Publications
1. Park, Shinwon; Haak, Koen V; Cho, Han Byul; Valk, Sofie L; Bethlehem, Richard A I; Milham, Michael P; Bernhardt, Boris C; Martino, Adriana Di; Hong, Seok-Jun
Atypical integration of sensory-to-transmodal functional systems
mediates symptom severity in autism Journal Article
In: Front. Psychiatry, vol. 12, pp. 699813, 2021.
Abstract | BibTeX | Tags: autism spectrum disoder; connectopic mapping; cortical hierarchy; high-order system; low-level sensory; subcortico-cortical connectivity
@article{Park2021-ml,
title = {Atypical integration of sensory-to-transmodal functional systems
mediates symptom severity in autism},
author = {Shinwon Park and Koen V Haak and Han Byul Cho and Sofie L Valk and Richard A I Bethlehem and Michael P Milham and Boris C Bernhardt and Adriana Di Martino and Seok-Jun Hong},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-08-01},
journal = {Front. Psychiatry},
volume = {12},
pages = {699813},
abstract = {A notable characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is
co-occurring deficits in low-level sensory processing and
high-order social interaction. While there is evidence indicating
detrimental cascading effects of sensory anomalies on the
high-order cognitive functions in ASD, the exact pathological
mechanism underlying their atypical functional interaction across
the cortical hierarchy has not been systematically investigated.
To address this gap, here we assessed the functional organisation
of sensory and motor areas in ASD, and their relationship with
subcortical and high-order trandmodal systems. In a resting-state
fMRI data of 107 ASD and 113 neurotypical individuals, we applied
advanced connectopic mapping to probe functional organization of
primary sensory/motor areas, together with targeted seed-based
intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) analyses. In ASD, the
connectopic mapping revealed topological anomalies (i.e.,
excessively more segregated iFC) in the motor and visual areas,
the former of which patterns showed association with the symptom
severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors. Moreover, the
seed-based analysis found diverging patterns of ASD-related
connectopathies: decreased iFCs within the sensory/motor areas
but increased iFCs between sensory and subcortical structures.
While decreased iFCs were also found within the higher-order
functional systems, the overall proportion of this anomaly tends
to increase along the level of cortical hierarchy, suggesting
more dysconnectivity in the higher-order functional networks.
Finally, we demonstrated that the association between low-level
sensory/motor iFCs and clinical symptoms in ASD was mediated by
the high-order transmodal systems, suggesting pathogenic
functional interactions along the cortical hierarchy. Findings
were largely replicated in the independent dataset. These results
highlight that atypical integration of sensory-to-high-order
systems contributes to the complex ASD symptomatology.},
keywords = {autism spectrum disoder; connectopic mapping; cortical hierarchy; high-order system; low-level sensory; subcortico-cortical connectivity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A notable characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is
co-occurring deficits in low-level sensory processing and
high-order social interaction. While there is evidence indicating
detrimental cascading effects of sensory anomalies on the
high-order cognitive functions in ASD, the exact pathological
mechanism underlying their atypical functional interaction across
the cortical hierarchy has not been systematically investigated.
To address this gap, here we assessed the functional organisation
of sensory and motor areas in ASD, and their relationship with
subcortical and high-order trandmodal systems. In a resting-state
fMRI data of 107 ASD and 113 neurotypical individuals, we applied
advanced connectopic mapping to probe functional organization of
primary sensory/motor areas, together with targeted seed-based
intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) analyses. In ASD, the
connectopic mapping revealed topological anomalies (i.e.,
excessively more segregated iFC) in the motor and visual areas,
the former of which patterns showed association with the symptom
severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors. Moreover, the
seed-based analysis found diverging patterns of ASD-related
connectopathies: decreased iFCs within the sensory/motor areas
but increased iFCs between sensory and subcortical structures.
While decreased iFCs were also found within the higher-order
functional systems, the overall proportion of this anomaly tends
to increase along the level of cortical hierarchy, suggesting
more dysconnectivity in the higher-order functional networks.
Finally, we demonstrated that the association between low-level
sensory/motor iFCs and clinical symptoms in ASD was mediated by
the high-order transmodal systems, suggesting pathogenic
functional interactions along the cortical hierarchy. Findings
were largely replicated in the independent dataset. These results
highlight that atypical integration of sensory-to-high-order
systems contributes to the complex ASD symptomatology.