Modulation of EEG theta by naturalistic social content is not altered in infants with family history of autism

Haartsen, Rianne; Charman, Tony; Pasco, Greg; Johnson, Mark H.; Jones, Emily J.H.; Baron‐Cohen, Simon; Bedford, Rachael; Blasi, Anna; Bolton, Patrick; Chandler, Susie; Cheung, Celeste; Davies, K.; Elsabbagh, Mayada; Fernandes, Janice; Gammer, Issy; Garwood, Holly; Gliga, Teadora; Guiraud, Jeanne; Hudry, Kirstelle; Liew, Melanie; Lloyd‐Fox, Sarah; Maris, Helen; O'Hara, Louise; Pickles, Andrew; Ribeiro, Helen Cristiny Teodoro Couto; Salomone, Erica; Tucker, Leslie; Volein, Ágnes

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-24870-7

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 90 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this study, we used the EEG-IP database to examine whether functional connectivity between EEG cortical sources during the first year of life is atypical in ELA infants later diagnosed with ASD. It constitutes one of only a handful of studies on EEG functional connectivity in infants with ASD (24,25,27,28,50,51). Furthermore, it uses methods that improve upon past studies, such as using a robust functional connectivity metric and computing connectivity over cortical sources using age-matched head templates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EEG functional connectivity in infants at elevated familial risk for autism spectrum disorder

O’Reilly¹,

Huberty

Noordt

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Many studies have reported that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with atypical structural and functional connectivity. However, relatively little is known about the development of these differences in infancy and on how trajectories may vary between sexes. Methods: We used the International Infant EEG Platform (EEG-IP), a high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) dataset pooled from two independent infant sibling cohorts, to characterize such neurodevelopmental deviations during the first years of life. EEG was recorded at 6, 12, and 18 months of age at typical (N=97) or high familial risk for ASD (N=98), determined by the presence of an older sibling with a confirmed ASD diagnosis. We computed the functional connectivity between cortical EEG sources during video watching using the corrected imaginary part of phase-locking values. Results: Our findings showed low regional specificity for group differences in functional connectivity but revealed different sex-specific trajectories between females and males in the group of high-risk infants. Specifically, functional connectivity was negatively correlated with ADOS calibrated severity scores, particularly at 12 months for the social affect score for females and for the restrictive and repetitive behaviors for males. Limitations: This study has been limited mostly due to issues related to the relatively small effective sample size inherent in sibling studies, particularly for diagnostic group comparisons. Conclusions: These results are consistent with sex differences in ASD observed in previous research and provide further insights into the role of functional connectivity in these differences.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EEG functional connectivity in infants at elevated familial risk for autism spectrum disorder

O’Reilly¹,

Huberty

Noordt

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Alpha log power (6-9 Hz) did not differ between videos at either age point but increased with age overall. Infants at 14 months of age also showed increased log theta (4-5 Hz) power while watching social video, compared to non-social video (Haartsen et al, 2022). This suggests theta band log power may be a sensitive EEG index of social brain development with high construct validity in infants, but the face and construct validity in mid-childhood remains to be tested.…”

Section: Electroencephalography (Eeg) Is An Objective and Non-invasivementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Selecting appropriate paradigms with strong face and construct validity for the assessment of brain function is also important. One paradigm that has been widely used to assess brain development in infancy is dynamic naturalistic social and non-social videos (Haartsen et al, 2022;Jones et al, 2015;van der Velde et al, 2021), in which evoked brain responses to viewing singing people and moving toys are compared. Early social development is a particularly important domain to assess because it has cascading effects on learning and social interactions (Mundy et al, 2003).…”

Section: Electroencephalography (Eeg) Is An Objective and Non-invasivementioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of decomposing periodic and aperiodic EEG signals for assessment of brain function in a global context

