Researchers Reveal Link Between Attention and Communication Difficulties in Autism
Researchers at HSE University have examined how communication difficulties in children with autism are related to brain function. The findings show that not only language networks but also attention networks play an important role. The weaker the connections involved in maintaining focus and switching attention, the more pronounced communication difficulties were. The study has been published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Words are not the only thing that matters in human communication. While words convey ideas, meanings are further shaped by intonation, facial expressions, gestures, gaze, and context. Communication is generally divided into verbal communication, which involves understanding and using language, and non-verbal communication, which includes facial expressions, gestures, posture, and gaze. Therefore, when communication is disrupted, it is essential to understand which mechanisms underlie different types of communication. This is particularly important when studying autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain have discovered how communication difficulties in children with ASD are related to the characteristics of brain networks—groups of brain regions that are consistently activated and deactivated together and perform specific functions, such as language processing or attention control.
The researchers studied four brain networks: two associated with attention—the Dorsal Attention Network (DAN) and the Salience Network (SN)—as well as the Language Network (LN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN), which is involved in empathy and understanding oneself and others. Researchers typically use established brain maps to determine the boundaries of these networks. However, such maps may not accurately reflect the characteristics of a clinical group of children with ASD. Therefore, the HSE team identified the relevant networks using Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
To do this, the authors used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from the open-access ABIDE II database. During resting-state fMRI, a person lies in an MRI scanner without performing any specific tasks, while the scanner records brain activity, allowing researchers to determine which brain regions are working in concert. The final sample included data from 80 boys aged 5 to 12 years: 53 children with ASD and 27 typically developing children. Verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties in the children with ASD were assessed using the ADI-R questionnaire.
The results showed that in children with ASD, the Language Network is less connected to the network responsible for detecting salient signals and directing attention toward them, and more strongly connected to the network involved in understanding oneself and others. However, these differences appear to reflect the overall organisation of brain networks in ASD rather than the severity of communication impairments.
Both verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties were associated with the functioning of attention networks. The weaker the connections within the Dorsal Attention Network, the greater the difficulties with non-verbal communication, including understanding gestures, facial expressions, and other social signals. In verbal communication, both attention mechanisms proved important: maintaining focus and switching attention to salient signals. The weaker the connections within the DAN and between the DAN and SN, the more pronounced communication difficulties were.
Alina Minnigulova
'The study shows that communication difficulties are related not only to characteristics of the language system but also to the mechanisms of attention. At the same time, verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties appear to involve somewhat different mechanisms: in one case, maintaining attention is key, while in the other, both maintaining and switching attention are involved,' comments Alina Minnigulova, Research Fellow at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain.
In the future, the researchers plan to combine the findings from studies conducted over the past two years and investigate whether children with ASD can be divided into subgroups based on their functional brain connectivity—for example, according to how effectively different brain networks interact.
The study was conducted with support from HSE University's Basic Research Programme.
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