Journal article
Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Amygdala in Autism: A Preregistered Large-Scale Study
The American journal of psychiatry, Vol.181(12), pp.1076-1085
12/01/2024
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20230249
PMCID: PMC11667795
PMID: 39205507
Abstract
Objective:
Three leading neurobiological hypotheses about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) propose underconnectivity between brain regions, atypical function of the amygdala, and generally higher variability between individuals with ASD than between neurotypical individuals. Past work has often failed to generalize, because of small sample sizes, unquantified data quality, and analytic flexibility. This study addressed these limitations while testing the above three hypotheses, applied to amygdala functional connectivity.
Methods:
In a comprehensive preregistered study, the three hypotheses were tested in a subset (N=488 after exclusions; N=212 with ASD) of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange data sets. The authors analyzed resting-state functional connectivity (FC) from functional MRI data from two anatomically defined amygdala subdivisions, in three hypotheses with respect to magnitude, pattern similarity, and variability, across different anatomical scales ranging from whole brain to specific regions and networks.
Results:
A Bayesian approach to hypothesis evaluation produced inconsistent evidence in ASD for atypical amygdala FC magnitude, strong evidence that the multivariate pattern of FC was typical, and no consistent evidence of increased interindividual variability in FC. The results strongly depended on analytic choices, including preprocessing pipeline for the neuroimaging data, anatomical specificity, and subject exclusions.
Conclusions:
A preregistered set of analyses found no reliable evidence for atypical functional connectivity of the amygdala in autism, contrary to leading hypotheses. Future studies should test an expanded set of hypotheses across multiple processing pipelines, collect deeper data per individual, and include a greater diversity of participants to ensure robust generalizability of findings on amygdala FC in ASD.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Amygdala in Autism: A Preregistered Large-Scale Study
- Creators
- Dorit Kliemann - University of IowaPaola Galdi - University of EdinburghAvery L. Van De Water - University of IowaBrandon Egger - University of IowaDorota Jarecka - McGovern Institute for Brain ResearchRalph Adolphs - University of IowaSatrajit S. Ghosh - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The American journal of psychiatry, Vol.181(12), pp.1076-1085
- DOI
- 10.1176/appi.ajp.20230249
- PMID
- 39205507
- PMCID
- PMC11667795
- NLM abbreviation
- Am J Psychiatry
- ISSN
- 0002-953X
- eISSN
- 1535-7228
- Publisher
- AMER PSYCHIATRIC PUBLISHING, INC
- Grant note
- University of Iowa, Iowa CityEagles Autism FoundationDella Martin Foundation for Mental IllnessNIMH grant: R01MH110630 National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering grant: P41EB019936
This research was supported in part through computational resources provided by the University of Iowa, Iowa City. This work was supported by a grant from the Eagles Autism Foundation (18495900, to Dr. Kliemann) , by the Della Martin Foundation for Mental Illness (Dr. Kliemann) , by NIMH grant R01MH110630 (to Dr. Adolphs) , and by National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering grant P41EB019936 (to Dr. Ghosh) .
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 08/29/2024
- Date published
- 12/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- Neurology; Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984701860002771
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