This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2015
Effective Connectivity of Mirror System Brain Areas in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Effective Connectivity of Mirror System Brain Areas in Autism Spectrum Disorder
172.078 Effective Connectivity of Mirror System Brain Areas in Autism Spectrum DisorderM. Schulte-Rüther1,2,3, P. Harindranathan1, A. Pohl4, G. R. Fink1,5, B. Herpertz-Dahlmann2 and K.Konrad1,2,3, (1)Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich,Germany, (2)Departmen...
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Personal Name(s): | Schulte-Rüther, Martin |
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Harindranathan, P. / Pohl, A. / Herpertz-Dahlmann, B. / Fink, G. R. / Konrad, K. | |
Contributing Institute: |
Kognitive Neurowissenschaften; INM-3 |
Imprint: |
2015
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Physical Description: |
Abstract 78 (172.078), page 672 |
Conference: | International Meeting for Autism Research (Annual Meeting of the International Society for Autism Research), Salt Lake City (USA), 2015-05-13 - 2015-05-16 |
Document Type: |
Contribution to a conference proceedings |
Research Program: |
(Dys-)function and Plasticity |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
172.078 Effective Connectivity of Mirror System Brain Areas in Autism Spectrum DisorderM. Schulte-Rüther1,2,3, P. Harindranathan1, A. Pohl4, G. R. Fink1,5, B. Herpertz-Dahlmann2 and K.Konrad1,2,3, (1)Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich,Germany, (2)Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy,University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany, (3)Translational Brain Medicine, Jülich AachenResearch Alliance - JARA Brain, Aachen, Germany, (4)Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, andPsychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany, (5)Department of Neurology, UniversityHospital Cologne, Cologne, GermanyBackground:Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties with facial mimicry, imitation, andthe understanding of mental and emotional states in others. It has been suggested that deficits inrelating to the intentions and emotions of other people are associated with reduced functioning ofthe human mirror neuron system (MNS). In previous studies, reduced activation in brain areas relatedto the MNS (in particular in the inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) during imitation and observation of actionshas been taken as evidence for such a mirror system deficit in ASD. However, more recent activationbased fMRI results are increasingly inconclusive with regard to the mirror system deficit hypothesis ofautism. Several studies report either comparable activation in the MNS or even hyperactivation.Differential connectivity patterns in the core areas of the MNS (i.e. the superior temporal sulcus(STS), inferior parietal cortex (IPC) and IFG) may better characterize impaired and spared functionalityof the MNS in autism and reconcile conflicting findings.Objectives:We investigated functional connectivity patterns during observation and imitation of facialexpressions in mirror system areas.Methods:Eighteen adolescents and young adult patients with ASD and 18 matched controls were scanned withfMRI during imitation and observation of facial expressions of emotion. Brain imaging data wereanalyzed with SPM8, using a flexible factorial ANOVA model. Using DCM8, effective connectivitypatterns of the MNS network were investigated. Bayesian model selection was used to determine theoptimal model for each group, reflecting modulatory influences of task conditions (such as imitationand stimulus properties) within the network.Results:Both groups showed comparable magnitudes of brain activation in core areas of the MNS (e.g. STS,IPC, IFG) in response to facial stimuli (imitation and observation). However, different functionalnetwork architectures emerged with respect to the modulatory influences of the instruction toimitate. In particular, controls showed significant functional connectivity in the connections betweenSTS->IPC->IFG, as well as in a direct STS->IFG connection, whereas patients with ASD showedfunctional connectivity only in the STS->IPC->IFG pathway.Conclusions:Our findings are in accordance with the EP-M theory of autism that predicts intact functioning in theSTS->IPC->IFG pathway (reflecting largely intact goal-directed emulation and planning [EP] of imitativeactions), but reduced connectivity in the direct STS->IFG pathway (reflecting reduced direct facialmimicry [M]) for autism. Furthermore, these results highlight the importance of functional connectivityanalyses to elucidate characteristics of brain network functioning and its disturbance in autism. |