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

Karhson, Debra S.; Golob, Edward J.

doi:10.1002/aur.1593

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 92 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Multiple psychological and neurophysiological studies suggests that increased bottom-up and reduced [ 59 , 60 ], or optional, top-down processing may characterize AS [ 12 , 61 ], and determine some aspects of the AS cognitive profile. An increased feedforward flow of information from visual areas has not only been reported in autistic visual [ 59 , 60 , 62 , 63 ] but also somatosensory [ 64 ] and auditory [ 65 ] processing. Previous studies also reported that the enhanced perceptual abilities in AS [ 12 ] and the atypical importance of complex visual perception in autistic intelligence [ 10 ] may be, at least partially, supported by higher feedforward connectivity from visual areas.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contribution of Increased Gamma Band Connectivity to Visual Non-Verbal Reasoning in Autistic Children: A MEG Study

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Some individuals with autism spectrum (AS) perform better on visual reasoning tasks than would be predicted by their general cognitive performance. In individuals with AS, mechanisms in the brain’s visual area that underlie visual processing play a more prominent role in visual reasoning tasks than they do in normal individuals. In addition, increased connectivity with the visual area is thought to be one of the neural bases of autistic visual cognitive abilities. However, the contribution of such brain connectivity to visual cognitive abilities is not well understood, particularly in children. In this study, we investigated how functional connectivity between the visual areas and higher-order regions, which is reflected by alpha, beta and gamma band oscillations, contributes to the performance of visual reasoning tasks in typically developing (TD) (n = 18) children and AS children (n = 18). Brain activity was measured using a custom child-sized magneto-encephalograph. Imaginary coherence analysis was used as a proxy to estimate the functional connectivity between the occipital and other areas of the brain. Stronger connectivity from the occipital area, as evidenced by higher imaginary coherence in the gamma band, was associated with higher performance in the AS children only. We observed no significant correlation between the alpha or beta bands imaginary coherence and performance in the both groups. Alpha and beta bands reflect top-down pathways, while gamma band oscillations reflect a bottom-up influence. Therefore, our results suggest that visual reasoning in AS children is at least partially based on an enhanced reliance on visual perception and increased bottom-up connectivity from the visual areas.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contribution of Increased Gamma Band Connectivity to Visual Non-Verbal Reasoning in Autistic Children: A MEG Study

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The empirical literature search resulted in 4769 citations. After title and abstract screening was completed, 413 full-text studies were reviewed, and data was extracted and charted from 66 studies that fulfilled all eligibility criteria [ 15 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , ...…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Sensory Processing Dysfunction in Adults and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sensory reactivity is a diagnostic criterion for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and has been associated with poorer functional outcomes, behavioral difficulties, and autism severity across the lifespan. Yet, there is little consensus on best practice approaches to assessing sensory processing dysfunction in adolescents and adults with ASD. Despite growing evidence that sensory symptoms persist into adolescence and adulthood, there is a lack of norms for older age groups, and pediatric assessments may not target appropriate functional outcomes or environments. This review identified approaches used to measure sensory processing in the scientific literature, and to describe and compare these approaches to current best practice guidelines that can be incorporated into evidence-based practice. Method and Analysis: A search of scientific databases and grey literature (professional association and ASD society websites), from January 1987–May 2017, uncovered 4769 articles and 12 clinical guidelines. Study and sample characteristics were extracted, charted, and categorized according to assessment approach. Results: There were 66 articles included after article screening. Five categories of assessment approaches were identified: Self- and Proxy-Report Questionnaires, Psychophysical Assessment, Direct Behavioral Observation, Qualitative Interview Techniques, and Neuroimaging/EEG. Sensory research to date has focused on individuals with high-functioning ASD, most commonly through the use of self-report questionnaires. The Adolescent and Adult Sensory Profile (AASP) is the most widely used assessment measure (n = 22), however, a number of other assessment approaches may demonstrate strengths specific to the ASD population. Multi-method approaches to assessment (e.g., combining psychophysical or observation with questionnaires) may have clinical applicability to interdisciplinary clinical teams serving adolescents and adults with ASD. Contribution: A comprehensive knowledge of approaches is critical in the clinical assessment of a population characterized by symptomatic heterogeneity and wide-ranging cognitive profiles. This review should inform future development of international interdisciplinary clinical guidelines on sensory processing assessment in ASD across the lifespan.

show abstract

“…Admittedly, some studies do report differences based on presence or absence of intellectual disability [35], toleration of change [36], and verbal communication ability [37]. Other studies exploring heterogeneity have reported associations between neurophysiological responses and various other variables in ASD [32,33,[38][39][40][41], including other measurements of sensory processing, such as questionnaires [34,[42][43][44][45]. However, no published neurophysiological studies have attempted to separate autistic individuals into subgroups based neural markers of sensory processing.…”

Section: Neurophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Clusters of Young Autistic and Typically-Developing Children Based on Loudness-Dependent Auditory Electrophysiological Responses

Dwyer

Wang

Meo-Monteil

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Autistic individuals exhibit atypical patterns of sensory processing that are known to be related to quality of life, but which are also highly heterogeneous. Previous investigations of this heterogeneity have ordinarily used questionnaires and have rarely investigated sensory processing in Typical Development (TD) alongside Autism Spectrum Development (ASD). Methods: The present study used hierarchical clustering in a large sample to identify subgroups of young autistic and typically-developing children based the normalized global field power (GFP) of their event-related potentials (ERPs) to auditory stimuli of four different loudness intensities (50, 60, 70, 80 dB SPL): that is, based on an index of the relative strengths of their neural responses across these loudness conditions. Results: Four clusters of participants were defined. Normalized GFP responses to sounds of different intensities differed strongly across clusters. There was considerable overlap in cluster assignments of autistic and typically-developing participants, but autistic participants were more likely to display a pattern of relatively linear increases in response strength accompanied by a disproportionately strong response to 70 dB stimuli. Autistic participants displaying this pattern trended towards obtaining higher scores on assessments of cognitive abilities. There was also a trend for typically-developing participants to disproportionately fall into a cluster characterized by disproportionately/nonlinearly strong 60 dB responses. Greater auditory distractibility was reported among autistic participants in a cluster characterized by disproportionately strong responses to the loudest (80 dB) sounds, and furthermore, relatively strong responses to loud sounds were correlated with both auditory distractibility and noise distress. This appears to provide evidence of coinciding behavioural and neural sensory atypicalities. Limitations : Replication may be needed to verify exploratory results. This analysis may ignore some variability related to classical ERP latencies and topographies. The sensory questionnaire employed was not specifically designed for use in autism. Variability in sensory responses unrelated to loudness is ignored, leaving much room for additional research. Conclusions: Taken together, these data demonstrate the broader benefits of using electrophysiology to explore individual differences. They illuminate different neural response patterns and suggest relationships between sensory neural responses and sensory behaviours, cognitive abilities, and autism diagnostic status.

show abstract

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

Cited by 26 publications

References 92 publications

The Contribution of Increased Gamma Band Connectivity to Visual Non-Verbal Reasoning in Autistic Children: A MEG Study

The Contribution of Increased Gamma Band Connectivity to Visual Non-Verbal Reasoning in Autistic Children: A MEG Study

Assessing Sensory Processing Dysfunction in Adults and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

Defining Clusters of Young Autistic and Typically-Developing Children Based on Loudness-Dependent Auditory Electrophysiological Responses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About