Cooper Rose A, Richter Franziska R, Bays Paul M, Plaisted-Grant Kate C, Baron-Cohen Simon, Simons Jon S
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 8AH, UK.
Cereb Cortex. 2017 Feb 1;27(2):888-902. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw417.
Increasing recent research has sought to understand the recollection impairments experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we tested whether these memory deficits reflect a reduction in the probability of retrieval success or in the precision of memory representations. We also used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural mechanisms underlying memory encoding and retrieval in ASD, focusing particularly on the functional connectivity of core episodic memory networks. Adults with ASD and typical control participants completed a memory task that involved studying visual displays and subsequently using a continuous dial to recreate their appearance. The ASD group exhibited reduced retrieval success, but there was no evidence of a difference in retrieval precision. fMRI data revealed similar patterns of brain activity and functional connectivity during memory encoding in the 2 groups, though encoding-related lateral frontal activity predicted subsequent retrieval success only in the control group. During memory retrieval, the ASD group exhibited attenuated lateral frontal activity and substantially reduced hippocampal connectivity, particularly between hippocampus and regions of the fronto-parietal control network. These findings demonstrate notable differences in brain function during episodic memory retrieval in ASD and highlight the importance of functional connectivity to understanding recollection-related retrieval deficits in this population.
最近越来越多的研究试图了解自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者所经历的记忆障碍。在此，我们测试了这些记忆缺陷是反映了检索成功概率的降低还是记忆表征精度的降低。我们还使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来研究ASD中记忆编码和检索的神经机制，特别关注核心情景记忆网络的功能连接。患有ASD的成年人和典型的对照参与者完成了一项记忆任务，该任务包括研究视觉显示，随后使用连续刻度盘来重现其外观。ASD组的检索成功率降低，但没有证据表明检索精度存在差异。fMRI数据显示两组在记忆编码期间的大脑活动和功能连接模式相似，尽管仅在对照组中，与编码相关的额叶外侧活动预测了随后的检索成功。在记忆检索期间，ASD组表现出额叶外侧活动减弱，海马连接显著减少，特别是海马与额顶叶控制网络区域之间的连接。这些发现表明ASD患者在情景记忆检索期间大脑功能存在显著差异，并强调了功能连接对于理解该人群中与回忆相关的检索缺陷的重要性。
