Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit social-communicative impairments. Less is known about the neuropsychological profile of ASD, although cognitive and neuropsychological deficits are evident. We modelled neuropsychological function in 20 children with ASD and 20 sex, age and IQ matched typically-developing controls (ages 7–14) as a network of interacting parameters. Graph theoretical analysis was applied to identify critical topographic regions within this network. Two areas were significantly stronger hubs in typically-developing children, the ability to shift attention (p < 0.001) and overall executive function (p < 0.001). Planning/organization was a stronger hub in the cognitive networks of children with ASD (p = 0.001). We show that ASD is not only characterized by impairments in various neurocognitive domains, but also alterations in their interaction.
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George M. Ibrahim conceived the idea, performed the analysis, drafted the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. Benjamin R. Morgan performed the analysis, edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. Vanessa M. Vogan collected the data, drafted the manuscript, edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. Rachel C. Leung collected the data, drafted the manuscript, edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. Evdokia Anagnostou edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript. Margot J. Taylor supervised the project, edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Ibrahim, G.M., Morgan, B.R., Vogan, V.M. et al. Mapping the Network of Neuropsychological Impairment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Graph Theoretical Analysis. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3770–3777 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2929-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2929-8