Given a reductive group G and a reductive subgroup H, both defined over a number field F , we introduce the notion of the H-distinguished automorphic spectrum of G and analyze it for the pairs (GL 2n , Sp n ) and (Sp 2n , Sp n × Sp n ). In the first case we give a complete description using results of Jacquet-Rallis, Offen and Yamana. In the second case we give an upper bound, generalizing vanishing results of Ash-Ginzburg-Rallis and a lower bound, extending results of Ginzburg-Rallis-Soudry. Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Notation and preliminaries 4 3. Double cosets 11 4. Intertwining Periods 28 5. H-periods of pseudo Eisenstein series 38 6. The distinguished spectrum 40 7. The case of (GL 2n , Sp n ) 45 8. The main result 51 References 60