Journal
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 4, Issue 3, Pages 215-226Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp017
Keywords
autism; fMRI; target detection; face processing; cingulate gyrus
Categories
Funding
- NIH (Piven) [1 U54 MH66418]
- Dana Foundation (Dichter)
- UNC-Chapel Hill, NIH/NCRR [K12 RR023248, NIMH K23 MH081285]
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Though the functional neural correlates of impaired cognitive control and social dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been delineated, brain regions implicated in poor cognitive control of social information is a novel area of autism research. We recently reported in a non-clinical sample that detection of 'social oddball' targets activated a portion of the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus and the supracalcarine cortex (Dichter, Felder, Bodfish, Sikich, and Belger, 2009). In the present investigation, we report functional magnetic resonance imaging results from individuals with ASD who completed the same social oddball task. Between-group comparisons revealed generally greater activation in the ASD group to both social and non-social targets. When responses to social and non-social targets were contrasted, the ASD group showed relatively greater activation in the right and middle inferior frontal gyri and a region in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex that abuts the dorsal anterior cingulate (Brodmann's Area 32). Further, dorsal anterior cingulate activation to social targets predicted the severity of social impairments in a subset of the ASD sample. These data suggest that the dorsal anterior cingulate mediates social target detection in neurotypical individuals and is implicated in deficits of cognitive control of social information in ASD.
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