Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Science, University of A Coruña, Spain.
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2019 Jun;130(6):963-975. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.03.031. Epub 2019 Apr 13.
We investigated the proposition that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with predictive contextual processing deficits.
We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) in adults with ASD and controls during the performance of a predictive contextual processing task, using either triangles or emotional faces. Targets were preceded by either randomized sequences (R) or by sequences including a predictive sequence (P).
ASD subjects showed an attenuated behavioral facilitation (P versus R) compared with controls (faces). P3b amplitudes of P, R and the predictive sequence (n-1) were attenuated in ASD compared with controls. However, the attenuation of n-1 was more pronounced during the processing of faces. Controls demonstrated shorter peak P3b latencies of P versus R, while this facilitation was absent in ASD subjects. ASD subjects demonstrated functional connectivity alterations during the processing of random (triangles and faces) and predicted targets (faces). These changes were associated with weaker, more randomised, functional connections between frontal and parietal regions in ASD.
We found predictive contextual processing alterations in ASD, which were more pronounced during the processing of emotional faces compared with abstract stimuli.
We provide novel evidence for the proposition that ASD is associated with deficits of top-down predictions.
我们研究了自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）与预测性上下文处理缺陷相关的假设。
我们在 ASD 患者和对照组的成年人进行了预测性上下文处理任务的脑电图（EEG）记录，使用三角形或情绪面孔作为刺激。目标前面分别是随机序列（R）或包含预测序列（P）的序列。
与对照组（面孔）相比，ASD 患者的行为促进作用（P 与 R）减弱。与对照组相比，ASD 患者的 P、R 和预测序列（n-1）的 P3b 振幅减弱。然而，在处理面孔时，n-1 的衰减更为明显。对照组在处理 P 与 R 时显示出更短的 P3b 潜伏期峰值，而 ASD 患者则没有这种促进作用。ASD 患者在处理随机（三角形和面孔）和预测目标（面孔）时表现出功能连接改变。这些变化与 ASD 中额叶和顶叶区域之间较弱、更随机的功能连接有关。
我们发现 ASD 存在预测性上下文处理改变，在处理情绪面孔时比处理抽象刺激时更为明显。
我们为 ASD 与自上而下预测缺陷相关的假设提供了新的证据。
