Abstract
We studied autistics by quantitative EEG spectral and coherence analysis during three experimental conditions: basal, watching a cartoon with audio (V–A), and with muted audio band (VwA). Significant reductions were found for the absolute power spectral density (PSD) in the central region for delta and theta, and in the posterior region for sigma and beta bands, lateralized to the right hemisphere. When comparing VwA versus the V–A in the midline regions, we found significant decrements of absolute PSD for delta, theta and alpha, and increments for the beta and gamma bands. In autistics, VwA versus V–A tended to show lower coherence values in the right hemisphere. An impairment of visual and auditory sensory integration in autistics might explain our results.
Highlights
Control subjects showed 10.3 ± 4.2 and children with autism 8.1 ± 3.7 blinks in the control experimental condition; in the V–A experimental condition controls blinked 9.6 ± 3.8 and children with autism 6.91 ± 4.2 times; in the VwA experimental condition 11.1 ± 4.3 blinks were counted for normal subjects and 7.1 ± 3.8 for the Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) group subjects
Group [F(2, 72) = 5.6062, p = 0.0054] (Fig. 6a), and for factors ExpCond versus Hemis versus Group [F(2, 72) = 3.9218, p = 0.024] (Fig. 6b) considering the multivariate tests. In both cases the coherence values were reduced significantly during the experimental conditions V–A and VwA in comparison to those in the control condition, and even the values for the VwA condition were significantly lower in the ASD group, in comparison with the V–A condition
Several authors have reported a reduction of Alpha activity in autism (Cantor et al 1986; Cantor and Chabot 2009; Dawson et al 1995)
Summary
Quantitative EEG (QEEG), has been used for assessing autistic children by both spectral and coherence calculation methods, and methodology and experimental paradigms have varied among these reports, they have shown some reliably abnormal EEG characteristics in these individuals (Bosl et al 2011; Duffy and Als 2012; Kouijzer et al 2012; Mathewson et al 2012; Thatcher et al 2009; Tierney et al 2012). Regarding spectral analysis, Cantor et al (1986), Cantor and Chabot (2009) reported reduced Alpha activity, other authors indicated decrement of this EEG frequency band, bilaterally and frontally (Ogawa et al 1982).
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