Page 52 - MEGIN Book Of Abstracts - 2023

Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa Altered Connectivity During a False-Belief Task in
University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan; Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder (2020)
Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate
School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Yuk, Veronica; Anagnostou, Evdokia; Taylor, Margot J
Takara-machi, Kanazawa, 920-8641, Japan. mitsuruk@med.
kanazawa-u.ac.jp; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Universi- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick
ty of Fukui, Matsuoka-shimoaizuki, Eiheiji-cho, Yoshida-gun, Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Neurosciences and Men-
910-1193, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Develop- tal Health Program, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital
ment, University of Fukui, 23-3 Matsuoka-shimoaizuki, Eiheiji- for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of
cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui, 910-1193, Japan; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Biofunctional Imaging, Medical Photonics Research Center, Electronic address: [email protected]; Depart-
Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handaya- ment of Neurology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto,
ma, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu, 431-3192, Japan Ontario, Canada; Bloorview Research Institute, Holland
Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario,
ABSTRACT Impairment in verbal communication abili- Canada; Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital
ties has been reported in autism spectrum disorder for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Neurosciences
(ASD). Dysfunction of the serotonergic system has also and Mental Health Program, SickKids Research Institute, The
been reported in ASD. However, it is still unknown how Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Depart-
the brain serotonergic system relates to impairment ment of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,
in verbal communication abilities in individuals with Canada; Department of Medical Imaging, University of
ASD. In the present study, we investigated the correla- Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
tion between brain serotonergic condition and brain
sensitivity to paralinguistic stimuli (i.e., amplitude in the BACKGROUND Deficits in social communication are
human voice prosodic change-evoked mismatch field) one of the main features of autism spectrum disorder
measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) or ver- (ASD). Adults with ASD show atypical brain activity
bal ability in 10 adults with ASD. To estimate the brain during false-belief understanding, an aspect of social
serotonergic condition, we measured the serotonin communication involving the ability to infer that an in-
transporter nondisplaceable binding potential cere- dividual can have an incorrect belief about a situation.
brum-wide using positron emission tomography with Our study is the first to investigate whether adults with
[11C]N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-amino-4-cyanophenylthio) ASD exhibit differences in frequency-specific functional
benzylamine ([11C] DASB). The results demonstrated a connectivity patterns during false-belief reasoning.
significant positive correlation between brain activity
to paralinguistic stimuli and brain serotonin transporter METHODS We used magnetoencephalography to
binding potential in the left lingual gyrus, left fusiform contrast functional connectivity underlying false-
gyrus and left calcarine cortex. In addition, there were belief understanding between 40 adults with ASD and
significant positive correlations between verbal ability 39 control adults. We examined whole-brain phase
and serotonergic condition in the right anterior insula, synchrony measures during a false-belief task in 3 fre-
right putamen and right central operculum. These re- quency bands: theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-14 Hz), and beta
sults suggested that the occipital cortex is implicated in (15-30 Hz).
recognition of the prosodic change in ASD, whereas the
right insula-involved serotonergic system is important RESULTS Adults with ASD demonstrated reduced
in nurturing verbal function in ASD.Trial registration: theta-band connectivity compared with control adults
UMIN000011077. between several right-lateralized and midline regions
such as the medial prefrontal cortex, right temporo-
Scientific reports (2020), Vol. 10, No. 1 (32883965) (1 parietal junction, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right
citation) superior temporal gyrus. During false-belief trials, they

 ontents  Index 31
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