Resting-State Activity in Children: Replicating and Extending Findings of Early Maturation of Alpha Rhythms in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Resting-state alpha brain rhythms provide a foundation for basic as well as higher-order brain processes. Research suggests atypical maturation of the peak frequency of resting-state alpha activity (= PAF) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined resting-state alpha activity in young school-aged children, obtaining magnetoencephalographic (MEG) eyes-closed resting-state data from 47 typically developing (TD) males and 45 ASD males 6.0 to 9.3 years old. Results confirmed a higher PAF in ASD versus TD, and demonstrated that alpha power differences between groups were linked to the shift of PAF in ASD. Additionally, a higher PAF was associated with better cognitive performance in TD but not ASD. Finding thus suggested functional consequences of group differences in resting-state alpha activity.

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

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.

Compensatory Cross-Modal Plasticity Persists After Sight Restoration.

Sensory deprivation prompts extensive structural and functional reorganizations of the cortex resulting in the occupation of space for the lost sense by the intact sensory systems. This process, known as cross-modal plasticity, has been widely studied in individuals with vision or hearing loss. However, little is known on the neuroplastic changes in restoring the deprived sense. Some reports consider the cross-modal functionality maladaptive to the return of the original sense, and others view this as a critical process in maintaining the neurons of the deprived sense active and operational. These controversial views have been challenged in both auditory and vision restoration reports for decades. Recently with the approval of Luxturna as the first retinal gene therapy (GT) drug to reverse blindness, there is a renewed interest for the crucial role of cross-modal plasticity on sight restoration. Employing a battery of task and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), in comparison to a group of sighted controls, we tracked the functional changes in response to auditory and visual stimuli and at rest, in a group of patients with biallelic mutations in the RPE65 gene ("RPE65 patients") before and 3 years after GT. While the sighted controls did not present any evidence for auditory cross-modal plasticity, robust responses to the auditory stimuli were found in occipital cortex of the RPE65 patients overlapping visual responses and significantly elevated 3 years after GT. The rsfMRI results showed significant connectivity between the auditory and visual areas for both groups albeit attenuated in patients at baseline but enhanced 3 years after GT. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that (1) RPE65 patients present with an auditory cross-modal component; (2) visual and non-visual responses of the visual cortex are considerably enhanced after vision restoration; and (3) auditory cross-modal functions did not adversely affect the success of vision restitution. We hypothesize that following GT, to meet the demand for the newly established retinal signals, remaining or dormant visual neurons are revived or unmasked for greater participation. These neurons or a subset of these neurons respond to both the visual and non-visual demands and further strengthen connectivity between the auditory and visual cortices.

Explicit Associations with Autism and Disability.

Objectives: Autistic people call for greater acceptance even though the general public has greater awareness of the autism spectrum. This study investigated explicit or conscious attitudes toward the autism spectrum and disability in college students and the general population. We hypothesized that both samples would associate "a person on the autism spectrum" with more negative attributes than other types of people except for "a person with a disability." Methods: In Phase 1, participants generated 10 word associations for 8 labels: a person on the autism spectrum, a person not on the autism spectrum, a person with a disability, a person without a disability, a college student, a professor, a child, and a parent. In Phase 2, participants rated the 10 most common words for each label (type of person) in Phase 1 on a 7-point Likert scale from extremely negative to extremely positive. Ninety-nine undergraduate students and 106 adults recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk completed Phase 1. One hundred twenty-two undergraduate students and 101 adults recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk completed Phase 2. Results: Only "a person with a disability" in the general population sample was rated as having significant negative associations. However, the associations of "a person with a disability" were rated more negatively than all other labels in both samples, and the associations of "a person on the autism spectrum" were rated as second most negative in the general population sample. Conclusion: Explicit associations toward disability and autism were somewhat mixed. Adults in the general population tended to have more negative explicit associations with disability, and to a lesser extent autism. These results underscore the need to examine attitudes in samples more representative of the general population. Furthermore, evidence of possible explicit negative associations is concerning and highlights the imperative need to confront ableism. Lay summary: Why was this study done?: The general public claims to be aware of the autism spectrum and recent research suggests that they have greater knowledge about the autism spectrum than they did in the past. However, as autistic individuals have articulated, autism awareness is not the same as autism acceptance. In order for autistic individuals to be fully included into society, we must move to autism acceptance. One way researchers examine potential discrimination is by studying attitudes.What was the purpose of this study?: This study examines people's explicit attitudes toward the autism spectrum and to disability. Explicit attitudes are attitudes that are conscious and controllable.What did the researchers do?: Two groups of adults participated in the study: a group of college students and a noncollege sample of adults designed to better represent the general population of adults. Participants completed an online study wherein they were asked to list word associations for different types of people including "a person on the autism spectrum" and "a person with a disability." In a second study, participants then rated the most common associations from extremely negative to extremely positive.What were the results of the study?: The results were somewhat mixed. Only the set of associations of "a person with a disability" were rated by participants in the noncollege group as negative. However, the associations of "a person with a disability" were rated more negatively than all other types of people in both groups, and the associations of "a person on the autism spectrum" were rated as second most negative in the noncollege sample.What do these findings add to what was already known?: The majority of research on explicit attitudes toward autism has focused on children, including how interventions may improve attitudes toward autistic children. Therefore, this research provides much needed information on the state of attitudes toward autistic individuals more generally. This research also provides a comparison of attitudes toward autism, disability, and other groups. Furthermore, research assessing attitudes toward autism in adults has largely focused on college students, whereas this research considered both college students and a noncollege sample.What are the potential weaknesses in the study?: These findings may not extend to a more diverse population as both groups had relatively high education levels, were primarily White non-Hispanic and were living in the United States. Furthermore, participants may have generated more positive associations for "a person on the autism spectrum" and "a person with a disability" because they wanted to be viewed in a favorable light. This is known as a social desirability bias.How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: Unfortunately, possible explicit negative associations with the autism spectrum and with disability are concerning as they reflect people's conscious and controllable attitudes. These results highlight a need for action and also support autistic individuals' demand for actions toward autism acceptance.