ERP evidence of semantic processing in children with ASD

DiStefano, Charlotte; Şentürk, Damla; Jeste, Shafali

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100640

Cited by 41 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…These results are similar to prior reports that ASD-V young adults show a decreased amplitude in their late neural response to OON, heard in quiet settings [Nijhof et al, 2018;Nowicka, Cygan, Tacikowski, Ostaszewski, & Ku s, 2016;. Evidence of decreased FNs to salient speech also resembles prior work showing similarly decreased late-latency FN response in ASD-MLV children when processing speech, albeit during a semantic congruence task [Cantiani et al, 2016;DiStefano et al, 2019]. However, our findings differ from prior reports in that we only identify significant differences with the FN component and not the LPP component [Nijhof et al, 2018;Nowicka, Cygan, Tacikowski, Ostaszewski, & Ku s, 2016;Tacikowski et al, 2014].…”

Section: Late Attentional Orienting Responses To Oon and Their Associsupporting

confidence: 89%

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

et al. 2020

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As demonstrated by the Cocktail Party Effect, a person's attention is grabbed when they hear their name in a multispeaker setting. However, individuals with autism (ASD) are commonly challenged in multispeaker settings and often do not respond to salient speech, including one's own name (OON). It is unknown whether neural responses during this Cocktail Party scenario differ in those with ASD and whether such differences are associated with expressive language or auditory filtering abilities. We measured neural responses to hearing OON in quiet and multispeaker settings using electroencephalography in 20 minimally or low verbal ASD (ASD-MLV), 27 verbally fluent ASD (ASD-V), and 27 neurotypical (TD) participants, ages 13-22. First, we determined whether TD's neural responses to OON relative to other names could be quantified with early frontal mismatch responses (MMRs) and late, slow shift parietal and frontal responses (LPPs/ FNs). Second, we compared the strength of MMRs and LPPs/FNs across the three groups. Third, we tested whether participants with poorer auditory filtering abilities exhibited particularly weak neural responses to OON heard in a multispeaker setting. Our primary finding was that TDs and ASD-Vs, but not ASD-MLVs, had significant MMRs to OON in a multispeaker setting, and strength of LPPs positively correlated with auditory filtering abilities in those with ASD. These findings reveal electrophysiological correlates of auditory filtering disruption within a clinical population that has severe language and communication impairments and offer a novel neuroimaging approach to studying the Cocktail Party effect in neurotypical and clinical populations.

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Section: Late Attentional Orienting Responses To Oon and Their Associsupporting

confidence: 89%

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

et al. 2020

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“…In these cases, individuals may score poorly on standardized or behavioral tests of language despite intact language processing. For example, recent research on minimally verbal autistic children reports intact neural markers of lexico-semantic processing despite an absence of spoken language (Cantiani et al, 2016;DiStefano et al, 2019). This highlights the need for alternatives to standard measures of receptive language.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well documented and has been recorded in groups of adults, children, and special populations (for a comprehensive review, see Kutas & Federmeier, 2011), making it a strong candidate for assessing lexical-semantic processing. Accordingly, the N400 has previously been used as a neural index of linguistic processing in special populations, such as cerebral palsy (Byrne et al, 1995(Byrne et al, , 1999, traumatic brain injury (Connolly et al, 1999), stroke (D'Arcy et al, 2003), autism (Cantiani et al, 2016;Coderre et al, 2019;DiStefano et al, 2019), and disorders of consciousness (Schoenle & Witzke, 2004;Steppacher et al, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an Individualized Neural Assessment of Receptive Language in Children

Petit

Badcock

Grootswagers

et al. 2020

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose We aimed to develop a noninvasive neural test of language comprehension to use with nonspeaking children for whom standard behavioral testing is unreliable (e.g., minimally verbal autism). Our aims were threefold. First, we sought to establish the sensitivity of two auditory paradigms to elicit neural responses in individual neurotypical children. Second, we aimed to validate the use of a portable and accessible electroencephalography (EEG) system, by comparing its recordings to those of a research-grade system. Third, in light of substantial interindividual variability in individuals' neural responses, we assessed whether multivariate decoding methods could improve sensitivity. Method We tested the sensitivity of two child-friendly covert N400 paradigms. Thirty-one typically developing children listened to identical spoken words that were either strongly predicted by the preceding context or violated lexical–semantic expectations. Context was given by a cue word (Experiment 1) or sentence frame (Experiment 2), and participants either made an overall judgment on word relatedness or counted lexical–semantic violations. We measured EEG concurrently from a research-grade system, Neuroscan's SynAmps2, and an adapted gaming system, Emotiv's EPOC+. Results We found substantial interindividual variability in the timing and topology of N400-like effects. For both paradigms and EEG systems, traditional N400 effects at the expected sensors and time points were statistically significant in around 50% of individuals. Using multivariate analyses, detection rate increased to 88% of individuals for the research-grade system in the sentences paradigm, illustrating the robustness of this method in the face of interindividual variations in topography. Conclusions There was large interindividual variability in neural responses, suggesting interindividual variation in either the cognitive response to lexical–semantic violations and/or the neural substrate of that response. Around half of our neurotypical participants showed the expected N400 effect at the expected location and time points. A low-cost, accessible EEG system provided comparable data for univariate analysis but was not well suited to multivariate decoding. However, multivariate analyses with a research-grade EEG system increased our detection rate to 88% of individuals. This approach provides a strong foundation to establish a neural index of language comprehension in children with limited communication. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12606311

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“…Recent electrophysiological evidence shed light on the semantic processing of spoken language in minimally-verbal autistic children (DiStefano et al, 2019). This has important implications for our understanding of brain processing in autism, and for the care and treatment of these individuals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, it seems to be a wellsuited candidate for the assessment of lexico-semantic processing. The N400 has been widely reported in groups of typical adults, children, and special populations, including recently in autistic children (Cantiani et al, 2016;Coderre et al, 2019;DiStefano et al, 2019). However, despite the recent interest in using N400 as an assessment tool, individual subject level analyses are rarely reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconstrained multivariate EEG decoding can help detect lexical-semantic processing in individual children

Petit

Badcock

Grootswagers

et al. 2019

Preprint

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In conditions such as minimally-verbal autism, standard assessments of language comprehension are often unreliable. Given the known heterogeneity within the autistic population, it is crucial to design tests of semantic comprehension that are sensitive in individuals. Recent efforts to develop neural signals of language comprehension have focused on the N400, a robust marker of lexical-semantic violation at the group level. However, homogeneity of response in individual neurotypical children has not been established. Here, we presented 20 children with congruent and incongruent visual animations and spoken sentences while measuring their neural response using EEG. Despite robust group-level responses, we found high inter-individual variability in response to lexico-semantic anomalies. To overcome this, we analysed our data using temporally and spatially unconstrained MVPA, supplemented by descriptive analyses to examine the timecourse, topography, and strength of the effect. Even neurotypical children exhibit heterogenous responses to lexical-semantic violation, implying that any application to heterogenous disorders such as ASD will require individual-subject analyses that are robust to variation in topology and timecourse of neural responses.

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ERP evidence of semantic processing in children with ASD

Cited by 41 publications

References 59 publications

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

Toward an Individualized Neural Assessment of Receptive Language in Children

Unconstrained multivariate EEG decoding can help detect lexical-semantic processing in individual children

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