Del Bianco,

Haartsen,

Mason

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measures of early neuro-cognitive development that are suitable for use in low resource settings are needed to enable studies of the effects of early adversity on the developing brain in a global context. These measures should have high acquisition rates and good face and construct validity. Here, we investigated the feasibility of a naturalistic electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm in a low-resource context during childhood. Additionally, we examined the sensitivity of periodic and aperiodic EEG metrics to social and non-social stimuli. We recorded simultaneous 20-channel EEG and eye-tracking in 72 children aged 4-12 years (45 females) while they watched videos of women singing nursery rhymes and moving toys, selected to represent familiar childhood experiences. These measures were part of feasibility study that assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a follow-up data collection of the South African Safe Passage Study, which tracks environmental adversity and brain and cognitive development from before birth up until childhood. We examined whether data quantity and quality varied with child characteristics, and the sensitivity of varying EEG metrics (canonical band power in the theta and alpha band and periodic and aperiodic features of the power spectra). We found that children who completed the EEG and eye-tracking assessment were, in general, representative of the full cohort. Data quantity was higher in children with greater visual attention to the stimuli. Out of the tested EEG metrics, periodic measures in the theta frequency range were most sensitive to condition differences compared to alpha range measures and canonical and aperiodic EEG measures. Our results show that measuring EEG during ecologically valid social and non-social stimuli is feasible in low resource settings, is feasible to most children and produces robust indices of social brain function. This work provides preliminary support for testing longitudinal links between social brain function, environmental factors, and emerging behaviours.

show abstract

“…Alpha log power (6–9 Hz) did not differ between videos at either age point but increased with age overall. Infants at 14 months of age also showed increased log theta (4–5 Hz) power while watching social video, compared to non‐social video (Haartsen et al., 2022). This suggests theta band log power may be a sensitive EEG index of social brain development with high construct validity in infants, but the face and construct validity in mid‐childhood remains to be tested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selecting appropriate paradigms with strong face and construct validity for the assessment of brain function is also important. One paradigm that has been widely used to assess brain development in infancy is dynamic naturalistic social and non‐social videos (Haartsen et al., 2022; Jones et al., 2015; van der Velde et al., 2021), in which evoked brain responses to viewing singing people and moving toys are compared. Early social development is a particularly important domain to assess because it has cascading effects on learning and social interactions (Mundy et al., 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of decomposing periodic and aperiodic EEG signals for assessment of brain function in a global context

Del Bianco,

Haartsen,

Mason

et al. 2024

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measures of early neuro‐cognitive development that are suitable for use in low‐resource settings are needed to enable studies of the effects of early adversity on the developing brain in a global context. These measures should have high acquisition rates and good face and construct validity. Here, we investigated the feasibility of a naturalistic electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm in a low‐resource context during childhood. Additionally, we examined the sensitivity of periodic and aperiodic EEG metrics to social and non‐social stimuli. We recorded simultaneous 20‐channel EEG and eye‐tracking in 72 children aged 4–12 years (45 females) while they watched videos of women singing nursery rhymes and moving toys, selected to represent familiar childhood experiences. These measures were part of a feasibility study that assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a follow‐up data collection of the South African Safe Passage Study, which tracks environmental adversity and brain and cognitive development from before birth up until childhood. We examined whether data quantity and quality varied with child characteristics and the sensitivity of varying EEG metrics (canonical band power in the theta and alpha band and periodic and aperiodic features of the power spectra). We found that children who completed the EEG and eye‐tracking assessment were, in general, representative of the full cohort. Data quantity was higher in children with greater visual attention to the stimuli. Out of the tested EEG metrics, periodic measures in the theta frequency range were most sensitive to condition differences, compared to alpha range measures and canonical and aperiodic EEG measures. Our results show that measuring EEG during ecologically valid social and non‐social stimuli is feasible in low‐resource settings, is feasible for most children, and produces robust indices of social brain function. This work provides preliminary support for testing longitudinal links between social brain function, environmental factors, and emerging behaviors.

show abstract

Modulation of EEG theta by naturalistic social content is not altered in infants with family history of autism

Cited by 10 publications

References 90 publications

EEG functional connectivity in infants at elevated familial risk for autism spectrum disorder

EEG functional connectivity in infants at elevated familial risk for autism spectrum disorder

The importance of decomposing periodic and aperiodic EEG signals for assessment of brain function in a global context

The importance of decomposing periodic and aperiodic EEG signals for assessment of brain function in a global context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About