The central theme of this program is that autism is a disorder that disproportionately impacts complex information processing and results from abnormal development of integrative circuitry in neural systems and specialization of local circuitry in neocortex. This is exhibited in deficient higher order cognitive processes, reduced fMRI activation of executive and semantic processing regions during complex information processing, and a local processing approach to cognitive tasks. Project I will focus on concept abstraction as it applies to object categories, face recognition (gender and identity) and facial affect recognition. Project II will investigate the perceptual competence of the ventral visual stream and its development using microgenetic analysis to examine the behavioral and neural mechanisms mediating face and object recognition and the capacity of subjects to derive configurations from local elements. Project III will investigate disturbances in oculomotor control, sensory hyperacuities, lateralized disturbances of brain function, and the developmental acquisition of executive cognitive functions in childhood and adolescence. Project IV will investigate brain connectivity by evaluating the synchronization of activity across brain regions involved in language comprehension tasks, and the development of reasoning and problem solving abilities. In addition to laboratory studies, Projects II to IV will use MRI to evaluate disturbances in brain maturation and functional cortical integration. The Administrative Core will provide administrative, fiscal, and scientific oversight for the program project and a nidus for scientific interactions and training of junior scientists. It will also support our participation in network governance and cross-site studies. The Subject & Genetics Core will recruit the subjects for the projects, complete the network and other measures as needed for network studies, and conduct the CPEA Network Genetics studies. The Statistical Analysis and Image Processing Core will provide statistical support to the projects and continue statistical research on methods for improving the processing and analysis of fMRI data.
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