Change Detection in Children with Autism: An Auditory Event-Related fMRI Study

Marie Gomot
Frédéric A Bernard
Matthew H Davis
Matthew K Belmonte
Chris Ashwin
Edward T Bullmore
Simon Baron-Cohen

NeuroImage 29(2):475-484 (January 2006)

ABSTRACT
Autism involves impairments in communication and social interaction, as well as high levels of repetitive, stereotypic and ritualistic behaviours, and extreme resistance to change. This latter dimension, whilst required for a diagnosis, has received less research attention. We hypothesise that this extreme resistance to change in autism is rooted in atypical processing of unexpected stimuli. We tested this using auditory event-related fMRI to determine regional brain activity associated with passive detection of infrequently-occurring frequency-deviant and complex novel sounds. Participants were 12 10-to-15-year-old children with autism, and a group of 12 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. During deviance-detection, significant activation common to both groups was located in the superior temporal and inferior frontal gyri. During novelty-detection, both groups showed activity in the superior temporal gyrus, the temporo-parietal junction, the superior and inferior frontal gyri and the cingulate gyrus. Children with autism showed reduced activation of the left anterior cingulate cortex during both deviance and novelty detection. During novelty-detection children with autism also showed reduced activation in the bilateral temporo-parietal region, and in the right inferior and middle frontal areas. This study confirms previous evidence from ERP studies of atypical brain function related to automatic change detection in autism, involving a cortical network known to have a role in attention-switching and attentional resource distribution. These results throw light on the neurophysiological processes underlying autistic `resistance to change'.

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CITED IN MY OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

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