The CCBI is part of a multi-site project to examine the cognitive and
brain activity characteristics of high-functioning people who have autism.
This program approaches autism as a disorder of complex information processing
resulting from the abnormal development and dysfunction of neocortical
systems. The research consists of a cross-sectional study of adults and
a longitudinal study of children to investigate the maturation of cognitive
abilities and neural circuitry. The institutions involved include Carnegie
Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh (WPIC), and Case Western Reserve.
The project has been designated an NICHD Collaborative Program of Excellence
in Autism (CPEA). One part of the project focuses on fMRI and behavioral
studies of high level cognitive processes to determine the precise differences
between high functioning subjects with autism (with IQs well in the normal
range) and matched controls in their language, spatial, social cognition,
and executive processes.
Videos featuring participants with autism and investigators associated with our autism studies.
The autism project at the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging encompasses a large set of functional and structural MRI studies in people with autism. While the functional imaging studies examine the neural basis of higher cognitive and social functions in autism, the structural studies explore the abnormalities in white matter structures. Recent studies from the lab found reduced synchronization and coordination among brain regions in people with autism. A recent study on executive functioning (Just et al., in press) using the Tower of London task found that the frontal and parietal regions are underconnected in people with autism relative to control participants. Another study examined the neural basis of processing imagery in sentences and found that people with autism generate visuospatial imagery while comprehending language whether it is required or not (Kana et al., 2006). Yet another study on response inhibition found atypical activation and functional connectivity in participants with autism (Kana et al., in press). These three studies, which target higher cognitive functions, found frontal-parietal underconnectivity in people with autism. This is striking considering the involvement of these regions in higher cognitive functions. Functional underconnectivity in autism was not limited to cognitive functions. We also found underconnectivity in autism during the resting state i.e., while the participants are not doing any task (Cherkassky et al., in press). We also used modern techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine the white matter structure in people with autism and typical participants. This study found an abnormal developmental trajectory in people with autism (Keller et al., in press). Findings of these functional and structural studies indicate widespread neural abnormalities in people with autism, suggesting that autism is a system-wide neural disorder. Our ongoing studies investigate the underconnectivity theory of autism in different cognitive areas. These studies include measuring the size of the corpus callosum, and examining neural communication in a dual task, in social attribution, in comprehension of irony, and in visuospatial processing.
The fMRI research focuses on four cognitive areas: language comprehension,
visuo-spatial processing, social cognition, and executive processes. In
addition, we are investigating differences in brain structure to supplement
the functional data.
The first set of brain imaging studies showed systematic differences in
the activation patterns of the high functioning autistic participants,
particularly in sentence comprehension, but also in solving Tower of London
problems. In general, the activation in the language network was distributed
differently than in the control subjects, and the synchronization among
the activated areas was lower among the autistic participants. Other studies
have explored the ability of individuals with high-functioning autism
to process figurative language involving irony and metaphor.
Another set of studies is examining the brain activation in visuo-spatial processing and in various working memory tasks. The visuo-spatial task requires the encoding of visual forms and subsequent storage, comparison, or rotation of the forms. Working memory in autism is examined in n-back tasks that require letters or faces to be maintained, updated, and compared in working memory.
A newer set of studies investigates the social understanding of people with autism by asking them to make inferences regarding characters' motivations in stories and by asking them to attribute mental states to the interactions of animated geometric figures. This tells us about brain functioning during social judgment and social attribution in people with autism. A related social judgment experiment examines the ability of people with autism to tell and detect lies.
A fourth set of imaging studies investigates the performance of individuals with autism when they are performing two tasks simultaneously. The goal is to determine how multitasking affects the communication and collaboration among brain areas.
We are additionally investigating the development of cognitive abilities in the age range of 8-15. These studies focus on the neural basis of the emergence of formal and concrete operations. Normal and autistic cognitive development are studied side-by-side.
Our studies test the theory that the cognitive deficits that autistic individuals exhibit in higher level abstraction are due in large part to an underconnectivity among brain areas. The converging evidence from a variety of tasks is expected to produce a characterization of autism that will provide new insights for therapy and for facilitating daily functioning.
Participation in the autism project
We are interested in recruiting autistic patients to participate
in our project.
The eligibility requirements are:
- Age 8 through 55.
- An IQ of 80 or higher.
- Satisfy research diagnostic criteria.
- Show no evidence of Fragile-X, tuberous sclerosis, or other
known cause for autism.
- Be verbal and speak in sentences.
- Be able to complete the neuropsychological tests and brain imaging
studies.
We will be able to provide compensation to the participants.
- Participants may receive up to $370 for their time, based upon
the number of studies completed.
- Participants are also compensated for their travel and overnight
accomodations.
- In addition, participants will receive a ‘gold standard’ diagnostic
and neuropsychological evaluation (including IQ) at no charge.
Please contact the autism recruiter (autismrecruiter@upmc.edu) if you know of potential candidates or visit the Autism Research Program's
web site.