Sarah E Schipul <ses@andrew.cmu.edu>

Title: Activation Patterns of Learning in Autism: A Lie Detection Task
 
Abstract: This study investigates the behavioral performance and neural
activation pattern in individuals with autism while performing a lie
detection task.  A key feature of autism is a deficit in social 
cognition, including difficulty in attributing mental states to others.
In neuroimaging studies of social cognition, individuals with autism
exhibit increased activation in social cognition brain areas and
decreased synchronization in the activation of different brain areas
relative to neurotypical individuals.  This study implemented a training
paradigm to investigate the neural effects of learning in autism and 
neurotypical individuals.  Previous studies on learning in neurotypical
populations have shown that learning results in a decrease in activation
and an increase in synchronization. Our results show a smaller effect
of training on the neural activation patterns in autism, as compared 
to neurotypical individuals, in spite of similar behavioral performance
between groups.