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Reduced functional connectivity to the frontal cortex during processing of social cues in autism spectrum disorder

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

People diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristically present with severe difficulties in interpreting every-day social signals. Currently it is assumed that these difficulties might have neurobiological correlates in alterations in activation as well as in connectivity in and between regions of the social perception network suggested to govern the processing of social cues. In this study, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based activation and connectivity analyses focusing on face-, voice-, and audiovisual-processing brain regions as the most important subareas of the social perception network. Results revealed alterations in connectivity among regions involved in the processing of social stimuli in ASD subjects compared to typically developed (TD) controls—specifically, a reduced connectivity between the left temporal voice area (TVA) and the superior and medial frontal gyrus. Alterations in connectivity, moreover, were correlated with the severity of autistic traits: correlation analysis indicated that the connectivity between the left TVA and the limbic lobe, anterior cingulate and the medial frontal gyrus as well as between the right TVA and the frontal lobe, anterior cingulate, limbic lobe and the caudate decreased with increasing symptom severity. As these frontal regions are understood to play an important role in interpreting and mentalizing social signals, the observed underconnectivity might be construed as playing a role in social impairments in ASD.

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Acknowledgments

E. Hoffmann and C. Brück contributed equally to the work. E. Hoffmann recorded fMRI and behavioral data, performed data analysis and assessment of the results, designed graphics and tables, and wrote the manuscript. C. Brück designed the study, wrote the ethic statement, recorded fMRI and behavioral data, gave advice regarding the data analysis and revised the manuscript. B. Kreifelts helped with the study design, provided the stimulus material for the AV integration experiment, recorded fMRI data, advised the programming of analysis scripts and gave valuable input for the manuscript. T. Ethofer recorded fMRI data and gave advice on the manuscript. D. Wildgruber was senior author of the study, which he co-designed. He also assessed and discussed results, and gave advice on the manuscript. We would like to thank the Department for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University Hospital Tübingen, for providing the Trio 3 T scanner, which we used in our study. The study was not funded by a grant but by means of the hospital.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

      Elgin Hoffmann, Carolin Brück, Benjamin Kreifelts, Thomas Ethofer & Dirk Wildgruber

    2. Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

      Thomas Ethofer

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    1. Elgin Hoffmann
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    Correspondence to Elgin Hoffmann.

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    E. Hoffmann and C. Brück contributed equally to the work and share first authorship.

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    Hoffmann, E., Brück, C., Kreifelts, B. et al. Reduced functional connectivity to the frontal cortex during processing of social cues in autism spectrum disorder. J Neural Transm 123, 937–947 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1544-3

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