Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: evidence of underconnectivity

The brain activation of a group of high-functioning autistic participants was measured using functional MRI during sentence comprehension and the results compared with those of a Verbal IQ-matched control group. The groups differed in the distribution of activation in two of the key language areas. The autism group produced reliably more activation than the control group in Wernicke's (left laterosuperior temporal) area and reliably less activation than the control group in Broca's (left inferior frontal gyrus) area. Furthermore, the functional connectivity, i.e. the degree of synchronization or correlation of the time series of the activation, between the various participating cortical areas was consistently…

• UO
  University of Pittsburgh
• CM
  Carnegie Mellon University
• UO
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• NI
  National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

  Award: HD35469