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SUMMARY:Brain connectivity in autism\, measured using source-space magneto
 encephalography. - Manfred Kitzbichler\, Harvard Medical School and Massac
 husetts General Hospital\, USA
DTSTART:20120424T100000Z
DTEND:20120424T110000Z
UID:TALK37849@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Petra Vertes
DESCRIPTION:The behavioural difficulties of individuals suffering from aut
 istic spectrum disorder (ASD) are diverse and are pointing at a fundamenta
 l underlying difference in cognitive processing. Previous studies found th
 at autistic subjects prefer - and may have a special talent for - a more d
 etail focused approach to perception than typically developed subjects. A 
 term that has been coined to describe the preference in ASD to ignore cont
 ext is “weak central coherence”\, meaning that the binding of pieces o
 f information from different regions of the brain into a “coherent” wh
 ole is weaker. In parallel to “central coherence” exists the concept o
 f a “global workspace” in which information from all the functionally 
 segregated parts of the brain is integrated\, a process that relies fundam
 entally on long-range connections and the ability of the executive part of
  the brain to tap into and modulate regional functional processing. This c
 onceptual analogy together with recent findings that ASD coincides with de
 creased long-range connectivity\, is suggestive of altered workspace forma
 tion playing a role in autism.\n\nI will present an overview of connectivi
 ty differences in ASD found in electrophysiological recordings within and 
 across different frequency\nbands. In particular I will show some recent r
 esults from our lab\, where we used the minimum-norm estimate (MNE) combin
 ing MRI and MEG recordings to track functional brain connectivity with hig
 h spatial as well as temporal resolution during number of paradigms. We fo
 und interesting regionally specific differences in in cross-frequency coup
 ling during a face perception paradigm. In an ongoing resting-state study 
 preliminary results point at regional segregation between the groups\, wit
 h the frontal network dominating in controls and the posterior network emp
 hasized in ASD subjects\, especially in beta-band. We are planning to expa
 nd these studies to cross-frequency connectivity and to paradigms involvin
 g more dynamic and natural stimuli.
LOCATION:BCNI seminar room\, Sir William Hardy Building
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