No evidence of differences in cognitive control in children with autism spectrum disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder: An fMRI study

Longitudinal alterations in fronto-striatal glutamate are associated with functioning during inhibitory control in autism spectrum disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder

“…However, in a previous study using a partly overlapping sample of the current study, no behavioral or neural alterations were found during inhibitory control in participants with ASD and OCD (19).…”

“…In studies using the stop signal task in ASD and OCD, there has been inconsistent results. Some studies have found no behavioral differences in ASD nor in OCD (17)(18)(19), while others have found worse performance in participants with OCD (5,6,(20)(21)(22), demonstrating deficits in inhibitory control. However, these differences are more commonly found in adults with OCD than children (23).…”

The Development of Cognitive Control in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Longitudinal fMRI study

“…At baseline (mean age = 10 years), we found no differences in cognitive control and associated neural circuitry in children with ASD or OCD compared to typically developing (TD) children. However, we did find that increased activity in prefrontal cortex was associated with ADHD symptoms (Gooskens et al, 2019). As cognitive control improves over development, and given that deficits in cognitive control in OCD may emerge later in development, we performed a follow-up study.…”

“…Some studies have shown no improvement or slight worsening (Rosenthal et al, 2013;Solomon et al, 2008), whereas others have suggested developmental improvements (Christ et al, 2011;Happe et al, 2006;Luna et al, 2007). In OCD, there have been only cross-sectional studies of cognitive control to date, and those have suggested that impairments in cognitive control are not as evident in children and adolescents (Gooskens et al, 2019;Marzuki et al, 2020;Rubia et al, 2010;Wooley et al, 2008) as in adults with OCD, where longer stop-signal reaction times (SSRT) have often been reported (Chamberlain et al, 2007;Kang et al, 2012;Penadés et al, 2007;de Wit et al, 2012).…”

“…In sum, even though subtle differences were observed in the development of brain activity in children with OCD, the findings overall suggest that the development of cognitive control, as assessed by the stop signal task, is similar in children with and without ASD or OCD. At baseline, we were able to include data for 122 participants between 8 and 12 years (ASD = 38, OCD = 23, TD = 61) (details are described in Gooskens et al, 2019). Ninetythree participants (ASD = 34, OCD = 15, TD = 44) participated in a follow-up visit.Participants' reasons for drop-out were mainly loss of interest, or wearing dental braces which prevented them for undergoing MRI assessment. )…”