Maja Cepanec

Recent developments in neuropathology of autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) represent complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interactions, abnormal development and use of language, and monotonously repetitive behaviors. With an estimated heritability of more than 90%, it is the most strongly genetically influenced psychiatric disorder of the young age. In spite of the complexity of this disorder, there has recently been much progress in the research on etiology, early diagnosing, and therapy of autism. Besides already advanced neuropathologic research, several new technological innovations, such as sleep functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (1H-MRS) divulged promising breakthroughs in exploring subtle morphological and neurochemical changes in the autistic brain. This review provides a comprehensive summary of morphological and neurochemical alterations in autism known to date, as well as a short introduction to the functional research that has begun to advance in the last decade. Finally, we mention the progress in establishing new standardized diagnostic measures and its importance in early recognition and treatment of ASD.

Adult structure and development of the human fronto-opercular cerebral cortex (Broca's region).

Brocas area encompasses opercular and triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus, covered by Brodmanns areas 44 and 45, respectively. Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that, in addition to classical language functions, Brocas area has novel and unexpected functions, serving as a likely interface of action and perception important for both verbal and nonverbal communication. In this review, we focus on structural features of Brocas area in adult and developing human brain. We emphasize that: (a) in terms of architectonic classification, Brocas area displays a dual nature by virtue of its intermediate position between agranular motor‐premotor cortex and granular prefrontal associative cortex; and (b) numerous studies of morphological asymmetries are of limited value for understanding neurobiological basis of functions implemented by Brocas area. Finally, we summarize findings from our ongoing study on postnatal development of two defining cytoarchitectonic features of Brocas area in the adult brain, magnopyramidality (meaning that pyramidal neurons in layer III are larger than those in layer V) and dysgranularity (meaning that cortical layer IV is present, but poorly developed). We conclude that areal specification of areas 44 and 45 requires at least 2 (and probably 3) years of postnatal life for its gradual completion.

Gestural development and its relation to a child's early vocabulary

Gesture and language are tightly connected during the development of a childs communication skills. Gestures mostly precede and define the way of language development; even opposite direction has been found. Few recent studies have focused on the relationship between specific gestures and specific word categories, emphasising that the onset of one gesture type predicts the onset of certain word categories or of the earliest word combinations. The aim of this study was to analyse predicative roles of different gesture types on the onset of first word categories in a childs early expressive vocabulary. Our data show that different types of gestures predict different types of word production. Object gestures predict open-class words from the age of 13 months, and gestural routines predict closed-class words and social terms from 8 months. Receptive vocabulary has a strong mediating role for all linguistically defined categories (open- and closed-class words) but not for social terms, which are the largest word category in a childs early expressive vocabulary. Accordingly, main contribution of this study is to define the impact of different gesture types on early expressive vocabulary and to determine the role of receptive vocabulary in gesture-expressive vocabulary relation in the Croatian language.

Brodmann’s map of the human cerebral cortex — or Brodmann’s maps?

The cytoarchitectonic map of the adult human cerebral cortex prepared by Korbinian Brodmann is probably the most widely used and reproduced cortical map. However, few people today realize that in the period between 1908 and 1914 (the first and last date of maps publication by Brodmann himself) that map was gradually developed, extended and subjected to some significant modifications. The aim of this article is to reproduce and briefly describe all versions of Brodmann’s map, trace its changes and highlight the importance of these changes — especially with respect to the speech and language related cortical regions of the left cerebral hemisphere.

Oskar Vogt: the first myeloarchitectonic map of the human frontal cortex

The aim of this paper is threefold: (a) to provide the translation in English of Oskar Vogt’s seminal 1910 paper describing the first myeloarchitectonic map of the human frontal cortex, introduced by a brief historical review of Cécile & Oskar Vogt’s contribution to neuroscience; (b) to provide an annotated bibliography of major works of cortical cytoarchitectonics and myeloarchitectonics in the tradition of the Brodmann-Vogt architectonic school (Supplement 2); and (c) to provide an annotated bibliography of major works of the Russian architectonic school which was founded by Oskar Vogt (Supplement 3).

