HSE Scientists Reveal How Disrupted Brain Connectivity Affects Cognitive and Social Behaviour in Children with Autism
An international team of scientists, including researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, has for the first time studied the connectivity between the brain's sensorimotor and cognitive control networks in children with autism. Using fMRI data, the researchers found that connections within the cognitive control network (responsible for attention and inhibitory control) are weakened, while connections between this network and the sensorimotor network (responsible for movement and sensory processing) are, by contrast, excessively strong. These features manifest as difficulties in social interaction and behavioural regulation in children. The study has been published in Brain Imaging and Behavior.
For a person to focus attention, move, perceive others, and regulate their own behaviour at the same time, the brain engages multiple functional networks. Each network is responsible for a specific function: attention, movement, perception, or behavioural regulation. As individuals mature, the internal connections within these networks strengthen, while the connections between different networks, by contrast, tend to weaken. This allows the brain to allocate responsibilities across its systems, so they can operate independently without interfering with one another. This process is known as network segregation.
However, in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), network segregation may be disrupted. Autism spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental conditions that alter the way individuals perceive information, interact with others, and respond to the world around them. To understand how disruptions in brain networks relate to these changes, researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute studied, for the first time, the interaction between two key networks: the cognitive control network—responsible for attention, inhibitory control, and planning—and the sensorimotor network, which is involved in movement and sensory information processing.
The researchers analysed fMRI data from 121 children with ASD and 84 typically developing children, aged 5 to 14, and also administered four behavioural questionnaires to assess how the children interact with others, regulate their thoughts and actions, shift attention, and control their movements.
The study found that children with ASD have significantly weaker connections within the cognitive control network. The weaker the connections, the greater the difficulty the child experienced in regulating behaviour and shifting attention—findings that were also confirmed by the behavioural test results.
At the same time, the connections between the cognitive control network and the sensorimotor network were found to be excessively strong. This characteristic was associated with difficulties in social interaction and behaviour. However, neither stronger nor weaker connectivity affected the child’s ability to control their movements.
Alina Minnigulova
'In children with autism, the balance between autonomous functioning of networks and their interaction is disrupted. Rather than smooth internal coordination, excessive cross-activity occurs, hindering the brain’s ability to adapt when switching between external and internal signals,' explains Alina Minnigulova, Research Fellow at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain.
Importantly, these deviations are not only observable on fMRI but also correlate with specific manifestations of the disorder, such as communication difficulties, attention deficits, and problems with planning and task switching. These findings will advance our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying ASD and may, in the future, support faster diagnosis of these conditions.
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