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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Neurodevelopment
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1508077

Executive Function, Limbic Circuit Dynamics and Repetitive and Restricted Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Provisionally accepted
Xiangyu Zheng Xiangyu Zheng 1Xinyue Wang Xinyue Wang 1Ruochen Song Ruochen Song 2Junbin Tian Junbin Tian 1Li Yang Li Yang 1*
  • 1 Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 2 Health Science Centre, Peking University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Repetitive and restricted behaviors (RRBs) are a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but effective treatment approaches are still lacking. Executive function (EF) has been identified as a promising target, as research increasingly shows a link between EF deficits and the occurrence of RRBs. However, the neural mechanisms that connect the two remain unclear. Since the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a role in both EF and RRBs, its functional connectivity dynamics could offer valuable insights into this relationship.This study analyzed data from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) II database to explore brain function in 93 boys with ASD and 110 typically developing (TD) boys. Time-varying functional connectivity was analyzed between 8 OFC subregions and other brain areas. By employing linear regression, the study assessed how atypical connectivity dynamics and EF influence RRBs.Additionally, mediation analysis with bootstrapping was used to determine how EF mediates the relationship between atypical connectivity and RRBs.We found significant differences in the variance of FC between ASD and TD groups, specifically in the OFC subregion in L-Prefrontal and the left amygdala (t= 5.00, FDR q<0.01). Regression analyses revealed that increased variance of this FC and EF significantly impacted RRBs, with inhibition, emotional control, and monitor showing strong associations (standardized β = 0.60 to 0.62, p < 0.01), which also had significant indirect effects on the relationship between the above dynamic FC and RRBs, which accounted for 59% of the total effect.This study highlights the critical role of EFs as a key mechanism in addressing RRBs in ASD.Specifically, it points out that EFs mediate the influence of atypical time-varying interactions within the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-amygdala circuit on RRBs.

    Keywords: Executive Function, Time-varying functional connectivity, Repetitive and Restricted Behaviors, orbitofrontal cortex, Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Received: 08 Oct 2024; Accepted: 31 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zheng, Wang, Song, Tian and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Li Yang, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, China

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