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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an early onset and a strong genetic origin. Unaffected relatives may present similar but subthreshold characteristics of ASD. This broader autism phenotype is especially prevalent in the parents of individuals with ASD, suggesting that it has heritable factors. Although previous studies have demonstrated brain morphometry differences in ASD, they are poorly understood in parents of individuals with ASD. Here, we estimated grey matter volume in 45 mothers of children with ASD (mASD) and 46 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched controls using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis. The mASD group had smaller grey matter volume in the right middle temporal gyrus, temporoparietal junction, cerebellum, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with the control group. Furthermore, we analysed the correlations of these brain volumes with ASD behavioural characteristics using autism spectrum quotient (AQ) and systemizing quotient (SQ) scores, which measure general autistic traits and the drive to systemize. Smaller volumes in the middle temporal gyrus and temporoparietal junction correlated with higher SQ scores, and smaller volumes in the cerebellum and parahippocampal gyrus correlated with higher AQ scores. Our findings suggest that atypical grey matter volumes in mASD may represent one of the neurostructural endophenotypes of ASD.

Impairment in verbal communication abilities has been reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dysfunction of the serotonergic system has also been reported in ASD. However, it is still unknown how the brain serotonergic system relates to impairment in verbal communication abilities in individuals with ASD. In the present study, we investigated the correlation between brain serotonergic condition and brain sensitivity to paralinguistic stimuli (i.e., amplitude in the human voice prosodic change-evoked mismatch field) measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) or verbal ability in 10 adults with ASD. To estimate the brain serotonergic condition, we measured the serotonin transporter nondisplaceable binding potential cerebrum-wide using positron emission tomography with [11C]N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-amino-4-cyanophenylthio)benzylamine ([11C] DASB). The results demonstrated a significant positive correlation between brain activity to paralinguistic stimuli and brain serotonin transporter binding potential in the left lingual gyrus, left fusiform gyrus and left calcarine cortex. In addition, there were significant positive correlations between verbal ability and serotonergic condition in the right anterior insula, right putamen and right central operculum. These results suggested that the occipital cortex is implicated in recognition of the prosodic change in ASD, whereas the right insula-involved serotonergic system is important in nurturing verbal function in ASD.Trial registration: UMIN000011077.

Children make rapid transitions in their neural and intellectual development. Compared to other brain regions, the auditory cortex slowly matures, and children show immature auditory brain activity. This auditory neural plasticity largely occurs as a response to human‐voice stimuli, which are presented more often than other stimuli, and can even be observed in the brainstem. Early psychologists have proposed that sensory processing and intelligence are closely related to each other. In the present study, we identified brain activity related to human‐voice processing and investigated a crucial neural correlate of child development and intelligence. We also examined the neurophysiological activity patterns during human‐voice processing in young children aged 3 to 8 years. We investigated auditory evoked fields (AEFs) and oscillatory changes using child‐customized magnetoencephalography within a short recording time (

Parent-child book reading is important for fostering the development of various lifelong cognitive and social abilities in young children. Despite numerous reports describing the effects of familiarity on shared reading for children, the exact neural basis of the functional network architecture remains unclear. We conducted Magnet-Encephalographic (MEG) experiments using graph theory to elucidate the role of familiarity in shared reading in a child's brain network and to measure the connectivity dynamics of a child while Listening to Storybook Reading (LSBR), which represents the daily activity of shared book reading between the child and caregiver. The LSBR task was performed with normally developing preschool- and school-age children (N = 15) under two conditions: reading by their own mother (familiar condition) vs. an experimenter (unfamiliar condition). We used the phase lag index (PLI), which captures synchronization of MEG signals, to estimate functional connectivity. For the whole brain network topology, an undirected weighted graph was produced using 68 brain regions as nodes and interregional PLI values as edges for five frequency bands. Behavioral data (i.e., the degree of attention and facial expressions) were evaluated from video images of the child's face during the two conditions. Our results showed enhanced widespread functional connectivity in the alpha band during the mother condition. In the mother condition, the whole brain network in the alpha band exhibited topographically high local segregation with high global integration, indicating an increased small-world property. Results of the behavioral analysis revealed that children were more attentive and showed more positive facial expressions in the mother condition than in the experimenter condition. Behavioral data were significantly correlated with graph metrics in the mother condition but not in the experimenter condition. In this study, we identified the neural correlates of a familiarity effect in children's brain connectivity dynamics during LSBR. Furthermore, these familiarity-related brain dynamics were closely linked to the child's behavior. Graph theory applied to MEG data may provide useful insight into the familiarity-related child brain response in a naturalistic setting and its relevance to child attitudes.

