From cognitive abstraction to adaptive behavior: neural bases of concept learning in autistic adolescents
These findings challenge the prevailing view that concept learning in autism relies primarily on hyper-specific perceptual processing, identify meaningful variability in representational strategies, and reveal neural pathways through which abstract representation may support real-world adaptive behavior.
Authors
- Y. Chen
- Brylee Hawkins
- Andrea Lopez
- Hua Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3462-0147)
- William D. Gaillard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5709-0033)
- Alyssa Verbalis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5513-0472)
- Lauren Kenworthy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5887-8463)
- John W. VanMeter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7012-5197)
- Dagmar Zeithamová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0310-5030)
- Hannah L. Puckett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6830-4826)
- Chandan J. Vaidya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8445-7475)
- Kat Sharp
Institutions
- Children's National (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- Georgetown University Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-01-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.17.700125
- Primary Topic
- Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center