title: Commentary: Critical considerations for studying low-functioning autism.
abstract: Jack and Pelphrey provide a systematic review of neuroimaging studies in understudied populations within the autistic spectrum, focussing specifically on those with minimal verbal ability, intellectual disability and developmental regression. Despite accounting for nearly a third of the autistic spectrum, the number of studies focussing on these populations is extremely low. This review highlights a critical need for further neuroimaging research on these populations, and provides practical suggestions for overcoming the challenges posed by it. In this commentary, I discuss some of the theoretical questions that arise from the review, on the conceptualisation of the autistic spectrum as well as on optimising experimental design and analysis.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Autism, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
authors.forename: Bhismadev
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6649-7895
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; D006801:Humans; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012106:Research
keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; cognitive impairment; functional MRI; nosology; research design