Corrélats neuronaux de la force d'association et de la corrélation catégorique chez les jeunes avec un diagnostic de "trouble du spectre de l'autisme"

Aperçu: G.M.

Les personnes avec un diagnostic de "troubles du spectre de l'autisme" (dTSA) présentent souvent des troubles du langage / communication. L'exploration de la différence de traitement sémantique entre les jeunes avec un dTSA et les jeunes au développement typique (TD) est cruciale pour comprendre l'organisation des connaissances sémantiques. 

Nous avons trouvé différents substrats neuronaux de la connaissance sémantique entre ces deux groupes. Les jeunes TSA peuvent s’appuyer davantage sur des informations visuelles de niveau inférieur lors des jugements sémantiques, tandis que les jeunes TD ont montré des processus contrôlés de niveau supérieur de représentations sémantiques plus élaborées pour la sélection et l’intégration de mots, de phrases et de phrases.

Autism Res. 2019 Aug 6. doi: 10.1002/aur.2184.

Neural correlates of association strength and categorical relatedness in youths with autism spectrum disorder

Wong CH^1,2, Gau SS^1,3,4,5, Chou TL^1,4,5.

Author information

1

Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

2

Imaging Center for Integrated Body, Mind, and Culture Research, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

3

Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.

4

Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

5

Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Impaired language and communication are commonly observed in youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, the organization of semantic knowledge in youths with ASD remains unclear compared to typically developing (TD) youths. The present study addresses this issue by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the distinction between association strength and categorical relatedness of semantic knowledge. A sample of 31 male youths with ASD (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = 1.2) and 38 TD youths (mean age = 11.9 years, SD = 1.0) was recruited with matched age, gender, and handedness. Participants decided if two visually presented Chinese characters were semantically related during fMRI scanning. For weaker association strength, the ASD group showed greater left cuneus activation, which was positively correlated with the picture completion for visual perception, whereas the TD group showed greater middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus activation. For higher categorical relatedness, the TD group showed greater activation than the ASD group in the occipitotemporal cortex and left precuneus, which was positively correlated with the similarities for concept formulation. Findings imply that the ASD group may use lower-level visual information for both association strength and categorical relatedness. The TD group showed higher-level controlled processes of more elaborate semantic representations for association strength and more elaborate features of categorical knowledge for semantic selection and integration. Autism Res 2019, 00: 1-11. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present language/communication impairments. Exploring the difference of semantic processing between youths with ASD and typically developing (TD) youths is crucial for understanding the organization of semantic knowledge. We found different neural substrates of semantic knowledge between these two groups. ASD youths may rely more on lower-level visual information during semantic judgments, whereas TD youths showed higher-level controlled processes of more elaborate semantic representations for selection and integration of words, phrases, and sentences.

© 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PMID: 31385651

DOI: 10.1002/aur.2184