Neural correlates of cognitive variability in childhood autism and relation to heterogeneity in decision-making dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Heterogeneity in cognitive and academic abilities is a prominent feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet little is known about its underlying causes. Here we combine functional brain imaging during numerical problem-solving with hierarchical drift-diffusion models of behavior and standardized measures of numerical abilities to investigate neural mechanisms underlying cognitive variability in children with ASD, and their IQ-matched Typically Developing (TD) peers. Although the two groups showed similar levels of brain activation, the relation to individual abilities differed markedly in ventral temporal-occipital, parietal and prefrontal regions important for numerical cognition: children with ASD showed a positive correlation between functional brain activation and numerical abiliti

SUBMITTER: Iuculano T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7160429 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature