Biology subjects

Kenworthy, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Kenworthy, L..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Altered biological aging-related brain profile in adolescents with autism: A neuroimaging study based on DunedinPACNI

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show increased rates of physical health conditions across major organ systems, some of which are commonly linked with aging, suggesting that body-wide biological profiles may be altered compared to neurotypical controls. Since brain structure associates with peripheral physiology and biomarkers of aging, it may inform understanding of broader biological differences and physical health risks in ASD. Here, we assessed this possibility using DunedinPACNI, a neuroimaging-based model that estimates the pace of longitudinal aging in peripheral organ systems from brain structural information, in 329 adolescents (8-18 years) from the Autism Centers of Excellence network, with replication in an independent age-matched sample of comparable size from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. Across both datasets and sensitivity analyses, autistic individuals showed significantly larger DunedinPACNI values than controls, consistent with brain structural features that align with patterns associated with a faster pace of biological aging in adults. Group differences were mainly driven by the volume of the 3rd ventricle, cortical thickness of the left entorhinal cortex, grey matter volume of the right entorhinal cortex and grey-to-white matter ratio in the left temporal pole. No association between DunedinPACNI and core autistic traits was found. Our results provide novel evidence for a possible altered brain-body profile in ASD, motivating future studies combining neuroimaging with peripheral biomarkers to better understand the neurobiology of physical health conditions in autism.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

From cognitive abstraction to adaptive behavior: neural bases of concept learning in autistic adolescents

BACKGROUNDLearned knowledge does not consistently generalize to new contexts in autistic individuals, limiting potential for adapting to real-world demands. This challenge is hypothesized to stem from difficulties with forming abstract representations, potentially arising from perceptual processing that favors local details over the gestalt. We tested the prediction that generalization would be primarily based on exemplar-specific representations in autistic youth using computational modelling coupled with neuroimaging. METHODSSixty-four autistic adolescents without intellectual disability (69% males; ages 14-18 years) completed a category generalization task during functional magnetic resonance imaging at two time points. Computational models estimated abstract (prototype-based) and specific (exemplar-based) representations and underlying neural correlates. We further examined associations with adaptive functioning and moderation by autistic traits. RESULTSContrary to predictions, we observed a consistent prototype-dominant majority, a subgroup who generalized without consistent representational reliance, and a small minority who failed to acquire category structure. Prototypes were represented in bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), right frontal pole, and right lateral occipital cortex, while exemplars were represented in bilateral cuneus. Better generalization predicted better real-world adaptive functioning. Moreover, greater prototype-related activation in left IPL predicted better adaptive functioning in participants with higher autistic traits. CONCLUSIONSThese findings challenge the prevailing view that concept learning in autism relies primarily on hyper-specific perceptual processing, identify meaningful variability in representational strategies, and reveal neural pathways through which abstract representation may support real-world adaptive behavior.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Overt social interaction and resting state in autism: core and contextual neural features

Conversation is an important and ubiquitous social behavior. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism) without intellectual disability often have normal structural language abilities but deficits in social aspects of communication like pragmatics, prosody, and eye contact. Previous studies of resting state activity suggest that intrinsic connections among neural circuits involved with social processing are disrupted in autism, but to date no neuroimaging study has examined neural activity during the most commonplace yet challenging social task: spontaneous conversation. Here we used functional MRI to scan autistic males (N=19) without intellectual disability and age- and IQ-matched typically developing controls (N=20) while they engaged in a total of 193 face-to-face interactions. Participants completed two kinds of tasks: Conversation, which had high social demand, and Repetition, which had low social demand. Autistic individuals showed abnormally increased task-driven inter-regional temporal correlation relative to controls, especially among social processing regions and during high social demand. Furthermore, these increased correlations were associated with parent ratings of participants social impairments. These results were then compared with previously-acquired resting-state data (56 Autism, 62 Control participants). While some inter-regional correlation levels varied by task or rest context, others were strikingly similar across both task and rest, namely increased correlation among the thalamus, dorsal and ventral striatum, somatomotor, temporal and prefrontal cortex in the autistic individuals, relative to the control groups. These results suggest a basic distinction. Autistic cortico-cortical interactions vary by context, tending to increase relative to controls during Task and decrease during Rest. In contrast, striato- and thalamocortical relationships with socially engaged brain regions are increased in both Task and Rest, and may be core to the condition of autism.

neuroscience↗