Lassen Jonathan, Oranje Bob, Vestergaard Martin, Foldager Malene, Kjær Troels W, Aggernæs Bodil, Arnfred Sidse
Research Unit, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital - Psychiatry Region Zealand, Denmark.
University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Autism. 2025 Jan;29(1):222-232. doi: 10.1177/13623613241271950. Epub 2024 Aug 14.
Selective attention to auditory input is reflected in the brain by an electric amplitude called the P3b amplitude, which is measured using electroencephalography. Previous research has shown that children and adolescents with autism have an attenuated P3b amplitude when they have to attend specific sounds while ignoring other sounds. However, it is unknown whether a reduced P3b amplitude in autistic children and adolescents is associated with their autism features, daily functioning and/or cognitive functions. This study aimed to examine these questions. Therefore, we assessed selective attention to auditory input in 57 children with autism aged 7-14 years and 57 neurotypically developing controls while measuring their brain activity with electroencephalography. Participants further underwent cognitive assessment, and parents reported on autistic traits and daily functioning. As expected, children with autism had lower P3b amplitude compared to their neurotypical peers. Importantly, an attenuated P3b amplitude was associated with more parent-reported social-communication problems and difficulties with daily functioning. Children with autism further had reduced processing speed of visual input, which also was coupled to a lower P3b amplitude. In conclusion, we found attenuated P3b amplitude in children with autism performing an auditory selective attention task, which was related to difficulties with processing visual input and allocating attentional resources critical for social and daily functioning. The results suggest that autistic children are more vulnerable to being disturbed when the environment is filled with conflicting sensory input.
对听觉输入的选择性注意在大脑中通过一种称为P3b波幅的电信号幅度体现出来，该信号幅度通过脑电图进行测量。先前的研究表明，患有自闭症的儿童和青少年在必须专注于特定声音而忽略其他声音时，其P3b波幅会减弱。然而，自闭症儿童和青少年中P3b波幅降低是否与他们的自闭症特征、日常功能和/或认知功能相关尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨这些问题。因此，我们评估了57名7至14岁自闭症儿童和57名发育正常的对照儿童对听觉输入的选择性注意，同时用脑电图测量他们的大脑活动。参与者还接受了认知评估，父母报告了他们的自闭症特征和日常功能。正如预期的那样，与发育正常的同龄人相比，自闭症儿童的P3b波幅更低。重要的是，P3b波幅减弱与父母报告的更多社交沟通问题和日常功能困难有关。自闭症儿童的视觉输入处理速度也有所降低，这也与较低的P3b波幅相关。总之，我们发现自闭症儿童在执行听觉选择性注意任务时P3b波幅减弱，这与视觉输入处理困难以及对社交和日常功能至关重要的注意力资源分配有关。结果表明，当环境中充满相互冲突的感官输入时，自闭症儿童更容易受到干扰。
