Osorio Sergio, Tan Jasmine, Levine Grace, Ahlfors Seppo P, Graham Steven, Mamashli Fahimeh, Khan Sheraz, Joseph Robert M, Nayal Zein, Losh Ainsley, Pawlyszyn Stephanie, McGuiggan Nicole M, Hämäläinen Matti S, Bharadwaj Hari, Kenet Tal
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 28:2025.01.02.631088. doi: 10.1101/2025.01.02.631088.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition characterized by difficulties in social interaction, communication and sensory processing. The ability to orient towards sounds is a key component of social interactions, yet auditory spatial attention remains relatively understudied in ASD, despite prior research indicating differences in this domain. Here, we investigate the neural signatures associated with passive auditory spatial attention in children with ASD (n = 21, ages 6-17) relative to age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children (n = 31), using source-localized magnetoencephalography (MEG). Participants listened passively, while watching a silenced movie, to non-social auditory stimuli designed to either remain lateralized to one hemifield ( trials), or to change in location from one side to the contralateral hemifield ( trials). Linear mixed effects modeling showed lower cortical activation in the auditory cortex in the ASD group in response to trials, relative to the TD group. Additionally, functional connectivity analyses showed higher alpha-band functional connectivity in the ASD group between left auditory cortex seeds and right prefrontal and left parietal regions known to be recruited during auditory spatial attention. Right prefrontal alpha-band connectivity estimates were associated with behaviorally assessed auditory processing scores, whereas left parietal connectivity estimates were associated with ASD symptomatology. Our results align with the hypothesis that auditory spatial attention generally, and specifically orientation to sounds even when experienced passively, differs in ASD individuals.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种发育性疾病，其特征在于社交互动、沟通和感觉处理方面存在困难。对声音进行定向的能力是社交互动的关键组成部分，然而，尽管先前的研究表明该领域存在差异，但ASD患者的听觉空间注意力仍相对较少受到研究。在此，我们使用源定位脑磁图（MEG），研究了与ASD儿童（n = 21，年龄6 - 17岁）相对于年龄和智商匹配的正常发育（TD）儿童（n = 31）的被动听觉空间注意力相关的神经特征。参与者在观看无声电影时被动聆听非社交性听觉刺激，这些刺激被设计为要么保持在一个半视野侧化（试验），要么从一侧改变位置到对侧半视野（试验）。线性混合效应模型显示，相对于TD组，ASD组在试验响应中听觉皮层的皮质激活较低。此外，功能连接性分析显示，ASD组在左听觉皮层种子与已知在听觉空间注意力过程中被激活的右前额叶和左顶叶区域之间的α波段功能连接性较高。右前额叶α波段连接性估计值与行为评估的听觉处理分数相关，而左顶叶连接性估计值与ASD症状相关。我们的结果与以下假设一致，即一般而言，ASD个体的听觉空间注意力，特别是即使在被动体验时对声音的定向也存在差异。
