Autistic traits are associated with the functional connectivity of between-but not within-attention systems in the general population.
BMC Neurosci
; 21(1): 49, 2020 11 23.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33228525
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit dysfunction in the three attention systems (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control) as well as atypical relationships among these systems. Additionally, other studies have reported that individuals with subclinical but high levels of autistic traits show similar attentional tendencies to those observed in ASD. Based on these findings, it was hypothesized that autistic traits would affect the functions and relationships of the three attention systems in a general population. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in 119 healthy adults to investigate relationships between autistic traits and within- and between-system functional connectivity (FC) among the three attention systems. Twenty-six regions of interest that were defined as components of the three attention systems by a previous task-based fMRI study were examined in terms of within- and between-system FC. We assessed autistic traits using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient.RESULTS:
Correlational analyses revealed that autistic traits were significantly correlated with between-system FC, but not with within-system FC.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results imply that a high autistic trait level, even when subclinical, is associated with the way the three attention systems interact.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Atención
/
Trastorno del Espectro Autista
Tipo de estudio:
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article