The development of the neural substrates of cognitive control in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders
Open accessAbstract
Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) involve impairments in cognitive control. In typical development (TYP), neural systems underlying cognitive control undergo substantial maturation during adolescence. Development is delayed in adolescents with ASD. Little is known about the neural substrates of this delay.Methods We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging and a cognitive control task involving overcoming a prepotent response tendency to examine the development of cognitive control in young (ages 12-15; n = 13 with ASD and n = 13 with TYP) and older (ages 16-18; n = 14 with ASD and n = 14 with TYP) adolescents with whole-brain voxelwise univariate and task-related functional connectivity analyses.Results Older ASD and TYP showed reduced activation in sensory and premotor areas relative to younger ones. The older ASD group showed reduced left parietal activation relative to TYP. Functional connectivity analyses showed a significant age by group interaction with the older ASD group exhibiting increased functional connectivity strength between the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex, bilaterally. This functional connectivity strength was related to task performance in ASD, whereas that between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex (Brodmann areas 9 and 40) was related to task performance in TYP.Conclusions Adolescents with ASD rely more on reactive cognitive control, involving last-minute conflict detection and control implementation by the anterior cingulate cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, versus proactive cognitive control requiring processing by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex. Findings await replication in larger longitudinal studies that examine their functional consequences and amenability to intervention.
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A few studies of adolescents with ASD have noted alterations in frontoparietal activity during paradigms invoking aspects of flexibility, including cognitive control and verbal fluency.
“A few studies of adolescents with ASD have noted alterations in frontoparietal activity during paradigms invoking aspects of flexibility including cognitive control (92–94) and verbal fluency (95), yet much remains unknown about this specific developmental period.”
From Brain Mechanisms Supporting Flexible Cognition and Behavior in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [94]
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References 109 · Cited by 78
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- [32]Jolles DD van Buchem MA Crone EA Rombouts SA 2010 A Comprehensive Study of Whole-Brain Functional Connectivity in Children and Young Adults Cerebral Cortex 20542991
- [65]Ozonoff S Griffith EM Klin A Volkmar FR Sparrow SS 2000 Neuropsychological function and the external validity of Asperger syndrome Asperger Syndrome New York Guilford Press 72 96
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- Authors
- Solomon, M., Yoon, J. H., Ragland, J. D., Niendam, T. A., Lesh, T. A., Fairbrother, W., & Carter, C. S.
- Affiliations
- University of California Davis Medical Center (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Solomon, Marjorie
- ORCID
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-09
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 412-421
- ISSN
- 0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3999330
- OpenAlex
- W2036937027
- Cited by
- 78
- References
- 109
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 4.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (1-K-08 MH074967-01, 2R01 MH059883-05A1, 1R24MH081807, K23MH087708, R01MH084895)
- Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers (K12 HD051958)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, cognitive control, adolescents, neural development, functional connectivity, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, conflict detection, prepotent response inhibition, age-related maturation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Brain, Brain Mapping, Child, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Cognition, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neural Pathways, Neuropsychological Tests, Adolescent Development, Executive Function
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