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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

Published ahead of print on September 12, 2009
doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A1789

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American Journal of Neuroradiology 31:131-139, January 2010
© 2010 American Society of Neuroradiology

FUNCTIONAL

Decreased Left Posterior Insular Activity during Auditory Language in Autism

J.S. Anderson^a,e, N. Lange^f,g,h, A. Froehlich^b,c, M.B. DuBray^c,d, T.J. Druzgal^a, M.P. Froimowitz^f,h, A.L. Alexanderⁱ, E.D. Bigler^c,e,j and J.E. Lainhart^c,d,e

^aFrom the Departments of Neuroradiology (J.S.A., T.J.D.)
^bPsychology (A.F.)
^cPsychiatry (A.F., M.B.D., E.D.B., J.E.L.)
^dProgram in Neuroscience (M.B.D., J.E.L.)
^eBrain Institute (J.S.A., E.D.B., J.E.L.), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
^fDepartment of Psychiatry (N.L., M.P.F.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
^gDepartment of Biostatistics (N.L.), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
^hNeurostatistics Laboratory (N.L., M.P.F.), McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts
ⁱDepartments of Medical Physics and Psychiatry and Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior (A.L.A.), Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
^jDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience Center (E.D.B.), Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Please address correspondence to Jeffrey S. Anderson, MD, Department of Neuroradiology, University of Utah, 1A71 School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132; e-mail: andersonjeffs{at}gmail.com

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders often exhibit atypical language patterns, including delay of speech onset, literal speech interpretation, and poor recognition of social and emotional cues in speech. We acquired functional MR images during an auditory language task to evaluate systematic differences in language-network activation between control and high-functioning autistic populations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-one right-handed male subjects (26 high-functioning autistic subjects, 15 controls) were studied by using an auditory phrase-recognition task, and areas of differential activation between groups were identified. Hand preference, verbal intelligence quotient (IQ), age, and language-function testing were included as covariables in the analysis.

RESULTS: Control and autistic subjects showed similar language-activation networks, with 2 notable differences. Control subjects showed significantly increased activation in the left posterior insula compared with autistic subjects (P < .05, false discovery rate), and autistic subjects showed increased bilaterality of receptive language compared with control subjects. Higher receptive-language scores on standardized testing were associated with greater activation of the posterior aspect of the left Wernicke area. A higher verbal IQ was associated with greater activation of the bilateral Broca area and involvement of the prefrontal cortex and lateral premotor cortex.

CONCLUSIONS: Control subjects showed greater activation of the posterior insula during receptive language, which may correlate with impaired emotive processing of language in autism. Subjects with autism showed greater bilateral activation of receptive-language areas, which was out of proportion to the differences in hand preference in autism and control populations.