Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Unreliable evoked responses in autism.


ABSTRACT: Autism has been described as a disorder of general neural processing, but the particular processing characteristics that might be abnormal in autism have mostly remained obscure. Here, we present evidence of one such characteristic: poor evoked response reliability. We compared cortical response amplitude and reliability (consistency across trials) in visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortices of high-functioning individuals with autism and controls. Mean response amplitudes were statistically indistinguishable across groups, yet trial-by-trial response reliability was significantly weaker in autism, yielding smaller signal-to-noise ratios in all sensory systems. Response reliability differences were evident only in evoked cortical responses and not in ongoing resting-state activity. These findings reveal that abnormally unreliable cortical responses, even to elementary nonsocial sensory stimuli, may represent a fundamental physiological alteration of neural processing in autism. The results motivate a critical expansion of autism research to determine whether (and how) basic neural processing properties such as reliability, plasticity, and adaptation/habituation are altered in autism.

SUBMITTER: Dinstein I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3457023 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications


Autism has been described as a disorder of general neural processing, but the particular processing characteristics that might be abnormal in autism have mostly remained obscure. Here, we present evidence of one such characteristic: poor evoked response reliability. We compared cortical response amplitude and reliability (consistency across trials) in visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortices of high-functioning individuals with autism and controls. Mean response amplitudes were statistically  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC6026056 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6724532 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7734307 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4983646 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5201125 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8407368 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2952881 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6135755 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6920480 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7479441 | biostudies-literature