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Reduced Visual Evoked Potential Amplitude in Autistic Children with Co-Occurring Features of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

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Abstract

Provided the significant overlap in features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is a critical need to identify transdiagnostic markers that could meaningfully stratify subgroups. The objective of this study was to compare the visual evoked potential (VEP) between 30 autistic children, 17 autistic children with co-occurring ADHD presentation (ASD + ADHD), and 21 neurotypical children (NTC). Electroencephalography was recorded while children passively viewed a pattern-reversal stimulus. Mean amplitude of the P1 event-related potential was extracted from a midline occipital channel and compared between groups. P1 mean amplitude was reduced in the ASD + ADHD group compared to the ASD and NTC groups, indicating a distinct pattern of brain activity in autistic children with co-occurring ADHD features.

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Data Availability

Some of the data is already publicly available in the National Database for Autism Research.

Notes

  1. P1 latency did not significantly differ between groups (main effect: F(2,65) = 1.11, p = 0.34).

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Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award no. K99/R00HD071966. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Author notes

  1. Amanda Cremone-Caira and Yael Braverman contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Assumption University, Worcester, USA

    Amanda Cremone-Caira

  2. Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 2 Brookline Place, Brookline, MA, 02445, USA

    Amanda Cremone-Caira, Yael Braverman & Susan Faja

  3. Department of Neurology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, USA

    Yael Braverman & Susan Faja

  4. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Gabrielle A. MacNaughton

  5. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

    Julia I. Nikolaeva

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  1. Amanda Cremone-Caira
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Correspondence to Susan Faja.

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Cremone-Caira, A., Braverman, Y., MacNaughton, G.A. et al. Reduced Visual Evoked Potential Amplitude in Autistic Children with Co-Occurring Features of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06005-7

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