Functional Connectivity Differences in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Michelle M. Coleman,* Paula J. Webster, Sam Salmassi, Chris Frum and James W. Lewis, Department of Neuroscience, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Neuroscience (Health Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Exercise Physiology and Psychology 

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is prevalent in the United States, with about one in 59 children having ASD. Implications of the disorder mostly pertain to social interactions, as an inability to take audio and visual social cues such as facial expressions and body language deciphering, evidenced by lack of eye contact and nonunderstanding of emotions. To better understand how the brain of someone with ASD functions, functional and resting state magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can measure changes in brain metabolism (and “activity”), while a participant lies in the scanner. We imaged 19 ASD and 18 typically developing (TD) individuals while they perceived a real-world functional task of watching a person bounce a basketball. This revealed the left putamen/globus pallidus (GP) and left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) foci as being hypoactivated in the ASD group. Based on this information, the current study used resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) to assess how these structures related while at rest. Here we explored how the left putamen/GP and IPS, together with previously studied visual areas of the extrastriate and fusiform body areas (EBA and FBA), communicate with each other functionally and observed additional differences between groups. These findings newly reveal some of the physiological bases of ASD. 

Funding: WVCTSI NIGMS and crowd-funding donors 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course