TY - JOUR
T1 - Abnormal Prefrontal Functional Connectivity Is Associated with Inflexible Information Processing in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
T2 - An fNIRS Study
AU - Chan, Melody M.Y.
AU - Chan, Ming Chung
AU - Lai, Oscar Long Hin
AU - Krishnamurthy, Karthikeyan
AU - Han, Yvonne M.Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This study was supported by the Internal Research Fund by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (P0039387).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5/13
Y1 - 2022/5/13
N2 - Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in flexibly acquiring and maintaining new information, as well as in applying learned information for problem solving. However, the neural mechanism underpinning such impairments remains unclear. This study investigated the flexibility in the acquisition and application of visual information in ASD (aged 14–21) when they performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Behavioral data including response accuracy and latency, and prefrontal hemodynamic data measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), were collected when individuals performed WCST. Canonical general linear model and functional connectivity analyses were performed to examine the prefrontal activation and synchronization patterns, respectively. Results showed that although ASD individuals (n = 29) achieved comparable accuracy rates when compared with age-and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched typically developing (TD; n = 26) individuals (F1,53 = 3.15, p = 0.082), ASD individuals needed significantly more time to acquire and apply WCST card sorting rules (F1,53 = 17.92, p < 0.001). Moreover, ASD individuals showed significantly lower prefrontal functional connectivity than TD individuals during WCST (F1,42 = 9.99, p = 0.003). The hypoconnectivity in ASD individuals was highly significant in the right lateral PFC in the acquisition condition (p = 0.005) and in the bilateral lateral PFC in the application condition (ps = 0.006). Furthermore, slower WCST reaction time was correlated with lower bilateral lateral PFC functional connectivity only in the application condition (ps = 0.003) but not the acquisition condition. Impairment in information acquisition and application is evident in ASD individuals and is mediated by processing speed, which is associated with lower functional connectivity in the bilateral lateral PFC when these individuals apply learned rules to solve novel problems.
AB - Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in flexibly acquiring and maintaining new information, as well as in applying learned information for problem solving. However, the neural mechanism underpinning such impairments remains unclear. This study investigated the flexibility in the acquisition and application of visual information in ASD (aged 14–21) when they performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Behavioral data including response accuracy and latency, and prefrontal hemodynamic data measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), were collected when individuals performed WCST. Canonical general linear model and functional connectivity analyses were performed to examine the prefrontal activation and synchronization patterns, respectively. Results showed that although ASD individuals (n = 29) achieved comparable accuracy rates when compared with age-and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched typically developing (TD; n = 26) individuals (F1,53 = 3.15, p = 0.082), ASD individuals needed significantly more time to acquire and apply WCST card sorting rules (F1,53 = 17.92, p < 0.001). Moreover, ASD individuals showed significantly lower prefrontal functional connectivity than TD individuals during WCST (F1,42 = 9.99, p = 0.003). The hypoconnectivity in ASD individuals was highly significant in the right lateral PFC in the acquisition condition (p = 0.005) and in the bilateral lateral PFC in the application condition (ps = 0.006). Furthermore, slower WCST reaction time was correlated with lower bilateral lateral PFC functional connectivity only in the application condition (ps = 0.003) but not the acquisition condition. Impairment in information acquisition and application is evident in ASD individuals and is mediated by processing speed, which is associated with lower functional connectivity in the bilateral lateral PFC when these individuals apply learned rules to solve novel problems.
KW - autism
KW - cognitive flexibility
KW - fNIRS
KW - functional connectivity
KW - processing speed
KW - WCST
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130629696&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/biomedicines10051132
DO - 10.3390/biomedicines10051132
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85130629696
SN - 2227-9059
VL - 10
JO - Biomedicines
JF - Biomedicines
IS - 5
M1 - 1132
ER -