Current Studies

III.  Systems Connectivity & Brain Activation: Imaging Studies of Language & Perception
 

Dr. Just – fMRI study

What we want to learn:

We are trying to investigate the nature of cognitive and social difficulties associated with autism such as spatial reasoning, language comprehension and communication, social understanding, and the distribution of mental resources in a complex situation. We are also interested in finding out how the various brain areas communicate and coordinate while performing the tasks. Our project has developed the beginnings of a theory of autism. We think that autism is marked by disordered connectivity among brain regions. This particularly affects the synchronization or timing of activation (connectivity) between frontal brain areas and more posterior brain areas. Our studies will help us to further understand the neural disorder underlying autism.

 How we will do this:

 The participant will complete various tasks while in an fMRI machine, which will allow the researchers to see how the subject’s brain is working during a given task. The subject will participate in a simulation fMRI and also perform tasks similar to those being performed during the actual fMRI. This simulation is done so the participant will feel comfortable during the actual fMRI with the sounds and remaining still. In the actual fMRI, the participant will be asked to complete computer tasks using computer mice.

The spatial and language cognitive tasks consist of visual input (words, pictures) and/or auditory input (spoken words). To measure spatial reasoning, participants view a problem on the screen that they must solve, such as deciding if a figure is possible or impossible to construct in 3 dimensions. To investigate language comprehension, the subject might be asked to make inferences regarding characters’ motivations in stories. Social understanding is also studied by asking participants to detect trustworthiness by looking at a person’s face. To explore how people distribute their mental resources in a complex situation, subjects might be asked to perform two tasks simultaneously.

*When you participate in Dr. Just’s project, you may be asked to complete a combination of the studies described above.

Preliminary findings:

Our preliminary findings show that brain regions in high-functioning individuals with autism do not communicate with each other as effectively as those without autism, especially when they perform complex tasks such as spatial reasoning and language comprehension. Our results on language processing have also shown that individuals with high-functioning autism, when compared to those without autism, are more likely to rely on brain regions that process visualization, rather than communication, to support language comprehension. That is, individuals with autism “think in pictures”. It is our hope that by researching the nature of brain activation and brain area coordination in individuals with autism that cognitive behavioral therapy might be created to develop better connections between brain areas. In general, converging findings from our brain imaging studies are expected to produce an understanding of autism that will provide new insights for therapy and for facilitating daily functioning.

This project is studying adults.