Autism
Imaging studies
In the last five years, we have used fMRI to study if adults with high functionning autism or Asperger syndrom use the same brain areas as controls when they perceive emotional information. Furthermore, we have performed an original analysis of fMRI data to build models of the functional interactions between brain regions, and compare these models between populations of typical and ASD subjects. The findings provide evidence that abnormal long-range connectivity between structures of the ‘social brain’ could explain the socioemotional troubles that characterize the autistic pathology.
This figure illustrates the sites of abnormal connectivity (red lines)
Behavioural studies
We have performed behavioural studies aiming at exploring various aspects of emotional information processing and its impact on level of physiological reactions such as galvanic skin conductance (pdf1, pdf2).
NOTE :
In the international scientific literature, most studies refer to autistic spectrum disorder individuals to describe clinical populations under study that include both high functionning autistic and Asperger syndrom individuals. An increasing amount of clinical as well as scientific empirical data however increasingly point towards the necessity to distinguish between autism and Asperger syndrom.
Below is an excerpt of the Emanuel Miller lecture: confusions and controversies about Asperger syndrome by Utah Frith :
"Hans Asperger drew attention to individuals who show the core symptoms of autism in the presence of high verbal intelligence. A
review of the literature explores current issues concerning the diagnosis and nature of Asperger syndrome. The behavioural and
neurophysiological evidence to date suggests that Asperger syndrome is a variant of autism typically occurring in high-functioning individuals,
and not a separate disorder. One of the problems of diagnosis is that the typical impairment of social communication may be difficult to
identify in early childhood, and can be camouflaged in adulthood by compensatory learning. The range and nature of the social impairments
in Asperger syndrome are still in need of investigation, but appear to be less severe than in autism. Experimental evidence suggests that
individuals with Asperger syndrome may lack an intuitive theory of mind (mentalising), but may be able to acquire an explicit theory of mind.
Brain imaging studies pinpoint a network that links medial prefrontal and temporal cortex as the neural substrate of intuitive mentalising.
This network shows reduced activation and poor connectivity in Asperger syndrome. While some individuals with Asperger syndrome have written
eloquently about their lives, their ability to talk about their own emotions appears to be impaired (alexithymia). This impairment may be
linked to depression and anxiety, which is common in adulthood. Little is as yet known about the often considerable cognitive strengths in
Asperger syndrome, or about the difficulties observed in higher-level executive skills. Studies are needed that define the
developmental course of the disorder and the nature of the strengths and weaknesses in both social and non-social domains. This requires
more sensitive assessment instruments than are currently available. Questions about the prevalence of Asperger syndrome, about associated
and secondary features, and about optimal education and management, urgently call for such studies."