title: Reduced Theta Connectivity during Set-Shifting in Children with Autism.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a characterized by deficits in social cognition and executive function. An area of particular difficulty for children with ASD is cognitive flexibility, such as the ability to shift between attentional or response sets. The biological basis of such deficits remains poorly understood, although atypical development of structural and functional brain connectivity have been reported in ASD, suggesting that disruptions of normal patterns of inter-regional communication may contribute to cognitive problems in this group. The present magnetoencephalography study measured inter-regional phase synchronization while children with ASD and typically developing matched controls (6-14 years of age) performed a set-shifting task. Reduced theta-band phase synchronization was observed in children with ASD during extradimensional set-shifting. This reduction in task-dependent inter-regional connectivity encompassed numerous areas including multiple frontal lobe regions, and indicates that problems with communication among brain areas may contribute to difficulties with executive function in ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children , Toronto, ON , Canada ; Neurosciences & Mental Health Program, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute , Toronto, ON , Canada ; Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada ; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Sam M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Doesburg
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: Margot J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Taylor
keywords: ASD; autism; executive function; functional connectivity; magnetoencephalography; neural oscillation; neural synchrony; set-shifting