Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Molecular Autism
Published in: Molecular Autism 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Autism Spectrum Disorder | Research

Atypical event-related potentials revealed during the passive parts of a Go-NoGo task in autism spectrum disorder: a case-control study

Authors: Anne L. Høyland, Terje Nærland, Morten Engstrøm, Tonje Torske, Stian Lydersen, Ole A. Andreassen

Published in: Molecular Autism | Issue 1/2019

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are easily recognizable in non-structured clinical and real-life situations. The features are often difficult to capture in structured laboratory settings, and the results from tests do not necessarily reflect symptom severity. We investigated neurophysiological processing in the passive parts of a cued Go-NoGo task, using the active parts of the test as a comparator.

Methods

Forty-nine adolescents diagnosed with ASD and 49 typically developing (TD) adolescents (age 12–21 years) were included. Daily life executive function was assessed with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). We applied a visual cued Go-NoGo task and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). We investigated occipital N1, a component related to early perception of visual stimuli, and P3a, a fronto-central component related to switching of attention, in the passive and active parts of the test.

Results

During the passive parts, the ASD group had statistically significantly longer N1 latency (p < 0.001, Cohens d = 0.75) and enhanced amplitude of P3a (p = 0.002, Cohens d = 0.64) compared to the TD, while no significant differences were observed in the active parts. Both components correlated significantly with the Behavioral Regulation Index of the BRIEF (partial correlation r = 0.35, p = 0.003).

