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Updated: Jan 14, 2026
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Published on: October 17, 2025
Number of Alpha Peaks in the Electroencephalogram Is Associated With Clinical Phenotype and Copy Number Variants in
Vardan Arutiunian1, Morgan Opdahl1, Catherine A W Sullivan2
1Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington.
Background:
Electroencephalography (EEG) alpha-band neural activity has previously been reported to be altered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but no studies have addressed different parameters of alpha-band activity and their relationship to clinical phenotype and copy number variants (CNVs) in ASD.
Methods:
The study included 310 youths with and without ASD and consisted of resting-state EEG, behavioral phenotyping, and genome-wide CNV analysis.
Results:
First, the results revealed that alpha peak power was reduced in ASD, and younger-age autistic males had a higher number of peaks compared with younger-age autistic females. Second, a higher number of alpha peaks was related to lower language skills and a higher presence of autistic traits. Finally, a higher number of alpha peaks was related to a higher number of CNVs.
Conclusions:
In this study, we explored a novel measure (number of peaks) associated with both clinical phenotype and genetic burden and provide evidence that supports alterations in alpha-band activity in ASD.
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