Chan Melody M Y, Chan Ming-Chung, Lai Oscar Long-Hin, Krishnamurthy Karthikeyan, Han Yvonne M Y
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Biomedicines. 2022 May 13;10(5):1132. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10051132.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in flexibly acquiring and maintaining new information, as well as in applying learned information for problem solving. However, the neural mechanism underpinning such impairments remains unclear. This study investigated the flexibility in the acquisition and application of visual information in ASD (aged 14−21) when they performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Behavioral data including response accuracy and latency, and prefrontal hemodynamic data measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), were collected when individuals performed WCST. Canonical general linear model and functional connectivity analyses were performed to examine the prefrontal activation and synchronization patterns, respectively. Results showed that although ASD individuals (n = 29) achieved comparable accuracy rates when compared with age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched typically developing (TD; n = 26) individuals (F1,53 = 3.15, p = 0.082), ASD individuals needed significantly more time to acquire and apply WCST card sorting rules (F1,53 = 17.92, p < 0.001). Moreover, ASD individuals showed significantly lower prefrontal functional connectivity than TD individuals during WCST (F1,42 = 9.99, p = 0.003). The hypoconnectivity in ASD individuals was highly significant in the right lateral PFC in the acquisition condition (p = 0.005) and in the bilateral lateral PFC in the application condition (ps = 0.006). Furthermore, slower WCST reaction time was correlated with lower bilateral lateral PFC functional connectivity only in the application condition (ps = 0.003) but not the acquisition condition. Impairment in information acquisition and application is evident in ASD individuals and is mediated by processing speed, which is associated with lower functional connectivity in the bilateral lateral PFC when these individuals apply learned rules to solve novel problems.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的特征是在灵活获取和维持新信息以及应用所学信息解决问题方面存在障碍。然而，导致这些障碍的神经机制仍不清楚。本研究调查了ASD患者（年龄在14 - 21岁）在进行威斯康星卡片分类测验（WCST）时视觉信息获取和应用的灵活性。在个体进行WCST时，收集了包括反应准确性和潜伏期在内的行为数据，以及通过功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）测量的前额叶血流动力学数据。分别进行了典型通用线性模型和功能连接分析，以检查前额叶激活和同步模式。结果显示，尽管与年龄和智商（IQ）匹配的典型发育（TD；n = 26）个体相比，ASD个体（n = 29）的准确率相当（F1,53 = 3.15，p = 0.082），但ASD个体获取和应用WCST卡片分类规则需要显著更多时间（F1,53 = 17.92，p < 0.001）。此外，在WCST期间，ASD个体的前额叶功能连接显著低于TD个体（F1,42 = 9.99，p = 0.003）。ASD个体的低连接性在获取条件下右侧外侧前额叶皮质中非常显著（p = 0.005），在应用条件下双侧外侧前额叶皮质中也非常显著（p = 0.006）。此外，仅在应用条件下（p = 0.003），较慢的WCST反应时间与双侧外侧前额叶皮质较低的功能连接相关，而在获取条件下则不然。ASD个体在信息获取和应用方面存在明显障碍，且由处理速度介导，当这些个体应用所学规则解决新问题时，处理速度与双侧外侧前额叶皮质较低的功能连接相关。
