Young adolescents with autism show abnormal joint attention network: A gaze contingent fMRI study.
Behavioral research has revealed deficits in the development of joint attention (JA) as one of the earliest signs of autism. While the neural basis of JA has been studied predominantly in adults, we recently demonstrated a protracted development of the brain networks supporting JA in typically developing children and adolescents. The present eye-tracking/fMRI study now extends these findings to adolescents with autism. Our results show that in adolescents with autism JA is subserved by abnormal activation patterns in brain areas related to social cognition abnormalities which are at the core of ASD including the STS and TPJ, despite behavioral maturation with no behavioral differences. Furthermore, in the autism group we observed increased neural activity in a network of social and emotional processing areas during interactions with their mother. Moreover, data indicated that less severely affected individuals with autism showed higher frontal activation associated with self-initiated interactions. Taken together, this study provides first-time data of JA in children/adolescents with autism incorporating the interactive character of JA, its reciprocity and motivational aspects. The observed functional differences in adolescents ASD suggest that persistent developmental differences in the neural processes underlying JA contribute to social interaction difficulties in ASD.
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
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Oberwelland
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
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Schilbach
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
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Barisic
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
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Krall
Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.
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Vogeley
Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.
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Fink
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany.
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Herpertz-Dahlmann
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
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Konrad
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
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Schulte-Rüther
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000209:etiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D012919:Social Behavior; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D010100:Oxygen
Eye-tracking; Familiarity; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Social interaction; Superior temporal sulcus; Temporoparietal junction