Hoffmann Elgin, Brück Carolin, Kreifelts Benjamin, Ethofer Thomas, Wildgruber Dirk
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2016 Aug;123(8):937-47. doi: 10.1007/s00702-016-1544-3. Epub 2016 Apr 19.
People diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristically present with severe difficulties in interpreting every-day social signals. Currently it is assumed that these difficulties might have neurobiological correlates in alterations in activation as well as in connectivity in and between regions of the social perception network suggested to govern the processing of social cues. In this study, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based activation and connectivity analyses focusing on face-, voice-, and audiovisual-processing brain regions as the most important subareas of the social perception network. Results revealed alterations in connectivity among regions involved in the processing of social stimuli in ASD subjects compared to typically developed (TD) controls-specifically, a reduced connectivity between the left temporal voice area (TVA) and the superior and medial frontal gyrus. Alterations in connectivity, moreover, were correlated with the severity of autistic traits: correlation analysis indicated that the connectivity between the left TVA and the limbic lobe, anterior cingulate and the medial frontal gyrus as well as between the right TVA and the frontal lobe, anterior cingulate, limbic lobe and the caudate decreased with increasing symptom severity. As these frontal regions are understood to play an important role in interpreting and mentalizing social signals, the observed underconnectivity might be construed as playing a role in social impairments in ASD.
被诊断患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的人在解读日常社交信号方面通常存在严重困难。目前认为，这些困难可能在神经生物学上与社会感知网络中各区域激活以及连接性的改变有关，这些区域被认为负责处理社会线索。在本研究中，我们基于功能磁共振成像（fMRI）进行了激活和连接性分析，重点关注作为社会感知网络最重要子区域的面部、语音和视听处理脑区。结果显示，与正常发育（TD）的对照组相比，ASD受试者在处理社会刺激的区域之间的连接性存在改变——具体而言，左侧颞叶语音区（TVA）与额上回和额中回之间的连接性降低。此外，连接性的改变与自闭症特征的严重程度相关：相关性分析表明，随着症状严重程度的增加，左侧TVA与边缘叶、前扣带回和额中回之间以及右侧TVA与额叶、前扣带回、边缘叶和尾状核之间的连接性降低。由于这些额叶区域在解释和理解社会信号方面起着重要作用，观察到的连接不足可能被认为在ASD的社会障碍中起作用。