Sensorimotor function is a fundamental brain function in humans, and the cerebrocerebellar circuit is essential to this function. In this study, we demonstrate how the cerebrocerebellar circuit develops both functionally and anatomically from childhood to adulthood in the typically developing human brain. We measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while a total of 57 right-handed, blindfolded, healthy children (aged 8–11 years), adolescents (aged 12–15 years), and young adults (aged 18–23 years) (n = 19 per group) performed alternating extension–flexion movements of their right wrists in precise synchronization with 1-Hz audio tones. We also collected their diffusion MR images to examine the extent of fiber maturity in cerebrocerebellar afferent and efferent tracts by evaluating the anisotropy-sensitive index of hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA). During the motor task, although the ipsilateral cerebellum and the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortices were consistently activated across all age groups, the functional connectivity between these two distant regions was stronger in adults than in children and adolescents, whereas connectivity within the local cerebellum was stronger in children and adolescents than in adults. The HMOA values in cerebrocerebellar afferent and efferent tracts were higher in adults than in children (some were also higher than in adolescents). The results indicate that adult-like cerebrocerebellar functional coupling is not completely achieved during childhood and adolescence, even for fundamental sensorimotor brain function, probably due to anatomical immaturity of cerebrocerebellar tracts. This study clearly demonstrated the principle of “local-to-distant” development of functional brain networks in the human cerebrocerebellar sensorimotor network. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00429-018-01821-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Many neuroimaging studies on morality focus on functional brain areas that relate to moral judgment specifically in morally negative situations. To date, there have been few studies on differences in brain activity under conditions of being morally good and bad along a continuum. To explore not only the brain regions involved but also their functional connections during moral judgments, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG), which is superior to other imaging modalities for analyzing time-dependent brain activities; only men were recruited because sex differences might be a confounding factor. While analyses showed that general patterns of brain activation and connectivity were similar between morally good judgments (MGJs) and morally bad judgments (MBJs), activation in brain areas that subserve emotion and “theory of mind” on the right hemisphere was larger in MGJ than MBJ conditions. In the left local temporal region, the connectivity between brain areas related to emotion and reward/punishment was stronger in MBJ than MGJ conditions. The time-frequency analysis showed distinct laterality (left hemisphere dominant) occurring during early moral information processing in MBJ conditions compared to MGJ conditions and phase-dependent differences in the appearance of theta waves between MBJ and MGJ conditions. During MBJs, connections within the hemispheric regions were more robust than those between hemispheric regions. These results suggested that the local temporal region on the left hemisphere is more important in the execution of MBJs during early moral valence processing than in that with MGJs. Shorter neuronal connections within the hemisphere may allow to make MBJs punctual.

(1) Background: Atypical auditory perception has been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Altered auditory evoked brain responses are also associated with childhood ASD. They are likely to be associated with atypical brain maturation. (2) Methods: This study examined children aged 5–8 years old: 29 with ASD but no intellectual disability and 46 age-matched typically developed (TD) control participants. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) data obtained while participants listened passively to sinusoidal pure tones, bilateral auditory cortical response (P1m) was examined. (3) Results: Significantly shorter P1m latency in the left hemisphere was found for children with ASD without intellectual disabilities than for children with TD. Significant correlation between P1m latency and language conceptual ability was found in children with ASD, but not in children with TD. (4) Conclusions: These findings demonstrated atypical brain maturation in the auditory processing area in children with ASD without intellectual disability. Findings also suggest that ASD has a common neural basis for pure-tone sound processing and language development. Development of brain networks involved in language concepts in early childhood ASD might differ from that in children with TD.

