Ventral stream hierarchy underlying perceptual organization in adolescents with autism.
Neuroimage Clin
; 25: 102197, 2020.
Article
de En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32014827
ABSTRACT
Object recognition relies on a hierarchically organized ventral visual stream, with both bottom-up and top-down processes. Here, we aimed at investigating the neural underpinnings of perceptual organization along the ventral visual stream in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and at determining whether this would be associated with decreased top-down processing in ASD. Nineteen typically developing (TD) adolescents and sixteen adolescents with ASD participated in an fMRI study where they had to detect visual objects. Five conditions displayed Gabor patterns (defined by texture and/or contour) with increasing levels of perceptual organization. In each condition, both groups showed similar abilities. In line with the expected cortical hierarchy, brain activity patterns revealed a progressive involvement of regions, from low-level occipital regions to higher-level frontal regions, when stimuli became more and more organized. The brain patterns were generally similar in both groups, but the ASD group showed greater activation than TD participants in the middle occipital gyrus and lateral occipital complex when perceiving fully organized everyday objects. Effective connectivity analyses suggested that top-down functional connections between the lower levels of the cortical hierarchy were less influenced by the meaning carried by the stimuli in the ASD group than in the TD group. We hypothesize that adolescents with ASD may have been less influenced by top-down processing when perceiving recognizable objects.
Mots clés
Texte intégral:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Base de données:
MEDLINE
Sujet principal:
Reconnaissance visuelle des formes
/
Voies optiques
/
Cortex cérébral
/
Connectome
/
Trouble du spectre autistique
/
Réseau nerveux
Limites:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Langue:
En
Journal:
Neuroimage Clin
Année:
2020
Type de document:
Article
Pays d'affiliation:
Belgique