Leahy Caroline, Major Samantha, Howard Jill, Carpenter Kimberly L H, Tenenbaum Elena, Franz Lauren, Vermeer Saritha, Grapel Jordan, Compton Scott, Spanos Marina, Dawson Geraldine
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 10;15(1):24883. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-06006-9.
Difficulties in executive functioning (EF) have been consistently reported in autistic individuals, but less is known about the attentional and neural mechanisms driving these difficulties. We explored the associations between EF abilities and sustained attention, measured with eye-tracking, and spontaneous measures of EEG spectral power density in 176 2-8 year-old autistic children with a wide range of cognitive abilities. EF was measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). We found that EF abilities were positively associated with look durations while watching complex, audiovisual stimuli involving social content and dyadic speech. We also found that EF was negatively associated with scalp-wide theta power and positively associated with frontal beta and gamma power. These results shed light on attentional and neural associations with EF abilities and underscore the role of frontal brain activity for EF in autism.
一直以来，有报告称自闭症个体存在执行功能（EF）方面的困难，但对于导致这些困难的注意力和神经机制，我们了解得较少。我们在176名认知能力范围广泛的2至8岁自闭症儿童中，探索了EF能力与通过眼动追踪测量的持续注意力以及脑电图频谱功率密度的自发测量值之间的关联。使用执行功能行为评定量表（BRIEF）来测量EF。我们发现，在观看涉及社会内容和二元言语的复杂视听刺激时，EF能力与注视持续时间呈正相关。我们还发现，EF与全头皮θ波功率呈负相关，与额叶β波和γ波功率呈正相关。这些结果揭示了与EF能力相关的注意力和神经关联，并强调了额叶脑活动在自闭症EF中的作用。
