Page 43 - MEGIN Book Of Abstracts - 2023

ABSTRACT (1) Background: Atypical auditory percep- ver, British Columbia, Canada; Athinoula A. Martinos Center
tion has been reported in individuals with autism for Biomedical Imaging, MGH/HST, Charlestown, Massachu-
spectrum disorder (ASD). Altered auditory evoked brain setts, USA; Department of Neurology, MGH, Harvard Medical
responses are also associated with childhood ASD. They School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Anato-
are likely to be associated with atypical brain matura- my and Neurobiology, Boston University, Boston, Massachu-
tion. (2) Methods: This study examined children aged setts, USA; Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Institute,
5-8 years old: 29 with ASD but no intellectual disability Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
and 46 age-matched typically developed (TD) control
participants. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) ABSTRACT The processing of information conveyed
data obtained while participants listened passively by faces is a critical component of social communica-
to sinusoidal pure tones, bilateral auditory cortical tion. While the neurophysiology of processing upright
response (P1m) was examined. (3) Results: Significantly faces has been studied extensively in autism spectrum
shorter P1m latency in the left hemisphere was found disorder (ASD), less is known about the neurophysi-
for children with ASD without intellectual disabili- ological abnormalities associated with processing
ties than for children with TD. Significant correlation inverted faces in ASD. We used magnetoencephalogra-
between P1m latency and language conceptual ability phy (MEG) to study both long-range and local func-
was found in children with ASD, but not in children tional connectivity, with the latter assessed using local
with TD. (4) Conclusions: These findings demonstrated cross-frequency coupling, in response to inverted faces
atypical brain maturation in the auditory processing stimuli, in 7-18 years old individuals with ASD and age
area in children with ASD without intellectual disability. and IQ matched typically developing (TD) individuals.
Findings also suggest that ASD has a common neural We found abnormally reduced coupling between the
basis for pure-tone sound processing and language de- phase of the alpha rhythm and the amplitude of the
velopment. Development of brain networks involved in gamma rhythm in the fusiform face area (FFA) in re-
language concepts in early childhood ASD might differ sponse to inverted faces, as well as reduced long-range
from that in children with TD. functional connectivity between the FFA and the infe-
rior frontal gyrus (IFG) in response to inverted faces in
Keywords: P1m response, auditory cortex, autism spec- the ASD group. These group differences were absent in
trum disorder, magnetoencephalography response to upright faces. The magnitude of functional
connectivity between the FFA and the IFG was signifi-
International journal of molecular sciences (2021), Vol. 22, cantly correlated with the severity of ASD, and FFA-IFG
No. 5 (33807635) (0 citations) long-range functional connectivity increased with age
in TD group, but not in the ASD group. Our findings
suggest that both local and long-range functional con-
Children with autism spectrum disorder show nectivity are abnormally reduced in children with ASD
altered functional connectivity and abnormal when processing inverted faces, and that the pattern
maturation trajectories in response to inverted of abnormalities associated with the processing of
faces (2021) inverted faces differs from the pattern of upright faces
in ASD, likely due to the presumed greater reliance on
Mamashli, Fahimeh; Kozhemiako, Nataliia; Khan, Sheraz; top-down regulations necessary for efficient process-
Nunes, Adonay S; McGuiggan, Nicole M; Losh, Ainsley; ing of inverted faces. LAY SUMMARY: We found altera-
Joseph, Robert M; Ahveninen, Jyrki; Doesburg, Sam M; tions in the neurophysiological responses to inverted
Hämäläinen, Matti S; Kenet, Tal faces in children with ASD, that were not reflected in
the evoked responses, and were not observed in the
Department of Radiology, MGH, Harvard Medical School, responses to upright faces. These alterations included
Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Biomedical reduced local functional connectivity in the fusiform
Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Vancou- face area (FFA), and decreased long-range alpha-band

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