Towards A Robot-Assisted Autism Diagnostic Protocol: Modelling and Assessment with POMDP

The existing procedures for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis are often time consuming and tiresome both for highly-trained human evaluators and children. In addition, prospective human evaluators need to undergo a rigorous and lengthy training process that may not be accessible or affordable to all interested individuals. Hence, this paper proposes a framework for robot-assisted ASD evaluation based on Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) modelling. POMDP is broadly used for modelling optimal sequential decision making tasks under uncertainty. Spurred by the widely accepted Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), we start off with emulating ADOS. In other words, our POMDP model explicitly takes into account the ADOS stratification into several modules, ongoing task informativeness and robotic sensor deficiencies. Relying only on imperfect sensor observations, the robot provides an assessment of the child’s ASD-relevant functioning level (which is partially observable) within a particular task. Finally, we demonstrate that the proposed POMDP framework provides fine-grained outcome quantification, which could also increase the appeal of robot-assisted diagnostic protocols in the future.

Four Tasks of a Robot-assisted Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Protocol: First Clinical Tests

Notwithstanding intensive research and many scientific advances, diagnosing autism spectrum disorders remains a slow and tedious process. Due to the absence of any physiological tests, the outcome depends solely on the expertise of the clinician, which takes years to acquire. Complicating the matter further, research has shown that inter-rater reliability can be very low, even among experienced clinicians. As an attempt to facilitate the diagnostic process and make it more objective, this paper proposes a robot-assisted diagnostic protocol. The expected benefit of using a robot is twofold: the robot always performs its actions in a predictable and consistent way, and it can use its sensors to catch aspects of a childs behavior that a human examiner can miss. In this paper, we describe four tasks from the widely accepted ADOS protocol, that have been adapted to make them suitable for the Aldebaran Nao humanoid robot. These tasks include evaluating the childs response to being called by name, symbolic and functional imitation, joint attention and assessing the childs ability to simultaneously communicate on multiple channels. All four tasks have been implemented on the robots onboard computer and are performed autonomously. As the main contribution of the paper, we present the results of the initial batch of four clinical trials of the proposed robot assisted diagnostic protocol, performed on a population of preschool children. The results of the robots observations are benchmarked against the findings of experienced clinicians. Emphasis is placed on evaluating robot performance, in order to assess the feasibility of a robot eventually becoming an assistant in the diagnostic process. The obtained results indicate that the use of robots as autism diagnostic assistants is a promising approach, but much work remains to be done before they become useful diagnostic tools.

Early communication development in socially deprived children — similar to autism?

Social deprivation leads to various neuroanatomical, neuropsychological and behavioral disturbances in humans as well as in experimental animals. Shared characteristics of socially deprived subjects and subjects with autism have been documented. The aim of this study was to analyze early development of communication in institutionalized (INST) children (12–24 months) in comparison with age- and sexmatched group of typically developing (TD) children and a group of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Our findings show that both socially deprived (INST) children and ASD children display delayed pattern of development in social, speech and symbolic domains. However, although INST children display significant developmental delay and share some features with ASD children, they have a qualitatively different developmental pattern of social communication in comparison to children with ASD. The results of this study indicate that growing up in an institution and lack of social and environmental stimuli influences development of skills that are fundamental for early speech and language development.

Early lexical and morphosyntactic development in children with perinatal brain injury acquiring Croatian

The aim of this paper is to analyse early lexical and morphosyntactic development in children with perinatal brain injury acquiring Croatian. Subjects were seven monolingual children who suffered early brain injury and were selected when they started producing first word combinations and had an expressive vocabulary in a range from 50 to 200 words. A combination of parent-reports, samples of spontaneous speech and a standardized language test was used. The results were interpreted within the framework of data on language development in children with early brain injury, but also within the framework of acquiring a morphologically highly inflected language. Four of the seven subjects show delayed language expression and dissociation between language comprehension and expression. However, all subjects very early on began to use grammatical morphemes. Furthermore, an interrelation between the morphosyntactic compexity of a childs utterances and mother-child interaction patterns was found.

Executive Functions during Childhood, Development of

Executive functions (EFs) encompass higher order processes required for purposeful, goal- oriented activity. The processes most frequently included in this term are inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning. More recent studies show that EF processes have different developmental trajectories and start their intensive development at different periods. This article presents definitions of EF, changes in the concept and studies of EF during time, different development trajectories of EF and related changes in the brain through three developmental periods: (1) infants and toddlers, (2) early childhood, and (3) middle childhood, and finally methodological issues in the studies of EF in children.