Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Time: 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, followed by reception
Speaker: Tal Kenet, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, MGH / Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Host: Caroline Robertson, Ph.D.

Talk title: Towards a Unifying Framework of Functional Connectivity Abnormalities in ASD
Abstract: Abnormalities in cortical functional connectivity have long been associated with psychiatric disorders in general, and with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in particular. Such abnormalities are so prevalent in ASD, that it has been called a “disorder of connectivity”. However, while in aggregate studies agree that functional connectivity is generally abnormal in ASD, when details are examined, there are many conflicting results. While under-connectivity is most often documented, over-connectivity or normal connectivity have also been documented in ASD. To date, there is no unifying framework for the observed range of functional connectivity abnormalities. In this talk, I will propose a hypothesis, derived from our magnetoencephaly (MEG) data, that aims at building a coherent and consistent model of the functional connectivity abnormalities observed in ASD.