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Psychophysiological Correlates of Developmental Changes in Healthy and Autistic Boys

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Abstract

This study investigated neurodevelopmental changes in sound processing by recording mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to various degrees of sound complexity in 18 mildly to moderately autistic versus 15 healthy boys aged between 6 and 15 years. Autistic boys presented with lower IQ and poor performance on a range of executive and social function measures when compared to their healthy counterparts. We found that MMN in response to duration deviants was less lateralized in the clinical group whereas larger amplitudes correlated with advanced age, thus capturing neurodevelopmental changes. Larger MMN in response to speech-like sound deviants was associated with better verbal fluency and executive function performance, respectively, but did not reliably discriminate the two groups.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Rebbekah Atkinson, Vanessa Case, Helen Stain, and Gavin Cooper for their valuable assistance. The project was supported by the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (Project 569259). Renate Thienel was supported by a University of Newcastle Post-doctoral Fellowship und Ulrich Schall by the Schizophrenia Research Institute utilizing infrastructure funding from the New South Wales Ministry of Health and New South Wales Ministry of Trade and Investment (Australia).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Priority Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health Research, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

    Benjamin Weismüller, Renate Thienel, Ross Fulham & Ulrich Schall

  2. Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

    Renate Thienel, Ross Fulham & Ulrich Schall

  3. Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Renate Thienel, Ross Fulham & Ulrich Schall

  4. EDUCARE Specialists Services, Charlestown, NSW, Australia

    Anne-Marie Youlden & Ulrich Schall

  5. Department of Neuropharmacology, Centre for Cognitive Sciences, Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Benjamin Weismüller & Michael Koch

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  1. Benjamin Weismüller
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  2. Renate Thienel
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  4. Ross Fulham
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  6. Ulrich Schall
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Correspondence to Ulrich Schall.

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Weismüller, B., Thienel, R., Youlden, AM. et al. Psychophysiological Correlates of Developmental Changes in Healthy and Autistic Boys. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 2168–2175 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2385-x

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