Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2024
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Communication Sciences and Disorders
First Advisor
Toshikazu Ikuta
Second Advisor
Myriam Kornisch
Third Advisor
Lainy Day
Relational Format
Thesis
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological developmental disorder that affects around 1/44 of individuals in the United States. ASD individuals tend to struggle with things such as communication and socialization. This disorder has been found to affect many brain regions; however, autism’s effect on the hippocampus has been heavily understudied. Since the hippocampus is not commonly referred to as the brain region affected by autism, the importance of the hippocampus in ASD may have been unrecognized. While ASD hippocampi have been very narrowly researched (only size and shape), there is compelling evidence that the hippocampus could be another part of the brain that is different in autism. The physiological difference of the hippocampi has not been well studied. Here, the resting-state functional connectivity of the hippocampus was examined to elucidate the physiological difference between neurotypical and ASD hippocampi. Using two subsets of data (a Michigan and Pittsburgh study), this study analyzed the resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampi in an ASD and control group. A voxel-wise analysis was utilized to examine the hippocampal connectivity to the entire brain. From this study, it was determined that there is less connectivity between the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate gyrus in the ASD group. iv
Recommended Citation
Watts, Noah, "Functional Connectivity of the Hippocampus in Autism Spectrum Disorder" (2024). Honors Theses. 3157.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3157
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