Aberrant functional connectivity of inhibitory control networks in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Resting brain scans reveal patchy stop-control networks in autism, matching parent reports of everyday impulse problems.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Voorhies et al. (2018) scanned kids with autism and typical kids while they rested.
The team looked at how brain areas that stop impulses talk to each other.
No tasks, no drills—just quiet pictures of the brain at rest.
What they found
The kids with autism showed different resting chatter in stop-control circuits.
Parents also rated more day-to-day behavior problems in kids whose scans looked most different.
The changes were not all up or all down—some links were stronger, some weaker.
How this fits with other research
Stevens et al. (2018) ran a motor task and saw the opposite pattern: connectivity went up in autism, down in typical kids. Same children, different moment—rest versus action.
Velasquez et al. (2017) tested adults with autism during an emotional stop task. Behavior looked normal, yet their brains used extra angular gyrus and less cingulate, showing the same compensatory theme across ages.
Patton et al. (2020) added that, during stop tasks, kids with autism jump around more—both in reaction time and tiny brain waves—hinting that shaky control, not just weak control, marks the condition.
Why it matters
You can’t see these brain differences on the playground, but they sit under the problems you do see: long pauses, quick impulses, or uneven performance.
When a learner’s stop-and-wait behavior is spotty, remember the wiring may be spotty too. Build extra practice trials, allow longer think time, and track minute-to-minute variability as a progress signal.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Development of inhibitory control is a core component of executive function processes and a key aspect of healthy development. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in performance on inhibitory control tasks. Nevertheless, the research on the neural correlates of these impairments is inconclusive. Here, we explore the integrity of inhibitory control networks in children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children using resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imagaing (MRI). In a large multisite sample, we find evidence for significantly greater functional connectivity (FC) of the right inferior frontal junction (rIFJ) with the posterior cingulate gyrus, and left and right frontal poles in children with ASD compared with TD children. Additionally, TD children show greater FC of rIFJ with the superior parietal lobule (SPL) compared with children with ASD. Furthermore, although higher rIFJ-SPL and rIFJ-IPL FC was related to better inhibitory control behaviors in both ASD and TD children, rIFJ-dACC FC was only associated with inhibitory control behaviors in TD children. These results provide preliminary evidence of differences in intrinsic functional networks supporting inhibitory control in children with ASD, and provide a basis for further exploration of the development of inhibitory control in children with the disorder. Autism Research 2018, 11: 1468-1478. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Inhibitory control is an important process in healthy cognitive development. Behavioral studies suggest that inhibitory control is impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, research examining the neural correlates underlying inhibitory control differences in children with ASD is inconclusive. This study reveals differences in functional connectivity of brain networks important for inhibitory control in children with ASD compared with typically developing children. Furthermore, it relates brain network differences to parent-reported inhibitory control behaviors in children with ASD. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that differences in brain connectivity may underlie observable behavioral deficits in inhibitory control in children with the disorder.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.2014