Early differences in auditory processing relate to Autism Spectrum Disorder traits in infants with Neurofibromatosis Type I

Jannath Begum-Ali,Jonathan Green,Luke Mason,Anna Kolesnik-Taylor,Emily J H Jones,Shruti Garg,Mark H Johnson,Isabel Quiroz

doi:10.1186/s11689-021-09364-3

Abstract

BackgroundSensory modulation difficulties are common in children with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and could contribute to other social and non-social symptoms. Positing a causal role for sensory processing differences requires observing atypical sensory reactivity prior to the emergence of other symptoms, which can be achieved through prospective studies.MethodsIn this longitudinal study, we examined auditory repetition suppression and change detection at 5 and 10 months in infants with and without Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), a condition associated with higher likelihood of developing ASD.ResultsIn typically developing infants, suppression to vowel repetition and enhanced responses to vowel/pitch change decreased with age over posterior regions, becoming more frontally specific; age-related change was diminished in the NF1 group. Whilst both groups detected changes in vowel and pitch, the NF1 group were largely slower to show a differentiated neural response. Auditory responses did not relate to later language, but were related to later ASD traits.ConclusionsThese findings represent the first demonstration of atypical brain responses to sounds in infants with NF1 and suggest they may relate to the likelihood of later ASD.

Highlights

Sensory modulation difficulties are common in children with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and could contribute to other social and non-social symptoms
We examined age-related changes in auditory repetition suppression and change detection responses in infants with typical development (TD) and those diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)
Developmental ability We conducted a MANCOVA on our Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) scores, comparing raw scores between the two groups. This showed that the NF1 group showed lower language skills at 5 months, but not 10 months, than the TD group, and lower cognitive and motor skills at 10 months

Summary

Introduction

Sensory modulation difficulties are common in children with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and could contribute to other social and non-social symptoms. One common approach has been to study infants with an older sibling with ASD [56, 84, 91] Such studies have identified some evidence of early sensory atypicalities in infants with later ASD, including faster identification of visual differences [18, 40], slower latency of pupillary responses to luminance changes [80], increased behavioural responses to perceptual change [19], and elevated cortical reactivity to repeated sounds [60]. It is not currently clear whether similar effects are present in the 5–11% of autistic children who present with a monogenic or more penetrant cause of ASD [108], or in idiopathic cases of ASD where there is a non-familial route to the disorder

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