Cognitive Neuroscience of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective: The primary objective of the proposed studies is to utilize neuroimaging
(functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging [fMRI], structural MRI [sMRI], Magnetoencephalography
[MEG]) and neuropsychological tools (eye-tracking, cognitive experiments, clinical
neuropsychological measures, questionnaires, etc.) to identify cognitive idiosyncrasies
(e.g., social-cognitive deficits, visual perceptual assets, and savant skills) characteristic
of individuals on the autism spectrum and their neural underpinnings across childhood and
adulthood.

Study Population: Children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs),
controls (i.e., typically developing children, adolescents, and adults and those with mild to
moderate mental retardation), as well as caregivers/legal guardians/parents of these
individuals.

Design: Descriptive/Characterization/Observational studies using primarily neuropsychological
and neuroimaging methodologies.

Outcome Measures: Behavioral (reaction time, accuracy, eye movements, etc.) and neuroimaging
(brain morphometry, BOLD, electrophysiology, etc.).

- INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects will include:

1. males and females.

2. 5-89 years of age.

3. A minimum IQ of 70 if age 18 or older.

4. A minimum IQ of 50 if 5-17 years old.

Inclusion criteria for cognitively impaired children without ASD, Subjects will include:

1. males and females.

2. 5-17 years of age IQ of 50-69.

Subjects in the ASD group will:

1. meet DSM-IV criteria for one of the pervasive developmental disorders (i.e., autistic
disorder, Asperger disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise
specified).

2. meet or pass the autism cut-off score for social symptoms on the ADI and/or the ASD
cut-off score from social+communication symptoms on the ADOS.

3. be able to provide their own consent (for adults).

For inclusion in the facial recognition substudy, subjects must be:

1. ages 18 to 35

2. in good health

3. with bad memory of faces

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

All subjects, except for savants, also will be excluded if they have:

1. a history of neurological insult/injury.

2. substantial prenatal drug exposure known to affect later brain and behavior (e.g.,
cocaine, alcohol).

3. severely premature birth or birth trauma.

4. severe medical disorder (e.g., neurofibromatosis, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy,
uncontrollable seizure disorder).

5. a known genetic disorder (e.g., Fragile X or Down syndrome) that would be expected to
significantly impact findings from cognitive testing and/or neuroimaging.

Furthermore, subjects will be excluded from MRI/MEG studies, if they have:

6. any exclusion from MRI scanning including: the presence of metal in their body, having
a pacemaker, and/or females who are pregnant.

Exclusion criteria for cognitively impaired children:

1. An IQ of less than 50

2. Had severely premature birth or birth trauma,

3. Typically developing but takes psychiatric medication.

Healthy volunteers, except for parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorders,
parents of healthy volunteers, and parents of children with cognitive impairments, will
also be excluded if they have:

1. a current or past history of axis I psychiatric conditions or any current usage of
psychiatric medication.

Savants have less restrictive exclusionary criteria because: 1) they are a very rare group,
thus we don t want to limit recruitment further and 2) we can examine common and unique
cognitive mechanisms across savants, a question of keen interest, regardless of
co-morbidities. Those with tumors or other neuroimaging-relevant contraindications will be
excluded from fMRI/MEG procedures.