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Updated: Mar 10, 2026
Applications of EEG Neuroimaging Data: Event-related Potentials, Spectral Power, and Multiscale Entropy
Published on: June 27, 2013
Altered electroencephalogram complexity in autistic children shown by the multiscale entropy approach
Tian Liu1, Yanni Chen, Desheng Chen
1aThe Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Institute of Biomedical Engineering bNational Engineering Research Center of Health Care and Medical Devices cThe First Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University dXi'an Children's Hospital, Xi'an eThe General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, PR China.
Abstract:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopment disorder. This study tests the hypothesis that children with ASD show atypical intrinsic complexity of brain activity. Electroencephalogram data were collected from boys with ASD and matching normal typically developing children while performing an observation and an imitation task. The multiscale entropy was estimated within the 0.5-30 Hz frequency band over 30 time scales using a coarse-grained procedure. A decreased electroencephalogram complexity was observed in the ASD children both during the observation and during the imitation tasks. On comparing the two tasks, significant differences were observed between groups in the right hemisphere, and also the central cortex for the observation task. Multiscale entropy could provide further evidence of the relationship between ASD and cerebral dysfunction.
