Correlations between features of event-related potentials and Autism Spectrum Quotient scores

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder and is characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction. ASD includes a continuum from mild to severe expression of autistic traits. The purpose of the present study was to investigate correlations between event-related potentials (ERPs) during visual-auditory priming, and Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores, which include subscores in 5 different areas: social skills, attention switching, attention to detail, communication, and imagination. High-density electroencephalograms were recorded while participants performed a visual-auditory priming task that required categorization of auditory stimuli presented following a semantically congruent or incongruent visual primer. Differences in ERPs to auditory targets following semantically congruent and incongruent primers occurred between 200 ms and 600 ms at the posterior temporal electrodes. Amplitudes associated with incongruent auditory stimuli at P7 were negatively correlated with overall AQ scores, and positively correlated with communication subscores. Amplitudes associated with congruent stimuli were positively correlated with attention to detail subscores. In addition, PO7 amplitudes were negatively correlated with communication subscores. The results demonstrate significant correlations between electrophysiological features of cross-modal priming and AQ scores. Our findings suggest that electrophysiological parameters may be useful tools to evaluate the severity of autistic trait expression.