Disrupted functional connectivity in dorsal and ventral attention networks during attention orienting in autism spectrum disorders.
Teens with ASD can hit attention targets, but their goal-driven brain wires are weak and their alert wires work overtime.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team scanned 24 teens with ASD and 24 typical teens. All kids did a simple arrow-cue task inside an MRI. They had to push a button when a target appeared left or right.
The scan watched two brain highways: the dorsal attention network (goal side) and the ventral attention network (alert side). The study asked: do the highways talk the same way in ASD?
What they found
Both groups got the same score on the task. Yet their brains looked different.
The ASD group had weaker links inside the goal-driven dorsal network. Their alert ventral network showed odd extra links. The teens acted typical, but their wiring was not.
How this fits with other research
Williams et al. (2010) saw no behavior gap in attentional blink in ASD. That paper seems to clash with the new MRI data. The gap closes when you see one study watched speed; the other watched brain wires. Behavior can look fine while circuits struggle.
Weiss et al. (2001) already showed high-functioning autism slows attention shifting. The 2015 scan gives the wiring reason: the dorsal network, the brain’s shift gear, is weak.
Nair et al. (2026) widened the lens to three networks and added an EOP group. They found salience-network underconnectivity tied to social scores. Together the papers map a pattern: in ASD, attention networks talk less, and the type of network sets the symptom.
Why it matters
You can’t see weak network links with a clipboard. A teen may score average on vigilance tasks yet still tire fast in noisy classrooms. Build breaks, cut visual clutter, and pre-cue directions. These steps ease load on the fragile dorsal network and boost steady performance.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Attention orienting is a cognitive process that facilitates the movement of attention focus from one location to another: this may be impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN and VAN) sub-serve the process of attention orienting. This study investigated the functional connectivity of attention orienting in these networks in ASD using the Posner Cueing Task. METHOD: Twenty-one adolescents with ASD and 21 age and IQ matched controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. A psychophysical interaction (PPI) analysis was implemented to investigate task-dependent functional connectivity, measuring synchronicity of brain regions during the task. Regions of interest (ROI) were selected to explore functional connectivity in the DAN during cue-only conditions and in the VAN during invalid and valid trials. RESULTS: Behaviourally, the ASD and control groups performed the task in a similar manner. Functional MRI results indicated that the ASD and control groups activated similar brain regions. During invalid trials (VAN), the ASD group showed significant positive functional connectivity to multiple brain regions, whilst the control group demonstrated negative connectivity. During valid trials (VAN), the two groups also showed contrasting patterns of connectivity. In the cue-only conditions (DAN), the ASD group showed weaker functional connectivity. CONCLUSION: The DAN analysis suggests that the ASD group has weaker coherence between brain areas involved in goal-driven, endogenous attention control. The strong positive functional connectivity exhibited by the ASD group in the VAN during the invalid trials suggests that individuals with ASD may generate compensatory mechanisms to achieve neurotypical behaviour. These results support the theory of abnormal cortical connectivity in autism.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2015 · doi:10.1002/aur.1430