Abstract

Autism is a socio-communication brain development disorder. It is marked by degeneration in the ability to respond to joint attention skill tasks, from as early as 12 to 18 months of age. This trait is used to distinguish autistic from typically developing populations. In this study, near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used for the first time to study brain connectivity and lateralisation in response to joint attention experience in normal adults. The pre- and anterior frontal regions of the brain were non-invasively imaged using a frequency-domains based NIR system. The imaging studies were performed on 11 normal right-handed adults and optical measurements were acquired in response to joint-attention based video clips. Functional connectivity analysis was performed using intensity and relative phase shift data of the frequency-domain optical signals. Functional connectivity was computed using zero-order correlations and the cortical lateralisation analyses was also performed. Strong functional connectivity (in terms of HbO (oxy-haemoglobin), HbT (total haemoglobin) and relative phase shift data) in the pre-frontal cortex, was observed, irrespective of the stimuli (joint-attention (J), non-joint attention (NJ), and baseline rest (R); J, NJ or R). However, in the anterior frontal cortex, although the connectivity (based on HbO and HbT) demonstrated a strong correlation between the left and right regions, the connectivity (based on relative phase shift data) demonstrated a weaker correlation. The cortical lateralisation study demonstrated a right pre-frontal dominance during NJ and R stimuli, and not so in the J stimulus. The lateralisation study complemented the connectivity study by revealing that, although both the volume and pathlengths of the left and right pre-frontal cortex are similar, the dominance can vary with respect to stimuli. The high temporal resolution of NIR spectroscopy enabled study of the neural pathway associated with the socio-communicative skills, and hence the results have potential to elucidate the neural pathways associated with autism. Future NIR studies on autistic and typically developing children in response to the socio-communicative tasks (e.g. joint attention experience), may have a significant impact in early stage diagnostic intervention of autism in much younger children (< three years of age).

© 2011 IM Publications LLP

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