Psychology Commons^™

Malleability Of Neural Activity In Response To Treatment: Fmri Biomarkers Across Intervention For Autistic Adolescents, Alana J. Mcvey

Dissertations (1934 -)

Autistic adolescents frequently experience clinical levels of anxiety which exacerbate social difficulties. Those that receive a well-validated social skills intervention, the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), have shown improvements in both social behavior and anxiety. Prior literature has demonstrated neural changes in response to this intervention using EEG, and recent literature highlights the importance of using neural markers to assess for intervention response in autism. No study to date, however, has examined changes in neural activity via fMRI and links with social behavior and anxiety across the PEERS® intervention for autistic adolescents. Thus, the present …