Differential Maturation of Auditory Cortex Activity in Young Children with Autism and Typical Development

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05696-8
• Publication Date: 2022-08-12T11:03:17Z
• Authors: Heather L. Green; Guannan Shen; Rose E. Franzen; Marybeth Mcnamee; Jeffrey I. Berman; Theresa G. Mowad; Matthew Ku; Luke Bloy; Song Liu; Yu-Han Chen; Megan Airey; Emma McBride; Sophia Goldin; Marissa A. Dipiero; Lisa Blaskey; Emily S. Kuschner; Mina Kim; Kimberly Konka; Timothy P. L. Rob...; J. Christopher Edgar
• Keywords: Stimulus (psychology)

Maturation of auditory cortex neural encoding processes was assessed in children with typical development (TD) and autism. Children 6-9 years old were enrolled at Time 1 (T1), with follow-up data obtained ~ 18 months later at Time 2 (T2), and ~ 36 months later at Time 3 (T3). Findings suggested an initial period of rapid auditory cortex maturation in autism, earlier than TD (prior to and surrounding the T1 exam), followed by a period of faster maturation in TD than autism (T1-T3). As a result of group maturation differences, post-stimulus group differences were observed at T1 but not T3. In contrast, stronger pre-stimulus activity in autism than TD was found at all time points, indicating this brain measure is stable across time.