[Comparative EEG study in normal and autistic children].

The work represents the results of a comparative study of spectral power as well as averaged coherence in alpha, beta and gamma EEG bands in 5-to-7-year-old autistic and healthy boys in the state of rest and under cognitive load (mental calculation). The mean age of the examined children was 6 years 4 months. In both healthy and autistic children, there was a clear-cut baseline frontal-occipital gradient of the alpha activity. Performance of the cognitive task led to enhancement of spectral power in the alpha1 band and shifting its maximum to the left hemisphere, did not change the activity in the alpha2 band, and considerably increased the spectral power in the alpha3 band. In healthy children, the spectral power and average coherence of the fast rhythms increased in the central and frontal areas of the left hemisphere. The right-side dominance of the spectral power of the alpha band was revealed in autistic children both in the baseline and during cognitive task. The spectral power of the gamma band was higher in autistic children than in healthy children in the baseline. The cognitive task did not change this fast activity in autistic children.