Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18996505›Full record

SynthesisBiological psychiatry2009

Functional brain correlates of social and nonsocial processes in autism spectrum disorders: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.

Adriana Di Martino, Kathryn Ross, Lucina Q Uddin, Andrew B Sklar, F Xavier Castellanos, Michael P Milham

Abstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Biological psychiatry, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 290 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
290citing papers in PubMed, 13 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

290 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Does the Extreme Male Brain Hypothesis of Autism Apply More to Females Than Males? A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Approach.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
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230 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Adriana Di MartinoPhyllis Green and Randolph Cowen Institute for Pediatric Neuroscience at the New York University (NYU) Child Study Center, New York, New York 10016, USA. Adriana.DiMartino@nyumc.org
Kathryn Ross
Lucina Q Uddin
Andrew B Sklar
F Xavier Castellanos
Michael P Milham

Funding

Research Training in Translational Developmental NeuroscienceT32MH067763 · NIMH · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI CASTELLANOS, FRANCISCO XAVIER · 2003 to 2013
$2.9M
NIMH NIH HHS 5T32MH0667762NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH067763
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFunctional neuroimaging studies of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have examined social and nonsocial paradigms, although rarely in the same study. Here, we provide an objective, unbiased survey of functional brain abnormalities in ASD, related to both social and nonsocial processing.

methodsWe conducted two separate voxel-wise activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses of 39 functional neuroimaging studies consisting of 24 studies examining social processes (e.g., theory of mind, face perception) and 15 studies examining nonsocial processes (e.g., attention control, working memory). Voxel-wise significance threshold was p<.05, corrected by false discovery rate.

resultsCompared with neurotypical control (NC) subjects, ASD showed greater likelihood of hypoactivation in two medial wall regions: perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in social tasks only and dorsal ACC in nonsocial studies. Further, right anterior insula, recently linked to social cognition, was more likely to be hypoactivated in ASD in the analyses of social studies. In nonsocial studies, group comparisons showed greater likelihood of activation for the ASD group in the rostral ACC region that is typically suppressed during attentionally demanding tasks.

conclusionsDespite substantial heterogeneity of tasks, the rapidly increasing functional imaging literature showed ASD-related patterns of hypofunction and aberrant activation that depended on the specific cognitive domain, i.e., social versus nonsocial. These results provide a basis for targeted extensions of these findings with younger subjects and a range of paradigms, including analyses of default mode network regulation in ASD.

Indexed as

Social BehaviorAdolescentAdultAttentionAutistic DisorderBrainBrain MappingCerebral CortexChildCognition DisordersGyrus CinguliHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMemoryPositron-Emission Tomography

Identifiers

PMID18996505
PMCPMC2993772

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.