title: Abnormal functional activation and maturation of fronto-striato-temporal and cerebellar regions during sustained attention in autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sustained attention problems are common in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and may have significant implications for the diagnosis and management of ASD and associated comorbidities. Furthermore, ASD has been associated with atypical structural brain development. The authors used functional MRI to investigate the functional brain maturation of attention between childhood and adulthood in people with ASD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a parametrically modulated sustained attention/vigilance task, the authors examined brain activation and its linear correlation with age between childhood and adulthood in 46 healthy male adolescents and adults (ages 11-35 years) with ASD and 44 age- and IQ-matched typically developing comparison subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative to the comparison group, the ASD group had significantly poorer task performance and significantly lower activation in inferior prefrontal cortical, medial prefrontal cortical, striato-thalamic, and lateral cerebellar regions. A conjunction analysis of this analysis with group differences in brain-age correlations showed that the comparison group, but not the ASD group, had significantly progressively increased activation with age in these regions between childhood and adulthood, suggesting abnormal functional brain maturation in ASD. Several regions that showed both abnormal activation and functional maturation were associated with poorer task performance and clinical measures of ASD and inattention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results provide first evidence that abnormalities in sustained attention networks in individuals with ASD are associated with underlying abnormalities in the functional brain maturation of these networks between late childhood and adulthood.
authors.forename: Clodagh M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Christakou
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ecker
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Giampietro
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brammer
authors.forename: Anna B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Dene M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Declan G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Katya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rubia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult