Dataset Information

Frequency-specific neural synchrony in autism during memory encoding, maintenance and recognition.

ABSTRACT: Working memory impairment is associated with symptom severity and poor functional outcome in autistic individuals, and yet the neurobiology underlying such deficits is poorly understood. Neural oscillations are an area of investigation that can shed light on this issue. Theta and alpha oscillations have been found consistently to support working memory in typically developing individuals and have also been shown to be functionally altered in people with autism. While there is evidence, largely from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, that neural processing underlying working memory is altered in autism, there remains a dearth of information concerning how sub-processes supporting working memory (namely encoding, maintenance and recognition) are impacted. In this study, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate inter-regional theta and alpha brain synchronization elicited during the widely used one-back task across encoding, maintenance and recognition in 24 adults with autism and 30 controls. While both groups performed comparably on the working-memory task, we found process- and frequency-specific differences in networks recruited between groups. In the theta frequency band, both groups used similar networks during encoding and recognition, but different networks specifically during maintenance. In comparison, the two groups recruited distinct networks across encoding, maintenance and recognition in alpha that showed little overlap. These differences may reflect a breakdown of coherent theta and alpha synchronization that supports mnemonic functioning, or in the case of alpha, impaired inhibition of task-irrelevant neural processing. Thus, these data provide evidence for specific theta and widespread alpha synchrony alterations in autism, and underscore that a detailed examination of the sub-processes that comprise working memory is warranted for a complete understanding of cognitive impairment in this population.

SUBMITTER: Audrain SP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7472901 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Frequency-specific neural synchrony in autism during memory encoding, maintenance and recognition.

Audrain Samantha P SP Urbain Charline M CM Yuk Veronica V Leung Rachel C RC Wong Simeon M SM Taylor Margot J MJ

Brain communications 20200709 2

Working memory impairment is associated with symptom severity and poor functional outcome in autistic individuals, and yet the neurobiology underlying such deficits is poorly understood. Neural oscillations are an area of investigation that can shed light on this issue. Theta and alpha oscillations have been found consistently to support working memory in typically developing individuals and have also been shown to be functionally altered in people with autism. While there is evidence, largely f ...[more]

PMID: 32954339

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Project description:People have a memory advantage for faces that belong to the same group, for example, that attend the same university or have the same personality type. Faces from such in-group members are assumed to receive more attention during memory encoding and are therefore recognized more accurately. Here we use event-related potentials related to memory encoding and retrieval to investigate the neural correlates of the in-group memory advantage. Using the minimal group procedure, subjects were classified based on a bogus personality test as belonging to one of two personality types. While the electroencephalogram was recorded, subjects studied and recognized faces supposedly belonging to the subject's own and the other personality type. Subjects recognized in-group faces more accurately than out-group faces but the effect size was small. Using the individual behavioral in-group memory advantage in multivariate analyses of covariance, we determined neural correlates of the in-group advantage. During memory encoding (300 to 1000 ms after stimulus onset), subjects with a high in-group memory advantage elicited more positive amplitudes for subsequently remembered in-group than out-group faces, showing that in-group faces received more attention and elicited more neural activity during initial encoding. Early during memory retrieval (300 to 500 ms), frontal brain areas were more activated for remembered in-group faces indicating an early detection of group membership. Surprisingly, the parietal old/new effect (600 to 900 ms) thought to indicate recollection processes differed between in-group and out-group faces independent from the behavioral in-group memory advantage. This finding suggests that group membership affects memory retrieval independent of memory performance. Comparisons with a previous study on the other-race effect, another memory phenomenon influenced by social classification of faces, suggested that the in-group memory advantage is dominated by top-down processing whereas the other-race effect is also influenced by extensive perceptual experience.

Dataset Information

Frequency-specific neural synchrony in autism during memory encoding, maintenance and recognition.

Publications

Frequency-specific neural synchrony in autism during memory encoding, maintenance and recognition.

Similar Datasets

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