Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Apr;23(2):124-30.
doi: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e32833782d4.

The nature of brain dysfunction in autism: functional brain imaging studies

Nancy J Minshew  1 , Timothy A Keller
Affiliations
Review

The nature of brain dysfunction in autism: functional brain imaging studies

Nancy J Minshew et al. Curr Opin Neurol. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have had a profound impact on the delineation of the neurobiologic basis for autism. Advances in fMRI technology for investigating functional connectivity, resting state connectivity, and a default mode network have provided further detail about disturbances in brain organization and brain-behavior relationships in autism to be reviewed in this article.

Recent findings: Recent fMRI studies have provided evidence of enhanced activation and connectivity of posterior, or parietal-occipital, networks and enhanced reliance on visuospatial abilities for visual and verbal reasoning in high functioning individuals with autism. Evidence also indicates altered activation in frontostriatal networks for cognitive control, particularly involving anterior cingulate cortex, and altered connectivity in the resting state and the default mode network. The findings suggest that the specialization of many cortical networks of the human brain has failed to develop fully in high functioning individuals with autism.

Summary: This research provides a growing specification of to the neurobiologic basis for this complex syndrome and for the co-occurrence of the signs and symptoms as a syndrome. With this knowledge has come new neurobiologically based opportunities for intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Just MA, Cherkassky VL, Keller TA, Minshew NJ. Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: evidence of underconnectivity. Brain. 2004;127:1811–1821. - PubMed
    1. Just MA, Cherkassky VL, Keller TA, et al. Functional and anatomical cortical underconnectivity in autism: evidence from an fMRI study of an executive function task and corpus callosum morphometry. Cerebral Cortex. 2007;17:951–961. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dawson G. Early behavioral intervention, brain plasticity, and the prevention of autism spectrum disorder. Dev Psychopathol. 2008;20:775–803. Review. - PubMed

    1. Kana RK, Keller TA, Cherkassky VL, et al. Atypical frontal-posterior synchronization of Theory of Mind regions in autism during mental state attribution. Social Neuroscience. 2009;4:135–152.. This paper describes abnormalities in functional connectivity during a social task in HFA and reviews the prior evidence for task-related underconnectivity and its implications for the understanding of autism.

    1. Kana RK, Keller TA, Cherkassky VL, et al. Sentence comprehension in autism: thinking in pictures with decreased functional connectivity. Brain. 2006;129:2484–2493. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types