MRI multicentre study and autism: MRC-AIMS, EU-AIMS

Aims:

To test for differences in cognition, brain structure and brain function in autistic adults and typical adults.

Background:

This MRC Autism Imaging Multicentre Study (AIMS) was the first multi-centre MRI study of autism in the UK.

Methods:

The study scanned male and female autistic and typical adults, all of at least average intelligence, using structural MRI, resting and task fMRI, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Participants also underwent a set of comprehensive cognitive and behavioural assessments. The study was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Declan Murphy and Dr. Michael Craig at the Institute of Psychiatry, London.

Results:

Differences at multiple levels of brain and cognition were identified. See publications for details.

Importance:

This demonstrated that large scale studies of autism in the UK were possible, through multi-centre collaboration.

Relevance:

This led to the EU-AIMS project which extended MRC-AIMS across European labs, and has now been extended into AIMS-2-TRIALS.

Selected Publications

Staff:

Funders:

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