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Updated: Aug 4, 2025
Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
Neurophysiological measures of auditory sensory processing are associated with adaptive behavior in children with
Mairin Cotter1,2, Seydanur Reisli1,3, Ana Alves Francisco1
1The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
Background:
Atypical auditory cortical processing is consistently found in scalp electrophysiological and magnetoencephalographic studies of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and may provide a marker of neuropathological brain development. However, the relationship between atypical cortical processing of auditory information and adaptive behavior in ASD is not yet well understood.
Methods:
We sought to test the hypothesis that early (100-175 ms) auditory processing in ASD is related to everyday adaptive behavior through the examination of auditory event-related potentials (AEPs) in response to simple tones and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales in a large cohort of children with ASD (N = 84), aged 6-17, and in age- and IQ- matched neurotypically (NT) developing controls (N = 132).
Results:
Statistical analyses revealed significant group differences in early AEPs over temporal scalp regions (150-175 ms), and the expected rightward lateralization of the AEP (100-125 ms and 150-175 ms) to tonal stimuli in both groups. Lateralization of the AEP (150-175 ms) was significantly associated with adaptive functioning in the socialization domain.
Conclusions:
These results lend support to the hypothesis that atypical processing of sensory information is related to everyday adaptive behavior in autism.
