Research on the neural bases of cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown that working memory (WM) difficulties are associated with abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex. However, few studies have examined the impact of cognitive load on WM and its neural underpinnings in children and adolescents. We used fMRI and an n-back task with four levels of difficulty to compare the cortical activation patterns associated with WM in children with and without ASD across cognitive load. Findings revealed impaired modulated activity as a function of cognitive load in prefrontal and parietal cortices in children with ASD relative to typical controls. Results suggest that children with ASD rely mainly on posterior brain regions associated with lower-level visual processing, whereas controls showed activity in frontal lobes related to the classic WM network. Findings will help guide future longitudinal work by localizing areas of vulnerability to developmental disturbances.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/43326 |
| Date | 10 December 2013 |
| Creators | Vogan, Vanessa Michela |
| Contributors | Taylor, Margot |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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