Atypical cognitive training-induced learning and brain plasticity and their relation to insistence on sameness in children with autism
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States
- Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, United States
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, United States
- Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford Neurosciences Institute, United States
- Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States
Figures
Figure 1 with 2 supplements
Overview of study design and analysis approach.
(a) Study design. Before training, all eligible children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children underwent neuropsychological (NP) assessments, a functional …
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Participant inclusion and exclusion procedures.
Figure 1—figure supplement 2
Problem sets used in two tranining problem sets, Set A and Set B.
Problem sets were balanced in structure and task difficulty.
Figure 2 with 1 supplement
Similar learning outcomes but altered cognitive mechanisms of learning in response to training in children with autism relative to typically developing children.
(a) Learning profiles. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) showed significant improvements in inverse efficiency score (reaction time/accuracy) of the training task from training day 1–5 at …
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Changes in performance and strategy use for untrained problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children in response to training.
(a) Changes in performance. Accuracy for untrained problems of math verification task in the fMRI scanner at pre- and post-training is shown for each group (top). Accuracy gain, measured as …
Figure 3 with 1 supplement
Comparable training-related neural representational plasticity (NRP) in children with autism and typically developing children.
Both (a) whole-brain and (b) region of interest (ROI) multivariate neural representational pattern analysis showed no significant differences in mean NRP across individuals between children with …
Figure 3—figure supplement 1
Group differences in neural representation plasticity (NRP) for right hemisphere regions of interest (ROIs).
Mean NRP across individuals in the right medial temporal lobe (MTL) and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) was comparable between children with ASD and TD children. Sample size: n(ASD)=21 and …
Figure 4 with 4 supplements
Atypical relation between training-related neural representational plasticity (NRP) and learning gains in children with autism.
Whole-brain multivariate neural representational pattern analysis revealed a significant group by learning gain interaction in the bilateral medial temporal lobe (MTL), right intraparietal sulcus …
Figure 4—figure supplement 1
Results of brain-behavior association between region of interest (ROI)-based neural representational plasticity (NRP) and learning gains for trained problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), compared to typically developing (TD) children.
ROI-based analysis showed significant interaction between group and learning gain on NRP for trained problems in bilateral medial temporal lobe (MTL) and left intraparietal sulcus (IPS). Sample …
Figure 4—figure supplement 2
Brain-behavior association between neural representational plasticity (NRP) and changes in performance for untrained problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to typically developing (TD) children.
Brain regions identified from whole brain analysis for trained problems did not show significant interaction between group and change in performance for untrained problems. Sample size: n(ASD)=21 …
Figure 4—figure supplement 3
Brain-behavior association between region of interest (ROI)-based neural representational plasticity (NRP) and changes in performance for untrained problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to typically developing (TD) children.
ROI-based analysis did not show significant interaction between group and changes in performance for untrained problems in regions related to math learning, including medial temporal lobe (MTL) and …
Figure 4—figure supplement 4
Correlation between neural representational plasticity (NRP) and rule-based strategy persistence in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Pearson’s correlation between rule-based strategy persistence and NRP was assessed for each region of interest in children with ASD. Rule-based strategy persistence was quantified as the extent to …
Figure 5 with 1 supplement
Insistence on sameness moderates the relation between training-induced brain plasticity and learning in children with autism.
(a) A moderation analysis was performed to examine whether insistence on sameness (IS), a cognitive component of clinical symptoms (RRIB) in autism, influences the relation between functional brain …
Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Strategy transition moderates atypical relation between training-induced brain plasticity and learning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
A moderation analysis was performed for each region of interest to examine whether the transition from a rule-based to a memory-based strategy influences the relationship between functional brain …
Author response image 1
The Results of the brain-behavior relation after mean frame-wise displacement regression.
Whole-brain multivariate neural representational pattern analysis revealed a significant group by learning gain interaction in the right medial temporal lobe (MTL), right intraparietal sulcus (IPS), …
Additional files
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Supplementary file 1
Demographic and clinical measures.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp1-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 2
Number of participants included in each analysis.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp2-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 3
Results of repeated measures ANOVA for behavioral performance.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp3-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 4
Results of t-tests for behavioral performance.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp4-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 5
Results of chi-squared tests for dominant strategy use.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp5-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 6
Brain regions showing significant group by behavior interaction on neural representational plasticity between pre- and post-training for trained problems.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp6-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 7
Results of brain-behavior association between region of interest (ROI)-based neural representational plasticity and learning gains.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp7-v2.docx
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Supplementary file 8
Moderation results for RRIB sub-scores on the association between brain and behavioral measures.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-supp8-v2.docx
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MDAR checklist
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86035/elife-86035-mdarchecklist1-v2.pdf
