Altered functional connectivity of the amygdaloid input nuclei in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder: a resting state fMRI study

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by severe impairments of reciprocal social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication and by repetitive and stereotyped behaviors [1, 2]. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies have linked a number of brain structures to ASD symptoms [3-6], one of which is the amygdala. The amygdala theory of autism describes this structure as potential key component in the pathogenesis of ASD [7, 8], since it is involved inwfi various aspects of the social brain, such as social cognition, emotion recognition, socio-communicative perception, and the regulation of emotional responses [9].