TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring visual electrophysiological responses in individuals with low-functioning autism
T2 - a feasibility and pilot study
AU - Sung, Kyongje
AU - Glazer, Hanna
AU - O’Grady, Jessica
AU - McEntee, Mindy L.
AU - Bosley, Laura
AU - Reich, Daniel Salo
AU - Gordon, Barry
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Therapeutic Cognitive Neurology Fund (Dr. Barry Gordon, senior author).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Although visual abnormalities are considered common in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, the associated electrophysiological markers have remained elusive. One impediment has been that methodological challenges often preclude testing individuals with low-functioning autism (LFA). Methods: In this feasibility and pilot study, we tested a hybrid visual evoked potential paradigm tailored to individuals with LFA that combines passively presented visual stimuli to elicit scalp-recorded evoked responses with a behavioral paradigm to maintain visual attention. We conducted a pilot study to explore differences in visual evoked response patterns across three groups: individuals with LFA, with high-functioning autism (HFA), and with typical development. Results: All participants with LFA met criteria for study feasibility by completing the recordings and producing measurable cortical evoked waveform responses. The LFA group had longer (delayed) cortical response latencies on average as compared with the HFA and typical development groups. We also observed group differences in visually induced alpha spectral power: the LFA group showed little to no prestimulus alpha activity in contrast to the HFA and typical development groups that showed increased prestimulus alpha activity. This observation was confirmed by the bootstrapped confidence intervals, suggesting that the absence of prestimulus alpha power may be a potential electrophysiological marker of LFA. Conclusion: Our results confirm the utility of tailoring visual electrophysiology paradigms to individuals with LFA in order to facilitate inclusion of individuals across the autism spectrum in studies of visual processing.
AB - Background: Although visual abnormalities are considered common in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, the associated electrophysiological markers have remained elusive. One impediment has been that methodological challenges often preclude testing individuals with low-functioning autism (LFA). Methods: In this feasibility and pilot study, we tested a hybrid visual evoked potential paradigm tailored to individuals with LFA that combines passively presented visual stimuli to elicit scalp-recorded evoked responses with a behavioral paradigm to maintain visual attention. We conducted a pilot study to explore differences in visual evoked response patterns across three groups: individuals with LFA, with high-functioning autism (HFA), and with typical development. Results: All participants with LFA met criteria for study feasibility by completing the recordings and producing measurable cortical evoked waveform responses. The LFA group had longer (delayed) cortical response latencies on average as compared with the HFA and typical development groups. We also observed group differences in visually induced alpha spectral power: the LFA group showed little to no prestimulus alpha activity in contrast to the HFA and typical development groups that showed increased prestimulus alpha activity. This observation was confirmed by the bootstrapped confidence intervals, suggesting that the absence of prestimulus alpha power may be a potential electrophysiological marker of LFA. Conclusion: Our results confirm the utility of tailoring visual electrophysiology paradigms to individuals with LFA in order to facilitate inclusion of individuals across the autism spectrum in studies of visual processing.
KW - Autism
KW - EEG alpha spectral power
KW - Low-functioning autism
KW - Visual evoked potentials
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U2 - 10.1186/s40814-021-00960-7
DO - 10.1186/s40814-021-00960-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 35031056
AN - SCOPUS:85123099830
SN - 2055-5784
VL - 8
JO - Pilot and Feasibility Studies
JF - Pilot and Feasibility Studies
IS - 1
M1 - 7
ER -