Abbey Jane Herringshaw

All Publications

• Family Navigation Engagement and Outcomes for Children With a New Autism Diagnosis. Journal of autism and developmental disorders Lin, I. Y., Morgan, A. C., Herringshaw, A. J., Lopez, N. K., Deras, M. J., Feldman, H. M. 2025

  Abstract

  Family navigation (FN) is a promising intervention for reducing barriers and addressing inequities in healthcare, but engaging families in FN can be challenging. This study assessed FN engagement for historically underserved families of children newly diagnosed with autism. Objectives were to (1) describe FN engagement rates across four stages: recruitment, enrollment, retention, and involvement; (2) examine family characteristics influencing recruitment, enrollment, and retention; and (3) evaluate the receipt of autism-specific services based on family characteristics and number of interactions with navigators.This descriptive cohort study included families who were Medicaid recipients or self-identified as Hispanic/Latino or Black/African-American. Spanish-English bilingual, bicultural navigators provided FN through semi-structured sessions and brief contacts with participants. Descriptive statistics analyzed family demographics and engagement rates. Regression analyses examined family characteristics predictive of successful engagement and service receipt.Of 292 eligible families, 210 (71.9%) were recruited, 155 of whom (73.8%) enrolled. Caregivers preferring a language besides English (85% of whom preferred Spanish) were five times more likely to enroll (OR = 5.15) and participated in significantly more interactions with navigators. Each additional FN session and contact increased the probability of obtaining autism-specific services by 61% and 17%, respectively.About half of eligible families enrolled in this FN program. Families preferring a language besides English had higher engagement rates at multiple stages. Brief contacts complemented semi-structured sessions, each contributing to an increased likelihood of children receiving autism-specific services. Once families enroll, FN may increase service access for historically underserved families.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10803-025-07168-1

  View details for PubMedID 41313578

  View details for PubMedCentralID 10637767

• Neural Correlates of Social Perception in Children with Autism: Local versus Global Preferences NEUROSCIENCE Herringshaw, A. J., Kumar, S. L., Rody, K., Kana, R. K. 2018; 395: 49-59

  Abstract

  The Weak Central Coherence account of autism spectrum disorders posits that individuals with ASD utilize a detail-oriented information processing bias. While this local bias is helpful in visual search tasks, ASD individuals falter in social cognition tasks where coherence is advantageous. The present study examined the neural correlates of Weak Central Coherence in ASD during visual and social processing. Fifteen ASD and sixteen typically developing children/adolescents completed a social/visual information processing task in an fMRI scanner. The stimuli consisted of human characters, composed of geometrical shapes, displaying different emotions. In the locally oriented Shape condition, participants indicated whether a given shape was present in a figure. In the Emotion condition, participants identified the emotion conveyed by the character in the figure at the global level. Whole-brain within- and between-group activation and seed-to-voxel functional connectivity analyses were conducted in SPM12 and the CONN toolbox. The ASD group was significantly faster in shape identification, but less accurate in emotion identification. The TD group showed significantly increased areas of activity over the ASD group in the Shape task in regions associated with executive control, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and middle frontal gyrus, suggesting increased interference from the global/social information. During the Emotion condition, the ASD group showed decreased connectivity between frontal and posterior regions and between body perception and motor networks, suggesting a possible difference in mirroring. The findings suggest that social cognitive factors, not visual processing biases, underlie the observed behavioral differences.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.10.044

  View details for Web of Science ID 000451636000005

  View details for PubMedID 30419259

• The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE Thye, M. D., Bednarz, H. M., Herringshaw, A. J., Sartin, E. B., Kana, R. K. 2018; 29: 151-167

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.010

  View details for Web of Science ID 000429536000017

• Hemispheric differences in language processing in autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies AUTISM RESEARCH Herringshaw, A. J., Ammons, C. J., DeRamus, T. P., Kana, R. K. 2016; 9 (10): 1046-1057

  Abstract

  Language impairments, a hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), have been related to neuroanatomical and functional abnormalities. Abnormal lateralization of the functional language network, increased reliance on visual processing areas, and increased posterior brain activation have all been reported in ASD and proposed as explanatory models of language difficulties. Nevertheless, inconsistent findings across studies have prevented a comprehensive characterization of the functional language network in ASD. The aim of this study was to quantify common and consistent patterns of brain activation during language processing in ASD and typically developing control (TD) participants using a meta-analytic approach. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was used to examine 22 previously published functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)/positron emission tomography studies of language processing (ASD: N = 328; TD: N = 324). Tasks included in this study addressed semantic processing, sentence comprehension, processing figurative language, and speech production. Within-group analysis showed largely overlapping patterns of language-related activation in ASD and TD groups. However, the ASD participants, relative to TD participants, showed: (1) more right hemisphere activity in core language areas (i.e., superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus), particularly in tasks where they had poorer performance accuracy; (2) bilateral MTG hypo-activation across many different paradigms; and (3) increased activation of the left lingual gyrus in tasks where they had intact performance. These findings show that the hypotheses reviewed here address the neural and cognitive aspects of language difficulties in ASD across all tasks only in a limited way. Instead, our findings suggest the nuances of language and brain in ASD in terms of its context-dependency. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1046-1057. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aur.1599

  View details for Web of Science ID 000386576100003

  View details for PubMedID 26751141

• Language and motor cortex response to comprehending accidental and intentional action sentences NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA Kana, R. K., Ammons, C. J., Doss, C. F., Waite, M. E., Kana, B., Herringshaw, A. J., Hoef, L. 2015; 77: 158-164

  Abstract

  Understanding the meaning of others' actions involves mentally simulating those actions by oneself. Embodied theories of language espouse a prominent role for motor simulation in reading comprehension, especially when words, sentences, or narratives portray everyday actions. Inherent in these actions is the level of agency of the actor. Motor cortex activity in response to processing action verbs has been relatively well-established. What has been less explored, however, are: (1) the neural bases of determining whether an action is intentional or accidental (agency); and (2) whether agency influences level of motor simulation. This functional MRI study investigated how language and motor areas of the brain respond to sentences depicting intentional versus accidental action. 25 healthy adults read a series of sentences in the MRI scanner and determined whether the actions described were accidental or intentional. The main results include: (1) left hemisphere language areas (left inferior frontal gyrus, LIFG; left superior temporal gyrus, LSTG), premotor cortex (PM), and presupplementary motor area (pSMA) were strongly activated by both sentence types; (2) processing accidental action, relative to intentional action, elicited greater activity in LIFG, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and left amygdala; no statistically significant activity was found in the opposite contrast; and (3) greater percent signal change was observed in LIFG while processing accidental action and in right precentral gyrus for intentional action. The results of this study support language and motor region involvement in action sentence comprehension in accordance with embodiment theories. Additionally, it provides new insight into the linguistic, integrative, and emotional demands of comprehending accidental action, its underlying neural circuitry, and its relationship to intentionality bias: the predisposition to ascribe purpose to action.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.08.020

  View details for Web of Science ID 000363815500015

  View details for PubMedID 26300387

• An Examination of Happiness as a Buffer of the Rumination-Adjustment Link: Ethnic Differences Between European and Asian American Students ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY Tsai, W., Chang, E. C., Sanna, L. J., Herringshaw, A. J. 2011; 2 (3): 168-180

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0025319

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208634600002

• Understanding the link between perfectionism and adjustment in college students: Examining the role of maximizing PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Chang, E. C., Lin, N. J., Herringshaw, A. J., Sanna, L. J., Perera, M. J., Marchenko, V. V. 2011; 50 (7): 1074-1078

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.027

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289500100028