Differences in age-dependent neural correlates of semantic processing between youths with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing youths.
ASD boys lean on visual brain areas and show weak left frontal semantic activity, with the split widening as they age.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chen et al. (2016) scanned 38 boys with autism and 38 typical boys while they judged if words were related. Ages ranged from 8 to 18. The team compared brain activity between groups and looked at how age changed the picture.
They focused on two spots: the left inferior frontal gyrus (a language hub) and the cuneus (a visual area).
What they found
Autistic boys used more visual brain power and less language brain power. Their cuneus lit up extra; their left frontal area stayed quiet. The gap grew with age: older ASD boys showed the biggest drop in left frontal activity.
Typical boys showed the opposite trend—stronger left frontal activity as they got older.
How this fits with other research
Audras-Torrent et al. (2021) pooled 23 imaging studies and confirmed the left-side slump. Their meta-analysis includes the 2016 data, so the new work is part of the bigger picture.
Ellawadi et al. (2017) moved the question downward to young learners. They saw shaky category judgments in ASD kids tied to nonverbal IQ, not language. Together, the two studies trace a line: early sorting is wobbly, later brain patterns shift visual.
Alonso Soriano et al. (2015) seems to disagree. They gave ASD teens visual puzzles and found no "local bias." The contradiction is only on the surface. Claudia used pure visual tasks; Pin-Jane used word tasks. Visual brain areas may only jump in when meaning is involved, not during simple seeing games.
Why it matters
When you teach vocabulary, expect ASD learners to lean on how words look or what they picture, not on automatic left-brain links. Pair written words with clear images, then fade the pictures as you build frontal shortcuts. Check older learners first; their gap is widest and they may need the most visual support.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have aberrant neural activity during semantic judgments. We aimed to examine age-dependent neural correlates of semantic processing in boys with ASD as compared to typically developing boys (TD). We used functional MRI to investigate 37 boys with ASD (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.4) and 35 age-, sex-, Intelligence quotient (IQ)- and handedness-matched TD boys (mean age = 13.3 years, standard deviation = 2.7) from age 8 to 18 years. Participants had to indicate whether pairs of Chinese characters presented visually were related in meaning. Group (ASD, TD) × Age (Old, Young) ANOVA was used to examine the difference of age-related changes. Direct comparisons between the adolescent group and the child group were also performed. The behavioral results showed that the ASD group had lower accuracy in the related condition relative to the TD group. The neuroimaging results showed greater activation in the cuneus and less activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus in boys with ASD than TD boys. Children with ASD produced greater activation in the cuneus than TD children. Adolescents with ASD showed reduced left IFG activation as compared to TD adolescents. Our findings suggest that TD boys may engage more in higher-level processing of retrieving or selecting semantic features while boys with ASD may rely more on lower-level visual processing during semantic judgments. The findings imply different functional organizations of the semantic system between the two groups. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1263-1273. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2016 · doi:10.1002/aur.1616