We report here a comparative analysis of spectral power and mean coherence in the alpha, beta, and gamma rhythms in children aged 5–7 years, both normal and with early childhood autism, at rest and in conditions of a cognitive task (counting). In baseline conditions, both healthy children and those with autism showed a marked frontal-occipital alpha gradient. The cognitive task led to increases in the spectral power of the alpha1 range and its displacement into the left hemisphere without any alteration of alpha2; the task also produced a marked increase in spectral power in the alpha3 range. In healthy children, the cognitive task, as compared with baseline conditions, produced significant increases in the spectral power and coherence of the rapid rhythms in the central and frontal areas of the left hemisphere. In patients with early childhood autism, there was a right-sided predominance of spectral power in the alpha range both in baseline conditions and during the cognitive task. Baseline gamma-range spectral power in early childhood autism had greater values than in normal children and did not change during the cognitive task.
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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 60, No. 6, pp. 657–666, November–December, 2010.
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Lushchekina, E.A., Podreznaya, E.D., Lushchekin, V.S. et al. A Comparative EEG Study in Normal and Autistic Children. Neurosci Behav Physi 42, 236–243 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-012-9558-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-012-9558-2