Knaus Tracey A, Silver Andrew M, Lindgren Kristen A, Hadjikhani Nouchine, Tager-Flusberg Helen
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2008 Nov;14(6):967-79. doi: 10.1017/S1355617708081216.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by language and communication impairments, social impairments, and repetitive behaviors or restricted interests. Previous studies of semantic functions have found differences in semantic processing and differences in the activation of the language network in adults with ASD compared to controls. The goal of this study is to examine semantic functions in adolescents with ASD compared to typically developing adolescents. We utilized fMRI with a reading version of a response-naming task to investigate activation in 12 right-handed adolescent boys with ASD and 12 typically developing boys. Both groups performed the task at ceiling levels. Boys with ASD had significantly stronger activation than controls in Broca's area, which was less left lateralized in ASD individuals. Controls had a significant correlation between frontal and temporal language area activation in the left hemisphere, whereas ASD adolescents did not. Direct group comparisons revealed additional regions activated in the ASD group relative to the control group. These results suggest differences in semantic organization, approaches to the semantic task, or efficiency in semantic processing in ASD adolescents relative to typically developing adolescents.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经发育障碍，其特征在于语言和沟通障碍、社交障碍以及重复行为或兴趣受限。先前关于语义功能的研究发现，与对照组相比，患有ASD的成年人在语义处理和语言网络激活方面存在差异。本研究的目的是比较患有ASD的青少年与发育正常的青少年的语义功能。我们使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）结合阅读版的反应命名任务，来研究12名右利手患有ASD的青少年男孩和12名发育正常的男孩的大脑激活情况。两组在任务表现上均达到了最高水平。患有ASD的男孩在布洛卡区的激活明显强于对照组，且在ASD个体中布洛卡区的左侧化程度较低。对照组左半球额叶和颞叶语言区的激活之间存在显著相关性，而患有ASD的青少年则没有。直接的组间比较显示，与对照组相比，ASD组还有其他区域被激活。这些结果表明，与发育正常的青少年相比，患有ASD的青少年在语义组织、语义任务处理方式或语义处理效率方面存在差异。
