scholarly journals The Lost Neural Hierarchy of the Autistic Self—Locked-Out of the Mental Self and Its Default-Mode Network

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Fuxin Lian ◽  
Georg Northoff

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a fundamental change in self-awareness including seemingly paradoxical features like increased ego-centeredness and weakened self-referentiality. What is the neural basis of this so-called “self-paradox”? Conducting a meta-analytic review of fMRI rest and task studies, we show that ASD exhibits consistent hypofunction in anterior and posterior midline regions of the default-mode network (DMN) in both rest and task with decreased self–non-self differentiation. Relying on a multilayered nested hierarchical model of self, as recently established (Qin et al. 2020), we propose that ASD subjects cannot access the most upper layer of their self, the DMN-based mental self—they are locked-out of their own DMN and its mental self. This, in turn, results in strong weakening of their self-referentiality with decreases in both self-awareness and self–other distinction. Moreover, this blocks the extension of non-DMN cortical and subcortical regions at the lower layers of the physical self to the DMN-based upper layer of the mental self, including self–other distinction. The ASD subjects remain stuck and restricted to their intero- and exteroceptive selves as manifested in a relative increase in ego-centeredness (as compared to self-referentiality). This amounts to what we describe as “Hierarchical Model of Autistic Self” (HAS), which, characterizing the autistic self in hierarchical and spatiotemporal terms, aligns well with and extends current theories of ASD including predictive coding and weak central coherence.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e0143126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minyoung Jung ◽  
Maria Mody ◽  
Daisuke N. Saito ◽  
Akemi Tomoda ◽  
Hidehiko Okazawa ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 102343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Hyatt ◽  
Vince D. Calhoun ◽  
Brian Pittman ◽  
Silvia Corbera ◽  
Morris D. Bell ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miinyoung Jung ◽  
Hirotaka Kosaka ◽  
Daisuke Saito ◽  
Makoto Ishitobi ◽  
Toshio Munesue ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhao ◽  
Qijing Bo ◽  
Zhifang Zhang ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
Yuan Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: No consistent evidence on the specific brain regions is available in the default mode network (DMN), which show abnormal spontaneous activity in bipolar disorder (BD). We aim to identify this region that is particularly impaired in patients with BD by using several different indices measuring spontaneous brain activity and then investigate its functional connectivity (FC).Methods: A total of 56 patients with BD and 71 healthy controls (HC) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Three commonly used functional indices were used to identify the brain region showing abnormal spontaneous brain activity in BD. Then, this region served as the seed region for resting-state FC analysis to identify its functional networks altered in BD.Results: The BD group exhibited decreased fALFF, ReHo, and DC values in the left precuneus. The BD group had decreased rsFC within the DMN, indicated by decreased resting-state FC within the left precuneus and between the left precuneus and the medial prefrontal cortex. The BD group had decreased negative connectivity between the left precuneus and the left putamen, extending to the left insula.Conclusions: The findings provide convergent evidence for the abnormalities in the DMN of BD, particularly located in the left precuneus. Decreased FC within the DMN and the disruptive anticorrelation between the DMN and the salience network are found in BD. These findings suggest that the DMN is a key aspect for understanding the neural basis of BD, and the altered functional patterns of DMN may be a potential candidate biomarker of BD.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilma Matthysen ◽  
Daniele Marinazzo ◽  
Roma Siugzdaite

Background. Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder, marked by impairment in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. Accumulating data suggests that alterations in functional connectivity might contribute to these deficits. Whereas functional connectivity in resting state fMRI is expressed by several resting-state networks, for this study we examined several of them, but our particular interest was in the default mode network (DMN), given its age dependent alteration of functional connectivity and its relation to social communication. Methods. Since the studies investigating young children (6-8 years) with autism have found hypo-connectivity in DMN and studies on adolescents (12-16 years old) with autism have found hyper-connectivity in the DMN, we were interested in connectivity pattern during the age of 8 to 12, so we investigated the role of altered intrinsic connectivity in 16 children (mean age 9.75 ±1.6 years) with autism spectrum disorder compared to 16 typically developing controls in the DMN and other resting-state networks. Results. Results show that, compared to controls, the group with autism spectrum disorder showed signs of both hypo- and hyper-connectivity in different regions of the resting-state networks related to social communication. Conclusion. That suggests that transition period from childhood to adolescence carries the complexity of functional connectivity from both age groups. Regions that showed differences in functional connectivity were discussed in relation to social communication difficulties.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Jann ◽  
Leanna M. Hernandez ◽  
Devora Beck‐Pancer ◽  
Rosemary McCarron ◽  
Robert X. Smith ◽  
...  

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