Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: Mismatch negativity deficits

Chantal Vlaskamp*, Bob Oranje, Gitte Falcher Madsen, Jens Richardt Møllegaard Jepsen, Sarah Durston, Cathriona Cantio, Birte Glenthøj, Niels Bilenberg

*Corresponding author for this work
19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often show changes in (automatic) auditory processing. Electrophysiology provides a method to study auditory processing, by investigating event-related potentials such as mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a-amplitude. However, findings on MMN in autism are highly inconsistent, partly due to small sample sizes in the studies and differences in MMN paradigms. Therefore, in the current study, MMN and P3a amplitude were assessed in a relatively large sample of children with ASD, using a more extensive MMN paradigm and compared with that of typically developing children (TDC). Thirty-five children (aged 8–12 years) with ASD and 38 age and gender matched TDC were assessed with a MMN paradigm with three types of deviants, i.e., frequency, duration and a combination of these two. MMN elicited by duration and frequency-duration deviants was significantly reduced in the ASD group. P3a-amplitude elicited by duration deviants was significantly increased in the ASD group. Reduced MMN in children with ASD suggests that children with ASD may be less responsive to environmentally deviant stimuli at an early (sensory) level. P3a-amplitude was increased in ASD, implying a hyper-responsivity at the attentional level. In addition, as similar MMN deficits are found in schizophrenia, these MMN results may explain some of the frequently reported increased risk of children with ASD to develop schizophrenia later in life. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1857–1865.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAutism Research
Volume10
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1857-1865
Number of pages9
ISSN1939-3792
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017

Keywords

  • ASD
  • auditory processing
  • MMN
  • P3a
  • schizophrenia

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: Mismatch negativity deficits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this