Highlights • We measured brain oscillation and oscillatory coupling during motor control in ASD. • ASD group showed reduced motor-related gamma increases compared with control group. • ASD group showed enhanced pre-movement beta decreases compared with control group. • ASD group showed reduced beta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling during motor control., Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often involves dysfunction in general motor control and motor coordination, in addition to core symptoms. However, the neural mechanisms underlying motor dysfunction in ASD are poorly understood. To elucidate this issue, we focused on brain oscillations and their coupling in the primary motor cortex (M1). We recorded magnetoencephalography in 18 children with ASD, aged 5 to 7 years, and 19 age- and IQ-matched typically-developing children while they pressed a button during a video-game-like motor task. The motor-related gamma (70 to 90 Hz) and pre-movement beta oscillations (15 to 25 Hz) were analyzed in the primary motor cortex using an inverse method. To determine the coupling between beta and gamma oscillations, we applied phase-amplitude coupling to calculate the statistical dependence between the amplitude of fast oscillations and the phase of slow oscillations. We observed a motor-related gamma increase and a pre-movement beta decrease in both groups. The ASD group exhibited a reduced motor-related gamma increase and enhanced pre-movement beta decrease in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex. We found phase-amplitude coupling, in which high-gamma activity was modulated by the beta rhythm in the primary motor cortex. Phase-amplitude coupling in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex was reduced in the ASD group compared with the control group. Using oscillatory changes and their couplings, linear discriminant analysis classified the ASD and control groups with high accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 97.1%). The current findings revealed alterations in oscillations and oscillatory coupling, reflecting the dysregulation of motor gating mechanisms in ASD. These results may be helpful for elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying motor dysfunction in ASD, suggesting the possibility of developing a biomarker for ASD diagnosis.

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often involves dysfunction in general motor control and motor coordination, in addition to core symptoms. However, the neural mechanisms underlying motor dysfunction in ASD are poorly understood. To elucidate this issue, we focused on brain oscillations and their coupling in the primary motor cortex (M1). Methods We recorded magnetoencephalography in 18 children with autism spectrum disorder, aged 5 to 7 years, and 19 age- and IQ-matched typically-developing children while they pressed button during a video-game-like motor task. We measured motor-related gamma (70 to 90 Hz) and pre-movement beta oscillations (15 to 25 Hz) in the primary motor cortex. To determine the coupling between beta and gamma oscillations, we applied phase-amplitude coupling to calculate the statistical dependence between the amplitude of fast oscillations and the phase of slow oscillations. Results We observed a motor-related gamma increase and a pre-movement beta decrease in both groups. The autism spectrum disorder group exhibited a reduced motor-related gamma increase ( t(35) = 2.412, p = 0.021 ) and enhanced pre-movement beta decrease ( t(35) = 2.705, p = 0.010 ) in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex. We found the phase-amplitude coupling that the high-gamma activity modulated by the beta rhythm in the primary motor cortex. Phase-amplitude coupling in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex was reduced in the autism spectrum disorder group compared with the control group ( t(35) = 3.610, p = 0.001 ). Using oscillatory changes and their coupling, linear discriminant analysis classified autism spectrum disorder and control groups with high accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 97.1%). Limitations Further studies with larger sample size and age range of data are warranted to confirm these effects. Conclusions The current findings revealed alterations in oscillations and oscillatory coupling reflecting the dysregulation of a motor gating mechanism in ASD. These results may be helpful for elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying motor dysfunction in ASD, suggesting the possibility of developing a biomarker for ASD diagnosis.

Introduction In the early development of human infants and toddlers, remarkable changes in brain cortical function for auditory processing have been reported. Knowing the maturational trajectory of auditory cortex responses to human voice in typically developing young children is crucial for identifying voice processing abnormalities in children at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders and language impairment. An early prominent positive component in the cerebral auditory response in newborns has been reported in previous electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies. However, it is not clear whether this prominent component in infants less than 1 year of age corresponds to the auditory P1m component that has been reported in young children over 2 years of age. Methods To test the hypothesis that the early prominent positive component in infants aged 0 years is an immature manifestation of P1m that we previously reported in children over 2 years of age, we performed a longitudinal MEG study that focused on this early component and examined the maturational changes over three years starting from age 0. Five infants participated in this 3‐year longitudinal study. Results This research revealed that the early prominent component in infants aged 3 month corresponded to the auditory P1m component in young children over 2 years old, which we had previously reported to be related to language development and/or autism spectrum disorders. Conclusion Our data revealed the development of the auditory‐evoked field in the left and right hemispheres from 0‐ to 3‐year‐old children. These results contribute to the elucidation of the development of brain functions in infants., We performed a longitudinal magnetoencephalography (MEG) study that focused on auditory early component. The maturational changes over three years starting from age 0 were examined. Our result revealed that the early prominent component in infants aged 3 month corresponded to the auditory P1m component in young children over 2 years old, which we had previously reported to be related to language development and/or autism spectrum disorders.

