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Mismatch Negativity in Children with Autism and Typical Development

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Abstract

Children with autism are often characterized as having abnormalities in auditory processing. This study examined automatic and active processing of simple auditory stimuli in children using a component of event related potentials, the mismatch negativity (MMN). Amplitude of MMN in children with autism was significantly smaller than in children with typical development in unattended conditions. However, children with autism exhibited a typical amplitude MMN when attending to the stimuli. Receptive language and MMN were not related in children with autism. Findings support the idea of abnormal automatic auditory processing by children with autism. Auditory discrimination of infrequent changes in streams of sounds appears to be accomplished through a different mechanism than in typical children, specifically through the investment of attention.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NICHD) Grant RO1 HD36080 and DC04992. We thank all of the families who so generously gave their time to participate in this study. We thank Elizabeth Simon, Juliana Bates, MaryJoan Sebastian, and Adrienne Magnotta, Wei Wei Lee, Martha Anne Ellis, and William Lynn for their work with the families and Walter Ritter for his comments on an earlier draft.

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  1. Hilary Gomes

    Present address: Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1410 Pelham Parkway South, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Michelle A. Dunn & Hilary Gomes

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Judith Gravel

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Judith Gravel

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  1. Michelle A. Dunn
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Correspondence to Michelle A. Dunn.

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Dunn, M.A., Gomes, H. & Gravel, J. Mismatch Negativity in Children with Autism and Typical Development. J Autism Dev Disord 38, 52–71 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0359-3

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