1. Au-Yeung SK, Kaakinen JK, Benson V. {{Cognitive Perspective-Taking During Scene Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence From Eye Movements}}. {Autism Res}. 2013.
The present study examined how eye movements during scene viewing are modulated by adopting psychological perspectives in both adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing adults. In the current study, participants viewed house scenes with either non-perspective-taking (look for valuable items/features of the house that need fixing) or perspective-taking instructions (imagine that you are a burglar/repairman) while their eye movements were recorded. The eye movement measures revealed that for the « look for the valuable items » and burglar perspective task, the ASD group showed typical relevance effects (the preference to look at schema-relevant compared with schema-irrelevant targets) in their eye movements. However, we found subtle processing differences between the groups that were related to initial orienting to and processing of schema-relevant items for the « look for the features that need fixing » and the repairman perspective-taking task. There was an absence of a relevance effect for the ASD group for the repairman perspective and its non-perspective-taking equivalent instruction showing that the identification of items relevant to those schemas was more difficult for the ASD group. The present findings suggest that resolving ambiguity may be a defining feature of complex information processing deficits in ASD. Autism Res 2013, : -. (c) 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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2. Bhat S, Ming X, Dekermenjian R, Chokroverty S. {{Continuous Spike and Wave in Slow-Wave Sleep in a Patient With Rett Syndrome and in a Patient With Lhermitte-Duclos Syndrome and Neurofibromatosis 1}}. {J Child Neurol}. 2013.
Continuous spike and wave in slow-wave sleep (CSWS) is an electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern characterized by generalized spike-wave discharges occurring for at least 85% of non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep, with marked attenuation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It has been described in a large number of structural and nonstructural neurologic conditions and is associated with epilepsy, behavioral disturbances, and severe neuropsychiatric impairment. We describe continuous spike and wave in slow-wave sleep in 2 patients (one with Rett syndrome and the other with Lhermitte-Duclos syndrome). To our knowledge, continuous spike and wave in slow-wave sleep has not been previously described in these conditions.
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3. Buard I, Rogers SJ, Hepburn S, Kronberg E, Rojas DC. {{Altered oscillation patterns and connectivity during picture naming in autism}}. {Front Hum Neurosci}. 2013; 7: 742.
Similar behavioral deficits are shared between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their first-degree relatives, such as impaired face memory, object recognition, and some language aspects. Functional neuroimaging studies have reported abnormalities in ASD in at least one brain area implicated in those functions, the fusiform gyrus (FG). High frequency oscillations have also been described as abnormal in ASD in a separate line of research. The present study examined whether low- and high-frequency oscillatory power, localized in part to FG and other language-related regions, differs in ASD subjects and first-degree relatives. Twelve individuals with ASD, 16 parents of children with ASD, and 35 healthy controls participated in a picture-naming task using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to assess oscillatory power and connectivity. Relative to controls, we observed reduced evoked high-gamma activity in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and reduced high-beta/low-gamma evoked power in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in the ASD group. Finally, reductions in phase-locked beta-band were also seen in the ASD group relative to controls, especially in the occipital lobes (OCC). First degree relatives, in contrast, exhibited higher high-gamma band power in the left STG compared with controls, as well as increased high-beta/low-gamma evoked power in the left FG. In the left hemisphere, beta- and gamma-band functional connectivity between the IFG and FG and between STG and OCC were higher in the autism group than in controls. This suggests that, contrary to what has been previously described, reduced connectivity is not observed across all scales of observation in autism. The lack of behavioral correlation for the findings warrants some caution in interpreting the relevance of such changes for language function in ASD. Our findings in parents implicates the gamma- and beta-band ranges as potential compensatory phenomena in autism relatives.
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4. Chiang CL, Lin YH, Hsieh MH. {{Olanzapine-Induced Hyponatremia in a Patient with Autism}}. {J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol}. 2013.
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5. Hasegawa N, Yamamoto Y. {{[Autism spectrum disorders in elderly]}}. {Nihon Rinsho}. 2013; 71(10): 1847-52.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been largely neglected in the field of elderly psychiatry. ASD were characterized by a triad of qualitative impairments in the aspects of social interaction, communication, and restricted patterns of behavior and interests. The prevalence of ASD was not clearly estimated in elderly. In clinical practice, elderly patients with confirmed ASD were not usually diagnosed properly earlier in life for various reasons. However, the understanding of characteristic with ASD is useful for clinicians, because we can arrange a suitable environment for patients with ASD. We tend to make overdiagnoses of ASD because of paying attention to only frontal lobe syndrome. We should exclude neurodegenerative disease, especially frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
6. Moseley RL, Mohr B, Lombardo MV, Baron-Cohen S, Hauk O, Pulvermuller F. {{Brain and behavioral correlates of action semantic deficits in autism}}. {Front Hum Neurosci}. 2013; 7: 725.
