Neurophysiological Indices of Atypical Auditory Processing and Multisensory Integration are Associated with Symptom Severity in Autism

Abstract

Atypical processing and integration of sensory inputs are hypothesized to play a role in unusual sensory reactions and social-cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reports on the relationship between objective metrics of sensory processing and clinical symptoms, however, are surprisingly sparse. Here we examined the relationship between neurophysiological assays of sensory processing and 1) autism severity and 2) sensory sensitivities, in individuals with ASD aged 6–17. Multiple linear regression indicated significant associations between neural markers of auditory processing and multisensory integration, and autism severity. No such relationships were apparent for clinical measures of visual/auditory sensitivities. These data support that aberrant early sensory processing contributes to autism symptoms, and reveal the potential of electrophysiology to objectively subtype autism.

Sensory processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with non-verbal IQ, autism severity and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder symptomatology

“…Although this could be the case in the present study, the most recent scientific literature shows a current trend to use additional measures -apart from scales and questionnaires -to evaluate sensory processing and study its relationship with autism severity. Thus, Brandwein et al (2015) found, in a sample of children and adolescents with ASD, that certain neural indices of auditory and visual processing and integration (measured by event-related potentials) were good predictors of autism severity (measured by the ADOS scale). Regarding specifically auditory sensory processing, Kargas et al (2015) found in a sample of adults with ASD that enhanced performance on certain auditory discrimination tasks performed in the laboratory was related to increased repetitive behaviors (measured by the ADOS repetitive/restrictive behavior score).…”

“…Difficulties in multisensory integration in ASD may lie in the temporal synchronization of neural networks because the ability to combine information from multiple sensory modalities to form a unified perception depends on the temporal synchrony of sensory stimuli (Stevenson et al, 2014). In this vein, recent research has assessed neurobiological underpinnings and neural roots of unusual sensory features in individuals with ASD in studies using event-related potentials (Brandwein et al, 2015;Donkers et al, 2015) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (Green et al, 2013). Thus, some evidence has been found of greater activation in primary sensory cortical areas, the amygdala, hippocampus, and orbital-frontal cortex, in individuals with ASD, compared to typically developing individuals (Green et al, 2013).…”

Self-motion perception in autism is compromised by visual noise but integrated optimally across multiple senses

“…Altered audiovisual temporal processing has also been found (31,32). However, the concurrent presence of low-level auditory deficits (33,34), together with robust multisensory integration that was nonetheless still observed (30), makes it difficult to implicate multisensory integration per se vs. compounded effects of early sensory deficits.…”

Sensory processing in autism spectrum disorders and Fragile X syndrome—From the clinic to animal models

“…Sensory abnormalities in ASD and FXS are not only among the most replicable features of these disorders (Ben-Sasson et al, 2008; Donkers et al, 2015; Klintwall et al, 2011; Liss et al, 2006), they are also present early in childhood (Baranek et al, 2008; Elison et al, 2013; Elsabbagh et al, 2013; Germani et al, 2014; Zwaigenbaum et al, 2005) and are strong predictors of some later-emerging symptoms, such as anxiety (Green et al, 2012; Sullivan et al, 2014). Importantly, sensory deficits may be accompanied by neurophysiological abnormalities of sensory processing which can be quantified objectively and non-invasively using electroencephalography (EEG) (Brandwein et al, 2015; Castrén et al, 2003; Ethridge et al, 2016; Lepisto et al, 2005; Machado et al, 2013; Orekhova et al, 2007, 2008; Stroganova et al, 2007; Van der Molen et al, 2012a,b; van Diessen et al, 2014; Wang et al, 2013) or electromyography (EMG) and/or behavioral measures of pre-pulse inhibition and habituation of the startle reflex (Perry et al, 2007). …”