Theta and Alpha Oscillation Impairments in Autistic Spectrum Disorder Reflect Working Memory Deficit
Journal
Scientific Reports
ISSN
2045-2322
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
ZAMORANO M, FRANCISCO JAVIER
Patricia Soto Icaza
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Ximena Carrasco
Claudia Herrera
Francisca Daiber
Francisco Aboitiz
Type
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
Abstract
A dysfunction in the excitatory–inhibitory (E/I) coordination in neuronal assembly has been proposed as a possible neurobiological mechanism of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the potential impact of this mechanism in cognitive performance is not fully explored. Since the main consequence of E/I dysfunction is an impairment in oscillatory activity and its underlying cognitive computations, we assessed the electroencephalographic activity of ASD and typically developing (TD) subjects during a working-memory task. We found that ASD subjects committed more errors than TD subjects. Moreover, TD subjects demonstrated a parametric modulation in the power of alpha and theta band while ASD subjects did not demonstrate significant modulations. The preceding leads to significant differences between the groups in both the alpha power placed on the occipital cortex and the theta power placed on the left premotor and the right prefrontal cortex. The impaired theta modulation correlated with autistic symptoms. The results indicated that ASD may present an alteration in the recruitment of the oscillatory activity during working-memory, and this alteration could be related to the physiopathology of the disorder.
Subjects
principal-components-analysis
;
erp generator patterns
;
laplacian wave-forms
;
functional connectivity
;
neural oscillations
;
gamma oscillations
;
prefrontal cortex
;
generic method
;
eeg
;
maintenance