Action-perception circuits containing neurons in the motor system have been proposed as the building blocks of higher cognition; accordingly, motor dysfunction should entail cognitive deficits. Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) are marked by motor impairments but the implications of such motor dysfunction for higher cognition remain unclear. We here used word reading and semantic judgment tasks to investigate action-related motor cognition and its corresponding fMRI brain activation in high-functioning adults with ASC. These participants exhibited hypoactivity of motor cortex in language processing relative to typically developing controls. Crucially, we also found a deficit in semantic processing of action-related words, which, intriguingly, significantly correlated with this underactivation of motor cortex to these items. Furthermore, the word-induced hypoactivity in the motor system also predicted the severity of ASC as expressed by the number of autistic symptoms measured by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (Baron-Cohen etal., 2001). These significant correlations between word-induced activation of the motor system and a newly discovered semantic deficit in a condition known to be characterized by motor impairments, along with the correlation of such activation with general autistic traits, confirm critical predictions of causal theories linking cognitive and semantic deficits in ASC, in part, to dysfunctional action-perception circuits and resultant reduction of motor system activation.
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7. Rivest JB, Jemel B, Bertone A, McKerral M, Mottron L. {{Correction: Luminance- and Texture-Defined Information Processing in School-Aged Children with Autism}}. {PLoS One}. 2013; 8(11).
[This corrects the article on p. e78978 in vol. 8.].
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8. Schaer M, Ottet MC, Scariati E, Dukes D, Franchini M, Eliez S, Glaser B. {{Decreased frontal gyrification correlates with altered connectivity in children with autism}}. {Front Hum Neurosci}. 2013; 7: 750.
The structural correlates of functional dysconnectivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been seldom explored, despite the fact that altered functional connectivity is one of the most frequent neuropathological observations in the disorder. We analyzed cerebral morphometry and structural connectivity using multi-modal imaging for 11 children/adolescents with ASD and 11 matched controls. We estimated regional cortical and white matter volumes, as well as vertex-wise measures of cortical thickness and local Gyrification Index (lGI). Diffusion Tensor Images (DTI) were used to measure Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and tractography estimates of short- and long-range connectivity. We observed four clusters of lGI reduction in patients with ASD, three were located in the right inferior frontal region extending to the inferior parietal lobe, and one was in the right medial parieto-occipital region. Reduced volume was found in the anterior corpus callosum, along with fewer inter-hemispheric frontal streamlines. Despite the spatial correspondence of decreased gyrification and reduced long connectivity, we did not observe any significant relationship between the two. However, a positive correlation between lGI and local connectivity was present in all four clusters in patients with ASD. Reduced gyrification in the inferior fronto-parietal and posterior medial cortical regions lends support for early-disrupted cortical growth in both the mirror neuron system and midline structures responsible for social cognition. Early impaired neurodevelopment in these regions may represent an initial substrate for altered maturation in the cerebral networks that support complex social skills. We also demonstrate that gyrification changes are related to connectivity. This supports the idea that an imbalance between short- and long-range white matter tracts not only impairs the integration of information from multiple neural systems, but also alters the shape of the brain early on in autism.
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9. Thompson GA, McFerran KS, Gold C. {{Family-centred music therapy to promote social engagement in young children with severe autism spectrum disorder: a randomized controlled study}}. {Child Care Health Dev}. 2013.
BACKGROUND: Limited capacity for social engagement is a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), often evident early in the child’s development. While these skills are difficult to train, there is some evidence that active involvement in music-making provides unique opportunities for social interaction between participants. Family-centred music therapy (FCMT) endeavours to support social engagement between child and parent within active music-making, yet the extent of benefits provided is unknown. AIM: This study investigated the impacts of FCMT on social engagement abilities. METHODS: Twenty-three children (36-60 months) with severe ASD received either 16 weeks of FCMT in addition to their early intervention programmes (n = 12), or their early intervention programme only (n = 11). Change in social engagement was measured with standardized parent-report assessments, parent interviews and clinician observation. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis for the Vineland Social Emotional Early Childhood Scale indicated a significant effect in favour of FCMT. Thematic qualitative analysis of the parent interviews showed that the parent-child relationship grew stronger. CONCLUSION: FCMT improves social interactions in the home and community and the parent-child relationship, but not language skills or general social responsiveness. This study provides preliminary support for the use of FCMT to promote social engagement in children with severe ASD.
