Volume 9, Issue 12 pp. 1263-1273
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Differences in age-dependent neural correlates of semantic processing between youths with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing youths

Pin-Jane Chen

Pin-Jane Chen

Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Search for more papers by this author
Susan Shur-Fen Gau

Corresponding Author

Susan Shur-Fen Gau

Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

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

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

Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Address for correspondence and reprints: Susan Shur-Fen Gau, Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, No 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected] or Tai-Li Chou, Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
Shu-Hui Lee

Shu-Hui Lee

Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Search for more papers by this author
Tai-Li Chou

Corresponding Author

Tai-Li Chou

Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

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

Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Address for correspondence and reprints: Susan Shur-Fen Gau, Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, No 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected] or Tai-Li Chou, Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 21 February 2016
Citations: 13

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have aberrant neural activity during semantic judgments. We aimed to examine age-dependent neural correlates of semantic processing in boys with ASD as compared to typically developing boys (TD). We used functional MRI to investigate 37 boys with ASD (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.4) and 35 age-, sex-, Intelligence quotient (IQ)- and handedness-matched TD boys (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.7) from age 8 to 18 years. Participants had to indicate whether pairs of Chinese characters presented visually were related in meaning. Group (ASD, TD) × Age (Old, Young) ANOVA was used to examine the difference of age-related changes. Direct comparisons between the adolescent group and the child group were also performed. The behavioral results showed that the ASD group had lower accuracy in the related condition relative to the TD group. The neuroimaging results showed greater activation in the cuneus and less activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus in boys with ASD than TD boys. Children with ASD produced greater activation in the cuneus than TD children. Adolescents with ASD showed reduced left IFG activation as compared to TD adolescents. Our findings suggest that TD boys may engage more in higher-level processing of retrieving or selecting semantic features while boys with ASD may rely more on lower-level visual processing during semantic judgments. The findings imply different functional organizations of the semantic system between the two groups. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1263–1273. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.