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Figure 1 | Behavioral and Brain Functions

Figure 1

From: Atypically diffuse functional connectivity between caudate nuclei and cerebral cortex in autism

Figure 1

Functional connectivity MRI effects. Functional connectivity clusters for caudate seed volumes (p < .05, corr.), overlaid onto standard MRI renderings [108] and arranged by known anatomical networks with caudate participation. Associative circuit (A). In the control group, functional connectivity for left caudate seed volumes is seen in middle and inferior prefrontal cortex bilaterally, with a few small clusters of fcMRI effects for the autism group visible in neighboring frontal regions. Direct group comparison (right) shows greater fcMRI effects in controls in the frontopolar portions of area 10 in the right hemisphere, but inverse effects (autism > control) in more posterior portions on the border of areas 9 and 10. Lateral Orbitofrontal circuit (B). FcMRI effects associated with the lateral orbitofrontal circuit (LOF) are only seen in the within-group analyses. For the bilateral caudate seed, the control group shows fcMRI effects in the superior temporal gyrus. A corresponding effect in the autism group is only seen for the left caudate seed, with an fcMRI cluster extending from area 22 into the posterior insula. Oculomotor circuit (C). The control group shows fcMRI effects for the bilateral caudate seed in close vicinity of the frontal eye fields (as expected based on published stereotactic coordinates; see main text). FCMRI effects for the autism group are only seen in distal portions of area 6 and in area 7 (precuneus). Motor circuit(D). Within-group analysis for the bilateral caudate seed shows a single cluster for the control group in left premotor area 6. However, on direct group comparison, numerous clusters showing greater fcMRI effects in the autism group are seen in pericentral and premotor cortices. Comparison with right-handed subsamples (E). Comparison between analyses for full samples (n = 8) and right-handed subsamples (n = 5) in control (red) and autism groups (blue) and overlap (yellow), showing largely consistent effects. A threshold of p = .00025 (uncorr.) was chosen for best combined visibility of effects on both analyses.

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