Conclusion

Delayed N1 response, indicating altered visual perception, and enhanced P3a response, indicating increased neural activation related to attention allocation, were found during the passive parts of a Go-NoGo task in ASD participants. These abnormal ERP signals in the non-structured settings were associated with everyday executive function, suggesting that neurophysiolocal measures related to atypical control of alertness and “hyper-awareness” underlie daily life dysfunction in ASD. Assessments during passive settings have a potential to reveal core neurobiological substrates of ASD.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
ICD-10 WHO. ICD-10: International statistical classification of diseases and health-related problems. Geneva: WHO; 1992.
2.
DSM-5 APA. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®): American Psychiatric Pub; 2013.
3.
Minshew NJ, Sweeney J, Luna B. Autism as a selective disorder of complex information processing and underdevelopment of neocortical systems. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7(Suppl 2):S14–5.PubMed
4.
Bowman LC, Varcin KJ. The promise of electroencephalography for advancing diagnosis and treatment in neurodevelopmental disorders. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2018;3(1):7–9.
5.
Kenworthy L, Yerys BE, Anthony LG, Wallace GL. Understanding executive control in autism spectrum disorders in the lab and in the real world. Neuropsychol Rev. 2008;18(4):320–38.PubMedPubMedCentral
6.
Keehn B, Nair A, Lincoln AJ, Townsend J, Muller RA. Under-reactive but easily distracted: an fMRI investigation of attentional capture in autism spectrum disorder. Dev Cogn Neuroscience. 2016;17:46–56.
7.
Green SA, Hernandez L, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M. Salience network connectivity in autism is related to brain and behavioral markers of sensory overresponsivity. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016;55(7):618–26 e611.PubMedPubMedCentral
8.
Garavan H, Ross T, Stein E. Right hemispheric dominance of inhibitory control: an event-related functional MRI study. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 1999;96(14):8301–6.PubMed
9.
Keehn B, Müller R-A, Townsend J. Atypical attentional networks and the emergence of autism. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2013;37(2):164–83.
10.
Marco EJ, Hinkley LB, Hill SS, Nagarajan SS. Sensory processing in autism: a review of neurophysiologic findings. Pediatr Res. 2011;69(5 Pt 2):48R–54R.
11.
Johnston WA, Dark VJ. Selective attention. Annu Rev Psychol. 1986;37(1):43–75.
12.
Katsuki F, Constantinidis C. Bottom-up and top-down attention: different processes and overlapping neural systems. Neuroscientist. 2014;20(5):509–21.PubMed
13.
Macaluso E, Noppeney U, Talsma D, Vercillo T, Hartcher-O’Brien J, Adam R. The curious incident of attention in multisensory integration: bottom-up vs. top-down. Multisensory Res. 2016;29(6-7):557–83.
14.
Keehn B, Lincoln AJ, Müller RA, Townsend J. Attentional networks in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010;51(11):1251–9.PubMedPubMedCentral
15.
Rogers SJ, Ozonoff S. Annotation: what do we know about sensory dysfunction in autism? A critical review of the empirical evidence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2005;46(12):1255–68.PubMed
16.
Robertson CE, Baron-Cohen S. Sensory perception in autism. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017;18(11):671.PubMed
17.
Behrmann M, Thomas C, Humphreys K. Seeing it differently: visual processing in autism. Trends Cogn Sci. 2006;10(6):258–64.PubMed
18.
Fujita T, Yamasaki T, Kamio Y, Hirose S, Tobimatsu S. Parvocellular pathway impairment in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from visual evoked potentials. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2011;5(1):277–85.
19.
Bertone A, Mottron L, Jelenic P, Faubert J. Enhanced and diminished visuo-spatial information processing in autism depends on stimulus complexity. Brain. 2005;128:2430–41.PubMed
20.
Baranek GT, David FJ, Poe MD, Stone WL, Watson LR. Sensory experiences questionnaire: discriminating sensory features in young children with autism, developmental delays, and typical development. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(6):591–601.PubMed
21.
Leekam SR, Nieto C, Libby SJ, Wing L, Gould J. Describing the sensory abnormalities of children and adults with autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2007;37(5):894–910.PubMed
22.
Belmonte MK. Obligatory processing of task-irrelevant stimuli: a hallmark of autistic cognitive style within and beyond the diagnosis. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2017;2(6):461–3.
23.
Gomot M, Wicker B. A challenging, unpredictable world for people with autism spectrum disorder. Int J Psychophysiol. 2012;83(2):240–7.PubMed
24.
Adams NC, Jarrold C. Inhibition in autism: children with autism have difficulty inhibiting irrelevant distractors but not prepotent responses. J Autism Dev Disord. 2012;42(6):1052–63.PubMed
25.
Orekhova EV, Stroganova TA. Arousal and attention re-orienting in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from auditory event-related potentials. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:34.PubMedPubMedCentral
26.
Allen G, Courchesne E. Attention function and dysfunction in autism. Front Biosci. 2001;6:D105–19.PubMed
27.
Tye C, Asherson P, Ashwood KL, Azadi B, Bolton P, McLoughlin G. Attention and inhibition in children with ASD, ADHD and co-morbid ASD + ADHD: an event-related potential study. Psychol Med. 2014;44(5):1101–16.PubMed
28.
Hoyland AL, Naerland T, Engstrom M, Lydersen S, Andreassen OA. The relation between face-emotion recognition and social function in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: a case control study. PLoS One. 2017;12(10):e0186124.PubMedPubMedCentral
29.
Hoyland AL, Ogrim G, Lydersen S, Hope S, Engstrom M, Torske T, Naerland T, Andreassen OA. Event-related potentials in a cued Go-NoGo task associated with executive functions in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder; a case-control study. Front Neurosci. 2017;11:393.PubMedPubMedCentral
30.
Gomot M, Belmonte MK, Bullmore ET, Bernard FA, Baron-Cohen S. Brain hyper-reactivity to auditory novel targets in children with high-functioning autism. Brain. 2008;131(9):2479–88.PubMed
31.
Gomot M, Bernard FA, Davis MH, Belmonte MK, Ashwin C, Bullmore ET, Baron-Cohen S. Change detection in children with autism: an auditory event-related fMRI study. NeuroImage. 2006;29(2):475–84.PubMed
32.
Gomot M, Blanc R, Clery H, Roux S, Barthelemy C, Bruneau N. Candidate electrophysiological endophenotypes of hyper-reactivity to change in autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011;41(6):705–14.PubMed
33.
Luck SJ. An introduction to the event-related potential technique: MIT press; 2014.
34.
Hopfinger JB, West VM. Interactions between endogenous and exogenous attention on cortical visual processing. NeuroImage. 2006;31(2):774–89.PubMed
35.
Vogel EK, Luck SJ. The visual N1 component as an index of a discrimination process. Psychophysiology. 2000;37(2):190–203.PubMed
36.
Kovarski K, et al. Brief report: early VEPs to pattern-reversal in adolescents and adults with autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016;46(10):3377–86.
37.
Nieuwenhuis S, De Geus EJ, Aston-Jones G. The anatomical and functional relationship between the P3 and autonomic components of the orienting response. Psychophysiology. 2011;48(2):162–75.PubMedPubMedCentral
38.
Jeon YW, Polich J. P3a from a passive visual stimulus task. Clin Neurophysiol. 2001;112(12):2202–8.PubMed
39.
Barcelo F, Escera C, Corral MJ, Periáñez JA. Task switching and novelty processing activate a common neural network for cognitive control. J Cogn Neurosci. 2006;18(10):1734–48.PubMed
40.
Barceló F, Periáñez JA, Knight RT. Think differently: a brain orienting response to task novelty. Neuroreport. 2002;13(15):1887–92.PubMed
41.
Cui T, Wang PP, Liu S, Zhang X. P300 amplitude and latency in autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017;26(2):177–90.PubMed
42.
Czigler I, Weisz J, Winkler I. ERPs and deviance detection: visual mismatch negativity to repeated visual stimuli. Neurosci Lett. 2006;401(1–2):178–82.PubMed
43.
Ferri R, Elia M, Agarwal N, Lanuzza B, Musumeci SA, Pennisi G. The mismatch negativity and the P3a components of the auditory event-related potentials in autistic low-functioning subjects. Clin Neurophysiol. 2003;114(9):1671–80.PubMed
44.
Jansson-Verkasalo E, Ceponienè R, Kielinen M, Suominen K, Jäntti V, Linna S-L, Moilanen I, Näätänen R. Deficient auditory processing in children with Asperger syndrome, as indexed by event-related potentials. Neurosci Lett. 2003;338(3):197–200.PubMed
45.
Dunn MA, Gomes H, Gravel J. Mismatch negativity in children with autism and typical development. J Autism Dev Disord. 2008;38(1):52–71.PubMed
46.
Isquith PK, Roth RM, Gioia G. Contribution of rating scales to the assessment of executive functions. Appl Neuropsychol Child. 2013;2(2):125–32.PubMed
47.
Rosenthal M, Wallace GL, Lawson R, Wills MC, Dixon E, Yerys BE, Kenworthy L. Impairments in real-world executive function increase from childhood to adolescence in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychology. 2013;27(1):13–8.PubMedPubMedCentral
48.
de Vries M, Geurts H. Influence of autism traits and executive functioning on quality of life in children with an autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2015;45(9):2734–43.PubMedPubMedCentral
49.
Sbordone R. Neuropsychological tests are poor at assessing the frontal lobes, executive functions, and neurobehavioral symptoms of traumatically brain-injured patients. Psychol Injury Law. 2010;3(1):25–35.
50.
Sbordone RJ. The hazards of strict reliance on neuropsychological tests. Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2014;21(2):98–107.PubMed
51.
Gioia GA: BRIEF: behavior rating inventory of executive function: professional manual: psychological assessment resources; 2000.
52.
Hovik KT, Egeland J, Isquith PK, Gioia G, Skogli EW, Andersen PN, Øie M. Distinct patterns of everyday executive function problems distinguish children with Tourette syndrome from children with ADHD or autism spectrum disorders. J Atten Disord. 2017;21(10):811–23.PubMed
53.
Gioia GA, Isquith PK, Kenworthy L, Barton RM. Profiles of everyday executive function in acquired and developmental disorders. Child Neuropsychol. 2002;8(2):121–37.PubMed
54.
Jonkman LM, Lansbergen M, Stauder JE. Developmental differences in behavioral and event-related brain responses associated with response preparation and inhibition in a go/nogo task. Psychophysiology. 2003;40(5):752–61.PubMed
55.
Rutter M, Bailey A, Lord C: The social communication questionnaire: manual: Western Psychological Services; 2003.
56.
Lord C, Rutter M, Le Couteur A. Autism diagnostic interview-revised: a revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. J Autism Dev Disord. 1994;24(5):659–85.
57.
Berument SK, Rutter M, Lord C, Pickles A, Bailey A. Autism screening questionnaire: diagnostic validity. Br J Psychiatry. 1999;175:444–51.
58.
Corsello C, Hus V, Pickles A, Risi S, Cook EH, Leventhal BL, Lord C. Between a ROC and a hard place: decision making and making decisions about using the SCQ. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2007;48(9):932–40.PubMed
59.
Chandler S, Charman T, Baird G, Simonoff E, Loucas TOM, Meldrum D, Scott M, Pickles A. Validation of the social communication questionnaire in a population cohort of children with autism spectrum disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007;46(10):1324–32.PubMed
60.
Wechsler D: Wechsler intelligence scale for children-WISC-IV: Psychological Corporation; 2003.
61.
Roid GH, Miller LJ. Leiter international performance scale-revised (Leiter-R). Madrid: Psymtec; 2011.
62.
Dumont R, Willis JO: Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. Encyclopedia of Special Education 1999.
63.
Mueller A, Candrian G, Kropotov JD, Ponomarev VA, Baschera G-M. Classification of ADHD patients on the basis of independent ERP components using a machine learning system. Nonlinear Biomed Phys. 2010;4(Suppl 1):S1.PubMedPubMedCentral
64.
Benjamini Y, Hochberg YJJotrssSB: Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. 1995:289–300.
65.
Friedman NP, Miyake A. The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: a latent-variable analysis. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2004;133(1):101.PubMed
66.
Luck SJ, Kappenman ES: ERP components and selective attention. The Oxford handbook of event-related potential components. New York: Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 2012. p. 295–327.
67.
Pellicano E, Burr D. When the world becomes ‘too real’: a Bayesian explanation of autistic perception. Trends Cogn Sci. 2012;16(10):504–10.PubMed
68.
Ritter W, Simson R, Vaughan HG. Event-related potential correlates of two stages of information processing in physical and semantic discrimination tasks. Psychophysiology. 1983;20(2):168–79.PubMed
69.
Johannes S, Munte TF, Heinze HJ, Mangun GR. Luminance and spatial attention effects on early visual processing. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1995;2(3):189–205.PubMed
70.
Jeste SS, Nelson CA 3rd. Event related potentials in the understanding of autism spectrum disorders: an analytical review. J Autism Dev Disord. 2009;39(3):495–510.PubMed
71.
Gjevik E, Sandstad B, Andreassen OA, Myhre AM, Sponheim E. Exploring the agreement between questionnaire information and DSM-IV diagnoses of comorbid psychopathology in children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism. 2015;19(4):433–42.PubMed
72.
Lau-Zhu A, Fritz A, McLoughlin GJN, Reviews B. Overlaps and distinctions between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder in young adulthood: Systematic review and guiding framework for EEG research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018.
73.
McLoughlin G, Makeig S, Tsuang MT. In search of biomarkers in psychiatry: EEG-based measures of brain function. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics. 2014;165(2):111–21.
74.
Baron-Cohen S, Ashwin E, Ashwin C, Tavassoli T, Chakrabarti B. Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci. 2009;364(1522):1377–83.
75.
Harms MB, Martin A, Wallace GL. Facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychol Rev. 2010;20(3):290–322.PubMed
76.
Silver CH. Sources of data about children’s executive functioning: review and commentary. Child Neuropsychol. 2014;20(1):1–13.PubMed
Metadata
Title
Atypical event-related potentials revealed during the passive parts of a Go-NoGo task in autism spectrum disorder: a case-control study
Authors
Anne L. Høyland
Terje Nærland
Morten Engstrøm
Tonje Torske
Stian Lydersen
Ole A. Andreassen
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Molecular Autism / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 2040-2392
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-019-0259-3

Other articles of this Issue 1/2019

Molecular Autism 1/2019 Go to the issue

Research

Autism spectrum disorders, endocrine disrupting compounds, and heavy metals in amniotic fluid: a case-control study

Research

The oxytocin receptor gene predicts brain activity during an emotion recognition task in autism

Methodology

The distribution of autistic traits across the autism spectrum: evidence for discontinuous dimensional subpopulations underlying the autism continuum

Correction

Correction to: Mechanisms underlying the EEG biomarker in Dup15q syndrome

Research

Persistence of dysfunctional natural killer cells in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: stigma/consequence of unresolved early infectious events?

Research

Sensory over-responsivity: parent report, direct assessment measures, and neural architecture