Background A growing body of anecdotal evidence indicates that the use of robots may provide unique opportunities for assisting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, previous studies investigating the effects of interventions using robots on joint attention (JA) in children with ASD have shown insufficient results. The robots used in these studies could not turn their eyes, which was a limitation preventing the robot from resembling a human agent. Methods We compared the behavior of children with ASD with that of children with typical development (TD) during a JA elicitation task while the children interacted with either a human or a robotic agent. We used the robot “CommU,” which has clear eyes and can turn its eyes, for the robotic intervention. The age range of the participants was limited to 5–6 years. Results Sixty-eight participants participated in this study, including 30 (10 females and 20 males) children with ASD and 38 (13 females and 25 males) children with TD. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: the robotic intervention group or the control group. JA in the children with ASD was better during the robotic intervention than during the human agent intervention. These children exhibited improved performance in the JA task with human after interacting with the robot CommU. JA was differentially facilitated by the human and robotic agents between the ASD and TD children. Conclusions The findings of this study significantly contribute to the literature on the impact of robots on JA and provide information regarding the suitability of specific robot types for therapeutic use.

We recently reported that right-side dominance of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in self-body recognition (proprioceptive illusion) task emerges during adolescence in typical human development. Here, we extend this finding by demonstrating that functional lateralization to the right IPL also develops during adolescence in another self-body (specifically a self-face) recognition task. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 60 right-handed healthy children (8–11 years), adolescents (12–15 years), and adults (18–23 years; 20 per group) while they judged whether a presented face was their own (Self) or that of somebody else (Other). We also analyzed fMRI data collected while they performed proprioceptive illusion task. All participants performed self-face recognition with high accuracy. Among brain regions where self-face-related activity (Self vs. Other) developed, only right IPL activity developed predominantly for self-face processing, with no substantial involvement in other-face processing. Adult-like right-dominant use of IPL emerged during adolescence, but was not yet present in childhood. Adult-like common activation between the tasks also emerged during adolescence. Adolescents showing stronger right-lateralized IPL activity during illusion also showed this during self-face recognition. Our results suggest the importance of the right IPL in neuronal processing of information associated with one’s own body in typically developing humans.

Functional lateralization can be an indicator of brain maturation. We have consistently shown that, in the adult brain, proprioceptive processing of muscle spindle afferents generating illusory movement of the right hand activates inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in a right-side dominant manner in addition to the cerebrocerebellar motor network. Here we provide novel evidence regarding the development of the right-dominant use of the inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in humans using this task. We studied brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while 60 right-handed blindfolded healthy children (8–11 years), adolescents (12–15 years), and young adults (18–23 years) (20 per group) experienced the illusion. Adult-like right-dominant use of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was observed in adolescents, while children used the IPL bilaterally. In contrast, adult-like lateralized cerebrocerebellar motor activation patterns were already observable in children. The right-side dominance progresses during adolescence along with the suppression of the left-sided IPL activity that emerges during childhood. Therefore, the neuronal processing implemented in the adult's right IPL during the proprioceptive illusion task is likely mediated bilaterally during childhood, and then becomes right-lateralized during adolescence at a substantially later time than the lateralized use of the cerebrocerebellar motor system for kinesthetic processing.

