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Meta-analytic connectivity modelling of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in autism spectrum disorders
Citation
Goodwill, A. M., Low, L. T., Fox, P. T., Fox, P. M., Poon, K. K., Bhowmick, S. S., & Chen, S. H. A. (2023). Meta-analytic connectivity modelling of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in autism spectrum disorders. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 17, 257-269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-022-00754-2
Author
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Low, Li Tong
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Fox, Peter T.
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Fox, Peter Mickle
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Bhowmick, Sourav S.
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Chen, Annabel Shen-Hsing
Abstract
Social and non-social deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) persist into adulthood and may share common regions of aberrant neural activations. The current meta-analysis investigated activation differences between ASD and neurotypical controls irrespective of task type. Activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses were performed to examine consistent hypo-activated and/or hyper-activated regions for all tasks combined, and for social and non-social tasks separately; meta-analytic connectivity modelling and behavioral/paradigm analyses were performed to examine co-activated regions and associated behaviors. One hundred studies (mean age range = 18–41 years) were included. For all tasks combined, the ASD group showed significant (p < .05) hypo-activation in one cluster around the left amygdala (peak − 26, -2, -20, volume = 1336 mm3, maximum ALE = 0.0327), and this cluster co-activated with two other clusters around the right cerebellum (peak 42, -56, -22, volume = 2560mm3, maximum ALE = 0.049) Lobule VI/Crus I and the left fusiform gyrus (BA47) (peak − 42, -46, -18, volume = 1616 mm3, maximum ALE = 0.046) and left cerebellum (peak − 42, -58, -20, volume = 1616mm3, maximum ALE = 0.033) Lobule VI/Crus I. While the left amygdala was associated with negative emotion (fear) (z = 3.047), the left fusiform gyrus/cerebellum Lobule VI/Crus I cluster was associated with language semantics (z = 3.724) and action observation (z = 3.077). These findings highlight the left amygdala as a region consistently hypo-activated in ASD and suggest the potential involvement of fusiform gyrus and cerebellum in social cognition in ASD. Future research should further elucidate if and how amygdala-fusiform/cerebellar connectivity relates to social and non-social cognition in adults with ASD.
Date Issued
2023
Publisher
Springer
Journal
Brain Imaging and Behavior
Dataset
https://doi.org/10.25340/R4/IWIXGE
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore