The overriding aim of this project is to relate the major symptoms of autism to abnormalities in their neural substrates, providing a neural systems-level analysis of autism, and focusing on neural systems connectivity. The primary method will be to perform fMRI studies of several different types of thinking to obtain information about underlying brain function, and to simultaneously acquire information about the size and integrity of brain tissues. The fMRI studies will provide information about cortical activation, but also about functional connectivity or the synchronization of the activation between areas. The project has developed the beginnings of a theory proposing that autism is marked by disordered connectivity among regions, particularly affecting the connectivity between frontal areas and more posterior areas. The connectivity framework is being used to formulate and test hypotheses and then integrate the new findings into a coherent theory. The new studies will deepen and broaden the understanding of the underlying neural disorder. The deepening will include the integration of several imaging modalities, so that the connectivity can be understood at more levels and in more detail. The broadening will consist of examining a wider range of tasks, to include conceptual comprehension, high-level perceptual tasks, and social tasks. This broadening is essential for determining the generality or specificity of the brain function characteristics of autism. The specifics aims are 1: To characterize brain function in the processing of higher conceptual levels of language comprehension, visual cognition, and dynamic social cognition;2: To characterize the semantic representation of single words in individual participants with autism applying innovative machine learning techniques to fMRI data;3: To relate functional characteristics of the brain to anatomical characteristics at the individual participant level;4: To further develop the theory of disordered connectivity in autism, integrating functional (fMRI) and anatomical (MRI and DTI)characteristics of autism and using computational modeling as a theory-building tool. This research will continue to build an understanding of the relationship between the behavioral impairments that characterize autism and their neural basis. The connectivity model for autism advanced on the basis of this research has significantly influenced the field and validates the complex information processing development by Minshew, Goldstein and Williams. The combined model is proving to be promising in altering conceptualizations of autism and opening the way for new intervention methods(see deception learning for example). This research addresses Autism Research Matrix Goals # 2,6,22,23,26,34.
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