Attenuated Auditory Event-Related Potentials and Associations with Atypical Sensory Response Patterns in Children with Autism

Abstract

Neurobiological underpinnings of unusual sensory features in individuals with autism are unknown. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by task-irrelevant sounds were used to elucidate neural correlates of auditory processing and associations with three common sensory response patterns (hyperresponsiveness; hyporesponsiveness; sensory seeking). Twenty-eight children with autism and 39 typically developing children (4–12 year-olds) completed an auditory oddball paradigm. Results revealed marginally attenuated P1 and N2 to standard tones and attenuated P3a to novel sounds in autism versus controls. Exploratory analyses suggested that within the autism group, attenuated N2 and P3a amplitudes were associated with greater sensory seeking behaviors for specific ranges of P1 responses. Findings suggest that attenuated early sensory as well as later attention-orienting neural responses to stimuli may underlie selective sensory features via complex mechanisms.

Atypical sensory reactivity influences auditory attentional control in adults with autism spectrum disorders

“…In this study, efficient target and distractor processing at the neural level along with high accuracy of target detection between groups suggests participants with ASD were no more distracted than controls. Donkers et al [2015] found a lack of group differences in P50 amplitudes between children with ASD and controls while examining association of ERP components to three clinical sensory response patterns. Data link early ERPs and sensory seeking behaviors, attenuation in P1 responses was related to disrupted encoding of simple sensory stimuli and attentional deficits.…”

“…General, unspecified sensory hyperactivity and over-selectivity across all sensory modalities has also been acutely described in people with ASD [Tavassoli, Miller, Schoen, Nielsen, & BaronCohen, 2014]. Importantly, unusual reactivity to sounds is noticeable early in childhood and is a powerful indicator of risk for ASD [Donkers et al, 2015;Guiraud et al, 2011;Marco, Hinkley, Hill, & Nagarajan, 2011;Orekhova et al, 2012;Osterling & Dawson, 1994]. Co-occurrence of atypical reactivity with attention deficits has leads to speculation of a causal relationship between sensory reactivity and attention, but in ASD it is unclear which stimuli are attended to, which are ignored, and how that interaction governs cognition [Allen & Courchesne, 2001;Liss, Saulnier, Fein, & Kinsbourne, 2006;Orekhova & Stroganova, 2014;Ornitz, 1988].…”

Eye Tracking Reveals Impaired Attentional Disengagement Associated with Sensory Response Patterns in Children with Autism

“…These sensory response patterns are prevalent in ASD across the lifespan (Baranek et al 2006; Ben-Sasson et al 2009b; Crane et al 2009; Liss et al 2006), and often co-occur within individuals with ASD (Ausderau et al 2014a, b; Baranek et al 2006; Ben-Sasson et al 2008; Liss et al 2006). The pathogenesis of sensory response patterns in ASD is currently not well-specified, however, disrupted attention disengagement and orienting processes may be a plausible explanation for some of the clinically observed sensory response patterns evident in children with ASD (e.g., Donkers et al, 2015). …”

“…Another study (Liss et al, 2006) found that sensory hyperresponsiveness co-occurred with overfocused attention in almost half of their sample of children with ASD. Moreover, neural responses to auditory stimuli were found to be associated with sensory seeking behavior through complex interactions of sensory and attentional processing indices (Donkers et al 2015). However, to our knowledge, no studies have explicitly examined the relation between attentional disengagement and orienting and clinically-derived sensory response patterns in children with ASD using an experimental gap-overlap paradigm.…”

Sensory processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with non-verbal IQ, autism severity and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder symptomatology

“…Difficulties in multisensory integration in ASD may lie in the temporal synchronization of neural networks because the ability to combine information from multiple sensory modalities to form a unified perception depends on the temporal synchrony of sensory stimuli (Stevenson et al, 2014). In this vein, recent research has assessed neurobiological underpinnings and neural roots of unusual sensory features in individuals with ASD in studies using event-related potentials (Brandwein et al, 2015;Donkers et al, 2015) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (Green et al, 2013). Thus, some evidence has been found of greater activation in primary sensory cortical areas, the amygdala, hippocampus, and orbital-frontal cortex, in individuals with ASD, compared to typically developing individuals (Green et al, 2013).…”