Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
RIKEN Centre for Brain Science, Wako, Japan.
Elife. 2019 Feb 5;8:e42256. doi: 10.7554/eLife.42256.
How long neural information is stored in a local brain area reflects functions of that region and is often estimated by the magnitude of the autocorrelation of intrinsic neural signals in the area. Here, we investigated such intrinsic neural timescales in high-functioning adults with autism and examined whether local brain dynamics reflected their atypical behaviours. By analysing resting-state fMRI data, we identified shorter neural timescales in the sensory/visual cortices and a longer timescale in the right caudate in autism. The shorter intrinsic timescales in the sensory/visual areas were correlated with the severity of autism, whereas the longer timescale in the caudate was associated with cognitive rigidity. These observations were confirmed from neurodevelopmental perspectives and replicated in two independent cross-sectional datasets. Moreover, the intrinsic timescale was correlated with local grey matter volume. This study shows that functional and structural atypicality in local brain areas is linked to higher-order cognitive symptoms in autism.
神经信息在局部脑区中存储的时间长短反映了该区域的功能，通常可以通过该区域内内在神经信号的自相关程度来估计。在这里，我们研究了自闭症高功能成人的这种内在神经时间尺度，并检查了局部脑动力学是否反映了他们的非典型行为。通过分析静息状态 fMRI 数据，我们在自闭症中发现了感觉/视觉皮层中较短的神经时间尺度，以及右侧尾状核中较长的时间尺度。感觉/视觉区域中较短的内在时间尺度与自闭症的严重程度相关，而尾状核中较长的时间尺度与认知僵化相关。这些观察结果从神经发育的角度得到了证实，并在两个独立的横断面数据集得到了复制。此外，内在时间尺度与局部灰质体积相关。这项研究表明，局部脑区的功能和结构异常与自闭症的高级认知症状有关。
