I don't think it's directly related. The study that I took part in was at a different university (in a different country), and it was investigating differences in motion processing in the visual system, using fMRI to look for differences between AS individuals and a control group in which regions of the brain were active during various tasks. I don't know if the study has been published yet, but the preliminary results showed that both groups performed roughly on par, but that the active regions were shifted upwards and forwards in the brains of the AS group relative to the control group.
This new diagnostic test seems to rely on anatomical MRI to examine morphological features of the brain, rather than looking at functional qualities with fMRI. Anatomical MRI uses a single slow scan to give a high resolution image that can be used for measuring fine details like cortical thickness, while fMRI uses many quick scans to give a low resolution video of changes in blood flow over time. An anatomical scan of my brain was taken during the study, but I don't think it was particularly relevant to the study itself; an anatomical scan only takes an extra couple of minutes to perform once a person is in the scanner, there were ethics considerations that required a radiologist to examine the scans for pathologies, and copies of the anatomical scans were given to participants as an incentive for taking part.
