Neural Mechanisms of Language and Cognitive Performance in Individuals with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

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Background

Neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), are conditions characterized by difficulties in verbal communication and cognition, and also great heterogeneity which complicates the search for causes and support for these individuals. There has been a variety of neuroimaging methodologies used in attempts to identify the neurobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders and highlight the pathways and brain mechanisms related with their emergence, as well as their language and cognitive characteristics. Using a combination of language and cognitive tasks, advanced imaging and neurocognitive modalities (EEG, eye-tracking, structural, task and resting-state fMRI, DTI, among others) and innovative methods (such as normative modeling, principle component, connectome-wide analyses) holds great promise in understanding the origin(s) of heterogeneity in neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as the development of personalized interventions and treatments.

Despite the mounting evidence suggesting that language and cognitive deficits in individuals with a diagnosis of ASD and DLD are underpinned by neuroanatomical atypicalities, the study of underlying neural mechanisms in these neurodevelopmental disorders is still largely unknown. Similarly, both ASD and DLD are characterized behaviorally by asymmetric development of language and cognitive skills which has not been sufficiently explored within the context of developmental neurobiology. As things stand, the field is ripe for contributions from different imaging and neurocognitive modalities and for drawing on data from large samples, cross-sectional and longitudinal designs that would serve to further elucidate relationships between brain, language and cognition in these disorders.

This Research Topic seeks to fill the following gaps in the literature of neural markers of neurodevelopmental disorders. First, it seeks to broaden the empirical database by reporting neuroimaging studies that focus on the identification and validation of neural markers that will allow the stratification of individuals with a diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental disorder and thus explain the high heterogeneity of behavioral phenotypes across individuals. Second, there is a dearth of investigation focusing on the neural atypicalities underlying language processing in populations with neurodevelopmental disorders, as most research has targeted neural correlates of non-verbal performance. In this special topic, we seek to expand the reporting of neuroimaging studies on language processing as well as phenomena conditioned at the language-cognition interface.

We invite original research articles and reviews reporting data focusing on the neural correlates of language and cognitive impairments in children and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders, with an emphasis on ASD and DLD, as well as other disorders that affect an individual’s development of language and cognitive processing skills. We especially encourage submissions that address any of the two key gaps previously described, as well as studies that investigate brain-behavior relationships in neurodevelopmental disorders using multimodal and multimethod paradigms.

Keywords: Neuroimaging, Language, Cognition, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Language Disorder

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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