The cerebellum, although traditionally considered a motor structure, has been increasingly recognized to play a role in regulating executive function, the dysfunction of which is a factor in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Additionally, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) polymorphism has been reported to be associated with executive function. We examined whether the cortico-cerebellar executive function network is altered in children with ADHD and whether COMT polymorphism is associated with the altered network. Thirty-one children with ADHD and thirty age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) controls underwent resting-state functional MRI, and functional connectivity of executive function-related Crus I/II in the cerebellum was analysed. COMT Val158Met genotype data were also obtained from children with ADHD. Relative to TD controls, children with ADHD showed significantly lower functional connectivity of the right Crus I/II with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Additionally, the functional connectivity of children with ADHD was modulated by COMT polymorphism, with Met-carriers exhibiting significantly lower functional connectivity than the Val/Val genotype. These results suggest the existence of variations, such as ethnic differences, in COMT genetic effects on the cortico-cerebellar executive function network. These variations contribute to heterogeneity in ADHD. Further neuroimaging genetics study might lead to the development of fundamental therapies that target ADHD pathophysiology.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly suffer from sleep problems at a higher rate than typically developing (TD) children. Several previous studies have reported differences in sleep indices (e.g., sleep latency) in children with ASD. However, no previous studies have focused specifically on the time course of body movements. In the present study, we investigated the time course of body movements in young TD children and young children with ASD as well as the relationship between body movements during night and social ability. Seventeen TD children and 17 children with ASD participated in this study (5 to 8 years old). We used an accelerometer attached to the waist to record movements during night and measured the average time course of body movements for 3 nights. Our results demonstrated that the rate of body movement 2 to 3 hours after the onset of body stillness was higher in children with ASD than in TD children. In addition, the higher rate of body movement at 0.5 to 1 hour after the onset of body stillness was associated with a lower social ability in the children with ASD. Our results suggested that the time course of body movements is an objective behavioural index for young children with ASD.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to have mixed effects on working memory (WM) capacity in healthy individuals. Different stimulation paradigms may account for these discrepancies, with certain features being favored. To determine the effect in the context of anodal tDCS, we investigated whether anodal tDCS induced cortical oscillatory changes during a WM task. Specifically, we tested whether anodal offline tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) enhances WM capacity by modulating the oscillatory activity in the left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This study employed a double-blind, randomized, crossover design, in which 24 healthy right-handed participants conducted MEG recordings during a 3-back task after administration of 2 mA tDCS or sham stimulation as a placebo. Our results showed that the effect of tDCS did not appear in the behavioral indices-WM accuracy (d') or reaction time (RT). From the results of the time-frequency analysis, significant event-related synchronization (ERS) in the high-gamma band (82-84 Hz) of the left DLPFC was found under the tDCS condition; however, ERS was not correlated with WM capacity. Furthermore, we calculated the modulation index (MI), which indicates the strength of phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). tDCS significantly decreased MI of the left DLPFC, representing the theta-gamma PAC during the n-back task using color names as verbal stimuli. Our results suggest that although tDCS increased the gamma-band oscillation indicating greater neural activity in the left DLPFC, it did not lead to an improvement of WM capacity; this may be due to the inability of gamma-band oscillation to couple with the task-induced theta wave. WM capacity might not increase unless theta-gamma PAC is not enhanced by tDCS.

We investigated the feasibility of our novel evaluation system for use with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We prepared the experimental setting with two humanoid robots in reference to the birthday party scene in the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule (ADOS). We assessed the relationship between social communication ability measured in the ADOS condition (i.e., with a human clinician) and in a robotic condition for children with ASD. There were significant correlations between the social communication scores in the gold-standard ADOS condition and the robotic condition for children with ASD. The current work provides support for a unique application of a robotic system (i.e., two robot-mediated interaction) to evaluate the severity of autistic traits for children with ASD.

The elucidation of odour awareness in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is important. We compared the odour awareness of young children with ASD with those of typical development (TD) children using the Children’s Olfactory Behavior in Everyday Life (COBEL) questionnaire, which is a self-report measure that mainly assesses odour awareness. Forty-five young boys (aged 5–6 years), including 20 children with ASD and 25 TD children, participated in this study. The total COBEL score of the young children with ASD was lower than that of the TD children (p

The social interactions between caregivers and their children play a crucial role in childhood development; therefore, caregivers' feelings for children are critical for the development of social minds. Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are known to experience higher levels of stress. However, knowledge regarding mothers' feelings for their children before receiving a clinical diagnosis is limited. This study retrospectively investigated the time course of mothers' feelings from the time of birth and the effect of protective factors. The participants were 5- to 8-year-old children with an ASD diagnosis and their mothers. The mothers of the children with ASD had less positive feelings toward their children than the mothers of the typically developed (TD) children before receiving a clinical diagnosis. Intriguingly, prior knowledge of ASD may relieve maternal mental distress during the child-rearing years and at the time of diagnosis.

The inferior frontal and superior temporal areas in the left hemisphere are crucial for human language processing. In the present study, we investigated the magnetic mismatch field (MMF) evoked by voice stimuli in 3- to 5-year-old typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using child-customized magnetoencephalography (MEG). The children with ASD exhibited significantly decreased activation in the left superior temporal gyrus compared with the TD children for the MMF amplitude. If we classified the children with ASD according to the presence of a speech onset delay (ASD - SOD and ASD - NoSOD, respectively) and compared them with the TD children, both ASD groups exhibited decreased activation in the left superior temporal gyrus compared with the TD children. In contrast, the ASD - SOD group exhibited increased activity in the left frontal cortex (i.e., pars orbitalis) compared with the other groups. For all children with ASD, there was a significant negative correlation between the MMF amplitude in the left pars orbitalis and language performance. This investigation is the first to show a significant difference in two distinct MMF regions in ASD – SOD children compared with TD children.

