Abstract
Background
Individuals with autism have severe difficulties in social communication and relationships.
Prior studies have suggested that abnormal connections between brain regions important
for social cognition may contribute to the social deficits seen in autism.
Methods
In this study, we used diffusion tensor imaging to investigate white matter structure
in seven male children and adolescents with autism and nine age-, gender-, and IQ-matched
control subjects.
Results
Reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) values were observed in white matter adjacent to
the ventromedial prefrontal cortices and in the anterior cingulate gyri as well as
in the temporoparietal junctions. Additional clusters of reduced FA values were seen
adjacent to the superior temporal sulcus bilaterally, in the temporal lobes approaching
the amygdala bilaterally, in occipitotemporal tracts, and in the corpus callosum.
Conclusions
Disruption of white matter tracts between regions implicated in social functioning
may contribute to impaired social cognition in autism.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Social cognition and the human brain.Trends Cogn Sci. 1999; 3: 469-479
- The neurobiology of social cognition.Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001; 11: 231-239
- Impaired recognition of social emotions following amygdala damage.J Cogn Neurosci. 2002; 14: 1264-1274
- Social perception from visual cues.Trends Cogn Sci. 2000; 4: 267-278
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.4th ed. Author, Washington, DC1994
- The hyperserotonemia of autism.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990; 600: 331-340
- Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain.Eur J Neurosci. 1999; 11 (; discussion 341–342): 1891-1898
- Inferring microstructural features and the physiological state of tissues from diffusion-weighted images.NMR Biomed. 1995; 8: 333-344
- MR diffusion tensor spectroscopy and imaging.Biophys J. 1994; 66: 259-267
- Microstructural and physiological features of tissues elucidated by quantitative-diffusion-tensor MRI.J Magn Reson B. 1996; 111: 209-219
- The social brain.Concepts Neurosci. 1990; 1: 27-151
- A PET investigation of the attribution of intentions with a nonverbal task.Neuroimage. 2000; 11: 157-166
- Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex.Trends Cogn Sci. 2000; 4: 215-222
- Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes.Brain. 2002; 125: 1839-1849
- Movement and mind.Neuroimage. 2000; 12: 314-325
- Developmental changes in brain serotonin synthesis capacity in autistic and nonautistic children.Ann Neurol. 1999; 45: 287-295
- Unusual brain growth patterns in early life in patients with autistic disorder.Neurology. 2001; 57: 245-254
- The functional neuroanatomy of social behaviour.Brain. 2000; 123: 2203-2212
Damasio AR (1994): Descartes Error. New York: HarperCollins
- Neurotransmitters and neurotrophins collaborate to influence brain development.Perspect Dev Neurobiol. 1998; 5: 389-399
- What do imaging studies tell us about the neural basis of autism?.Novartis Found Symp. 2003; 251: 149-166
- Mind blindness and the brain in autism.Neuron. 2001; 32 (; discussion 166–176, 281–297): 969-979
- Reading the mind in cartoons and stories.Neuropsychologia. 2000; 38: 11-21
- Studies of altered social cognition in neuropsychiatric disorders using functional neuroimaging.Can J Psychiatry. 2002; 47: 327-336
- “Theory of mind” in the brain. Evidence from a PET scan study of Asperger syndrome.Neuroreport. 1996; 8: 197-201
- Human neural systems for face recognition and social communication.Biol Psychiatry. 2002; 51: 59-67
- The fusiform face area.J Neurosci. 1997; 17: 4302-4311
Lord C, Rutter M, DiLavore P, Risi S (1999): Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services
- Magnetic resonance imaging of diffusion and perfusion.Top Magn Reson Imaging. 1991; 3: 50-67
- Neuropeptides and neurotrophins in neonatal blood of children with autism or mental retardation.Ann Neurol. 2001; 49: 597-606
Pandya D (1986): Two Hemispheres—One Brain. New York: Allan Liss
- Face processing occurs outside the fusiform “face area” in autism.Brain. 2001; 124: 2059-2073
- Toward a quantitative assessment of diffusion anisotropy.Magn Reson Med. 1996; 36 ([published erratum appears in Magn Reson Med 1997, 37:972]): 893-906
- Temporal cortex activation in humans viewing eye and mouth movements.J Neurosci. 1998; 18: 2188-2199
- Face-sensitive regions in human extrastriate cortex studied by functional MRI.J Neurophysiol. 1995; 74: 1192-1199
- Autistic children.Pediatrics. 1991; 87: 751-760
- Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised.Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL1995
- Abnormal ventral temporal cortical activity during face discrimination among individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000; 57: 331-340
- The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition.Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003; 358: 415-427
- Low levels of insulin-like growth factor-I in cerebrospinal fluid in children with autism.Dev Med Child Neurol. 2001; 43: 614-616
- Elevated serotonin levels in autism.Neuropsychobiology. 1996; 34: 72-75
- Serotonin and brain development.Brain Res Bull. 2001; 56: 479-485
- Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. Manual. Psychological Corporation, San Antonio1999
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
October 29,
2003
Received in revised form:
October 28,
2003
Received:
May 27,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
