以色列希伯来大学Yuval Hartl小组发现，自闭症谱系障碍的变异通过神经元群体反应的动态范围可作为一种计算权衡。该项研究成果于2024年11月27日在线发表在《自然—神经科学》杂志上。

研究人员展示了增加的动态范围（IDR），即神经元群体对输入变化的逐渐响应，能够解释自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个体在不同任务中的神经和行为变异。

研究人员通过数据验证了该模型，数据来自手指敲击同步、方向再现和全局运动一致性任务。研究人员提出，个别神经元半激活点的异质性增加可能是ASD中IDR的生物学机制。

综上所述，该模型为一种新的计算原理提供了概念验证，这一原理可能解释ASD，并产生关于其行为、神经和生物学基础的新可测试且独特的预测。

据了解，被诊断为ASD的个体表现出与神经典型群体不同的神经和行为特征。这可能源于一种计算原理，该原理将推理和计算动态与神经元群体反应的动态范围联系起来，反映了系统对信号水平的响应能力。

附：英文原文

Title: Autism spectrum disorder variation as a computational trade-off via dynamic range of neuronal population responses

Author: Wertheimer, Oded, Hart, Yuval

Issue&Volume: 2024-11-27

Abstract: Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show neural and behavioral characteristics differing from the neurotypical population. This may stem from a computational principle that relates inference and computational dynamics to the dynamic range of neuronal population responses, reflecting the signal levels for which the system is responsive. In the present study, we showed that an increased dynamic range (IDR), indicating a gradual response of a neuronal population to changes in input, accounts for neural and behavioral variations in individuals diagnosed with ASD across diverse tasks. We validated the model with data from finger-tapping synchronization, orientation reproduction and global motion coherence tasks. We suggested that increased heterogeneity in the half-activation point of individual neurons may be the biological mechanism underlying the IDR in ASD. Taken together, this model provides a proof of concept for a new computational principle that may account for ASD and generates new testable and distinct predictions regarding its behavioral, neural and biological foundations.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01800-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01800-6