Neural correlates of cognitive variability in childhood autism and relation to heterogeneity in decision-making dynamics. (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Iuculano, T.; Padmanabhan, A.; Chen, L.; Nicholas, J.; Mitsven, S.; de los Angeles, C.; Menon, V.
• Is Part Of: Developmental cognitive neuroscience. Volume 42(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder -- TD Typically Developing -- FG Fusiform Gyrus -- VTOC Ventral Temporal-Occipital Cortex -- IPS Intraparietal Sulcus -- PPC Posterior Parietal Cortex -- VLPFC Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex -- DLPFC Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex -- MTL Medial Temporal Lobe -- FSIQ Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient -- WASI Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence -- ADI-R Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised -- ADOS Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule -- WMTB-C Working Memory Test Battery for Children -- WIAT-II Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Second Edition -- fMRI functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging -- BF10 Bayes Factor in favor of H1 over H0 -- HDDM Hierarchical Drift Diffusion Models -- MCMC Markov Chain Monte-Carlo -- GLM General Linear Model -- FWE Family-Wise Error -- C.L. Confidence Limits -- DMPFC Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex -- LOC Lateral Occipital Cortex -- hIP1 horizontal segment of the Intraparietal sulcus, subdivision 1 -- hIP3 horizontal segment of the Intraparietal sulcus, subdivision 3 -- IPL Inferior Parietal Lobule -- SMG Supramarginal Gyrus; Autism Spectrum Disorder -- Individual differences -- Numerical problem-solving -- Decision-making -- Brain imaging; Cognitive neuroscience -- Periodicals; Developmental neurobiology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychiatry -- Periodicals; 612.8233
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100754
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1878-9293

Abstract

Abstract: Heterogeneity in cognitive and academic abilities is a prominent feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet little is known about its underlying causes. Here we combine functional brain imaging during numerical problem-solving with hierarchical drift-diffusion models of behavior and standardized measures of numerical abilities to investigate neural mechanisms underlying cognitive variability in children with ASD, and their IQ-matched Typically Developing (TD) peers. Although the two groups showed similar levels of brain activation, the relation to individual abilities differed markedly in ventral temporal-occipital, parietal and prefrontal regions important for numerical cognition: children with ASD showed a positive correlation between functional brain activation and numerical abilities, whereas TD children showed the opposite pattern. Despite similar accuracy and response times, decision thresholds were significantly higher in the ASD group, suggesting greater evidence required for problem-solving. Critically, the relationship between individual abilities and engagement of prefrontal control systems anchored in the anterior insula was differentially moderated by decision threshold in subgroups of children with ASD. Our findings uncover novel cognitive and neural sources of variability in academically-relevant cognitive skills in ASD and suggest that multilevel measures and latent decision-making dynamics can aid in characterization of cognitive variability and heterogeneity in neurodevelopmental disorders.