Age-dependent atypicalities in body- and face-sensitive activation of the EBA and FFA in individuals with ASD

Yuko Okamoto; Hirotaka Kosaka; Ryo Kitada; Ayumi Seki; Hiroki C Tanabe; Masamichi J Hayashi; Takanori Kochiyama; Daisuke N Saito; Hisakazu T Yanaka; Toshio Munesue; Makoto Ishitobi; Masao Omori; Yuji Wada; Hidehiko Okazawa; Tatsuya Koeda; Norihiro Sadato

doi:10.1016/j.neures.2017.02.001

Age-dependent atypicalities in body- and face-sensitive activation of the EBA and FFA in individuals with ASD

Neurosci Res. 2017 Jun:119:38-52. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2017.02.001. Epub 2017 Feb 11.

Authors

Yuko Okamoto¹, Hirotaka Kosaka², Ryo Kitada³, Ayumi Seki⁴, Hiroki C Tanabe⁵, Masamichi J Hayashi⁶, Takanori Kochiyama⁷, Daisuke N Saito⁸, Hisakazu T Yanaka⁴, Toshio Munesue⁹, Makoto Ishitobi¹⁰, Masao Omori¹¹, Yuji Wada¹², Hidehiko Okazawa¹³, Tatsuya Koeda⁴, Norihiro Sadato¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan. Electronic address: yokamoto@u-fukui.ac.jp.
² Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Japan. Electronic address: hirotaka@u-fukui.ac.jp.
³ Division of Cerebral Integration, Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai), Japan; Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.
⁴ Department of Education, Faculty of Regional Sciences, Tottori University, Japan.
⁵ Department of Social and Human Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan.
⁶ Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
⁷ Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Brain Activity Imaging Center, Kyoto, Japan.
⁸ Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Japan.
⁹ Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Japan; Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan.
¹¹ Faculty of Nursing and Social Welfare Sciences, Fukui Prefectural University, Japan.
¹² Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Japan.
¹³ Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Japan.
¹⁴ Division of Cerebral Integration, Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai), Japan; Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Japan.

PMID: 28193532
DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2017.02.001

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficuly in recognizing bodies and faces, which are more pronounced in children than adults. If such difficulties originate from dysfunction of the extrastriate body area (EBA) and the fusiform face area (FFA), activation in these regions might be more atypical in children than in adults. We preformed functional magnetic resonance imaging while children and adults with ASD and age-matched typically developed (TD) individuals observed face, body, car, and scene. To examine various aspects, we performed individual region of interest (ROI) analysis, as well as conventional random effect group analysis. At individual ROI analysis, we examined the ratio of participants showing a category-sensitive response, the size of regions, location and activation patterns among the four object categories. Adults with ASD showed no atypicalities in activation of the EBA and FFA, whereas children with ASD showed atypical activation in these regions. Specifically, a smaller percentage of children with ASD showed face-sensitive activation of the FFA than TD children. Moreover, the size of the EBA was smaller in children with ASD than in TD children. Our results revealed atypicalities in both the FFA and EBA in children with ASD but not in adults with ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; Development; Extrastriate body area; Fmri; Fusiform face area.

MeSH terms

Aging / physiology*
Autism Spectrum Disorder / physiopathology*
Brain Mapping
Case-Control Studies
Child
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Photic Stimulation
Temporal Lobe / physiopathology*
Visual Cortex / physiopathology*
Visual Perception / physiology*
Young Adult