repetitive behaviors in ASD.
Conclusions:
Neurocognitive disturbances in voluntary behavioral control suggest that alterations in frontostriatal systems contribute to higher-order repetitive behaviors in ASD.
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