The infant brain shows rapid neural network development that considerably influences cognitive and behavioral abilities in later life. Reportedly, this neural development process can be indexed by estimating neural signal complexity. However, the precise developmental trajectory of brain signal complexity during infancy remains elusive. This study was conducted to ascertain the trajectory of magnetoencephalography (MEG) signal complexity from 2 months to 3 years of age in five infants using multiscale entropy (MSE), which captures signal complexity at multiple temporal scales. Analyses revealed scale-dependent developmental trajectories. Specifically, signal complexity predominantly increased from 5 to 15 months of age at higher temporal scales, whereas the complexity at lower temporal scales was constant across age, except in one infant who showed decreased complexity. Despite a small sample size limiting this study's power, this is the first report of a longitudinal investigation of changes in brain signal complexity during early infancy and is unique in its application of MSE analysis of longitudinal MEG data during infancy. The results of this pilot study may serve to further our understanding of the longitudinal changes in the neural dynamics of the developing infant brain.

Proprioception is somatic sensation that allows us to sense and recognize position, posture, and their changes in our body parts. It pertains directly to oneself and may contribute to bodily awareness. Likewise, one's face is a symbol of oneself, so that visual self-face recognition directly contributes to the awareness of self as distinct from others. Recently, we showed that right-hemispheric dominant activity in the inferior fronto-parietal cortices, which are connected by the inferior branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF III), is associated with proprioceptive illusion (awareness), in concert with sensorimotor activity. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that visual self-face recognition shares brain regions active during proprioceptive illusion in the right inferior fronto-parietal SLF III network. We scanned brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while twenty-two right-handed healthy adults performed two tasks. One was a proprioceptive illusion task, where blindfolded participants experienced a proprioceptive illusion of right hand movement. The other was a visual self-face recognition task, where the participants judged whether an observed face was their own. We examined whether the self-face recognition and the proprioceptive illusion commonly activated the inferior fronto-parietal cortices connected by the SLF III in a right-hemispheric dominant manner. Despite the difference in sensory modality and in the body parts involved in the two tasks, both tasks activated the right inferior fronto-parietal cortices, which are likely connected by the SLF III, in a right-side dominant manner. Here we discuss possible roles for right inferior fronto-parietal activity in bodily awareness and self-awareness.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are thought to lack self-awareness and to experience difficulty empathising with others. Although these deficits have been demonstrated in previous studies, most of the target stimuli were constructed for typically developing (TD) individuals. We employed judgment tasks capable of indexing self-relevant processing in individuals with and without ASD. Fourteen Japanese males and one Japanese female with high-functioning ASD (17-41 years of age) and 13 Japanese males and two TD Japanese females ( 22-40 years of age), all of whom were matched for age and full and verbal intelligence quotient scores with the ASD participants, were enrolled in this study. The results demonstrated that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was significantly activated in individuals with ASD in response to autistic characters and in TD individuals in response to non-autistic characters. Whereas the frontal-posterior network between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus participated in the processing of non-autistic characters in TD individuals, an alternative network was involved when individuals with ASD processed autistic characters. This suggests an atypical form of empathy in individuals with ASD toward others with ASD., 自閉スペクトラム症がある方々による、自閉スペクトラム症がある方々に対する共感. 京都大学プレスリリーズ. 2014-11-06.

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.

Although patients with major depressive disorder typically have a reduced hippocampal volume, particularly in the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1), animal studies suggest that depressive mood is related to the dentate gyrus (DG). In this study, our objective was to clarify which hippocampal subregions are functionally associated with depressive mood in humans. We conducted a functional MRI (fMRI) study on 27 cognitively intact volunteers. Subjects performed a modified version of a delayed matching-to-sample task in an MRI scanner to investigate pattern separation-related activity during each phase of encoding, delay, and retrieval. In each trial, subjects learned a pair of sample cues. Functional MR images were acquired at a high spatial resolution, focusing on the hippocampus. Subjects also completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a questionnaire about depressive mood. Depending on the similarity between sample cues, activity in the DG/CA3 and medial CA1 in the anterior hippocampus changed only during encoding. Furthermore, the DG/CA3 region was more active during successful encoding trials compared to false trials. Activity in the DG/CA3 and lateral CA1 was negatively correlated with BDI scores. These results suggest that the DG/CA3 is the core region for pattern separation during the encoding phase and interacts with the medial CA1, depending on the similarity of the stimuli, to achieve effective encoding. Impaired activity in the DG/CA3, as well as in the lateral CA1, was found to be associated with depressive symptoms, even at a subclinical level.