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Working memory network alterations in high-functioning adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder
Evelien M Barendse1,2,3, Lisanne J Schreuder4,5, Geert Thoonen6
1Department of Research and Development, Kempenhaeghe Expertise Centre for Epileptology, Sleep Medicine and Neurocognition, Heeze, The Netherlands.
Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
|September 5, 2017
Summary
Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show altered brain network integrity in working memory (WM). Despite compensatory mechanisms, functional MRI reveals neuronal correlates for memory challenges in ASD individuals.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Working memory (WM) is crucial for social navigation.
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit WM deficits.
- Altered brain network integrity in WM is hypothesized in ASD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate brain network integrity in working memory (WM) in adolescents with ASD.
- To compare WM network organization between adolescents with ASD and typically developing controls.
- To explore the relationship between WM network integrity and autism characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in 13 adolescents with ASD and 13 controls.
- Participants completed an n-back task and resting-state scans.
- Behavioral data and diagnostic scores were analyzed alongside fMRI data.
Main Results:
- Adolescents with ASD demonstrated WM performance deficits when tested to their limit.
- Lower binary global efficiency in the WM network was observed in ASD compared to controls.
- WM network efficiency correlated with diagnostic scores for total problems, reciprocity, and language.
Conclusions:
- Adolescents with higher-functioning autism experience WM system difficulties, often compensated.
- fMRI markers of brain network organization in ASD are linked to autism diagnostic characteristics.
- fMRI provides neuronal correlates for memory impairments in adolescents with ASD.
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