Analysis of cognitive, behavioral and structural neuroimaging evidences for the extreme male brain theory of autism

• Grant number: 20/13595-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2021
• End date: October 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Claudinei Eduardo Biazoli Junior
• Grantee: Gisele Beltramini Ruiz
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/21934-5 - Network statistics: theory, methods, and applications, AP.TEM

Abstract

The worldwide prevalence of Autistic Spectrum Disorders is higher in men than in women, with an around 4:1 proportion. Most etiological theories of such disorders were developed in order to explain this biological sex bias in diagnoses, the Extreme Male Brain Theory being the most important among them. However, recent evidence has shown that some aspects of the disorder are usually neglected in females, which suggests an underdiagnosis in women. This indicates for divergences on the existence of sex differences related to autistic symptoms. Given this controversy in the literature and the increasing role of neuroimaging studies in testing hypotheses regarding the etiology of mental disorders, we propose to: (1) perform an critical conceptual analysis of the underlying assumptions of the Extreme Male Brain Theory; (2) implement a systematic review of the cognitive, behavioral and neuroimaging evidence supporting or challenging this theory; and (3) analyze available structural MRI datasets with graph theoretical derived metrics suitable to test hypotheses regarding the influence of sexual differences on morphology and networks architecture underlying TEA. (AU)