Frontal evoked gamma activity modulates behavioural performance in Autism Spectrum Disorders in a perceptual simultaneity task

Menassa, David A.; Braeutigam, Sven; Bailey, Anthony and Falter-Wagner, Christine M. (2018): Frontal evoked gamma activity modulates behavioural performance in Autism Spectrum Disorders in a perceptual simultaneity task. In: Neuroscience Letters, Vol. 665: pp. 86-91

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are associated with anomalies in time perception. In a perceptual simultaneity task, individuals with ASD demonstrate superior performance compared to typically developing (TD) controls. gamma-activity, a robust marker of visual processing, is reportedly altered in ASD in response to a wide variety of tasks and these differences may be related to superior performance in perceptual simultaneity. Using time-frequency analysis, we assessed evoked gamma-band phase-locking in magnetoencephalographic recordings of 16 ASD individuals and 17 age-matched TD controls. Individuals judged whether presented visual stimuli were simultaneous or asynchronous. We identified left frontal gamma-activity in ASD, which was associated with a reduced perception of simultaneity. Where feature binding was observed at a neurophysiological level in parieto-occipital cortices in ASD in apparent simultaneity (asynchronous stimuli with short delay between them), this did not predict the correct behavioural outcome. These findings suggest distinct gamma profiles in ASD associated with the perception of simultaneity.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0304-3940
• Language: English