Abnormal pre-attentive arousal in young children with autism spectrum disorder contributes to their atypical auditory behavior: an ERP study.

Auditory sensory modulation difficulties and problems with automatic re-orienting to sound are well documented in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Abnormal preattentive arousal processes may contribute to these deficits. In this study, we investigated components of the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) reflecting preattentive arousal in children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children aged 3-8 years.

[Phase-locked alpha oscillations evoked by illusory contour perception in normal and autistic preschool boys].

We examined temporal dynamics of EEG phase-locked alpha oscillations during perception of illusory (Kanizsa square) and non-illusory images in boys with autism and age-matched typically developing boys. In typically developing boys the illusory contour (IC) as compared to the control stimulus provoked an increased alpha response at the parietal scalp areas. This IC effect demonstrated continuity within the time window of 133-267 ms after the stimulus onset.

[Alpha oscillations of human brain elicited by illusory contour perception].

We examined the changes in the phase-locked and total alpha oscillations of EEG during perception of illusory (Kanizsa square) and non-illusory images in 16 healthy adults. We applied a wavelet-based time-frequency analysis to compute alpha band power, statistical evaluation was performed using repeated-measures ANOVA and the non-parametric multi-way analysis. Results showed that both stimuli provoked an initial increase of total alpha power emerging not later than in 100 ms after the stimulus onset.

The nature of individual differences in EEG parameters during homogeneous visual field in 5- and 6-year-old twins: a pilot study.

Objective: To assess the genetic and environmental influences on the inter-individual variability of spectral EEG parameters under two conditions of reduced visual input in preschoolers.

Methods: EEG was recorded in 21 monozygotic and 20 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs aged 5-6 years under the Closed eyes and Darkness conditions. The contributions of genetic and environmental influences to individual EEG parameters were estimated using structural equation modeling.