Associations of childhood experiences with event-related potentials in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Kosuke Okazaki,Ryota Hashimoto,Kazuhiko Yamamuro,Naoko Kishimoto,Rio Ishida,Toyosaku Ota,Manabu Makinodan,Toshifumi Kishimoto,Yuka Yasuda,Junzo Iida,Masato Takahashi

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70409-z

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment is defined as experiencing of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect in childhood. Maltreatment in childhood leads to substantial psychosocial problems later in life in the general population. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher risk of experiencing stressful and traumatic events, such as maltreatment, during childhood. Although childhood maltreatment reportedly leads to psychosocial problems in adults with ASD, the biological associations between childhood experiences and brain function in this population remain understudied. Here, we evaluated the relationships between childhood experiences and event-related potential (ERP) components during the auditory odd-ball task in adults with ASD (N = 21) and typically developed (TD) individuals (N = 22). We found that the higher the severity of sexual abuse, the larger the amplitude of P300 at Fz, Cz, C3, and C4 in individuals with ASD. Conversely, the severity of child maltreatment was associated with P300 latency at Cz and C3 in TD individuals. Moreover, full IQ was significantly associated with the MMN amplitude at Fz, Cz, C3, and C4 in TD individuals. These findings provide the first evidence that ERPs could be used to study the impacts childhood experiences on the brain of individuals with ASD and that childhood sexual abuse has salient impacts on brain function in this population.

Highlights

Childhood maltreatment is defined as experiencing of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect in childhood
We found that the grand average of the P300 latencies at Fz, Cz, Pz and C3 of patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were longer than those of typically developed (TD) individuals (Fz: t = − 2.81, df = 41; p < 0.05) (Cz: t = − 3.08, df = 41.00; p < 0.05) (Pz: t = − 3.03, df = 41; p < 0.05) (C3: t = − 2.77, df = 41; p < 0.05) (Table 1 and Fig. 1a)
We found that the grand average of the MMN amplitude at C3 in patients with ASD was smaller than that in TD individuals (t = − 2.93, df = 38.45; p < 0.05) (Table 1 and Fig. 1b)

Summary

Introduction

Childhood maltreatment is defined as experiencing of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect in childhood. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher risk of experiencing stressful and traumatic events, such as maltreatment, during childhood. Childhood maltreatment reportedly leads to psychosocial problems in adults with ASD, the biological associations between childhood experiences and brain function in this population remain understudied. Full IQ was significantly associated with the MMN amplitude at Fz, Cz, C3, and C4 in TD individuals These findings provide the first evidence that ERPs could be used to study the impacts childhood experiences on the brain of individuals with ASD and that childhood sexual abuse has salient impacts on brain function in this population. Child maltreatment, including physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect, leads to negative impacts in the general population. Bishop-Fitzpatrick et al.[21] found that adults with ASD had higher risk of experiencing overall stress compared with typically developed (TD) individuals

Methods

Results

Conclusion