Original ArticleChildren and Adolescents with Autism Exhibit Reduced MEG Steady-State Gamma Responses
Section snippets
Subject Selection
Ten participants with autism (ages 7–17) and 10 controls (ages 8–16) participated in this experiment. All participants with autism met clinical criteria for DSM-IV autistic disorder (American Psychiatric Association 1994), as well as criteria for autism on the Autism Diagnostic Interview–Revised (ADI-R; Lord et al. 1994) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS-G; Lord et al. 2000) as assessed by a researcher trained to research criteria. Two subjects from each group were
Demographic Variables
Our groups did not significantly differ on age (p > .75), handedness (p > .80), or education (p > .60). However, as shown in Table 1, autistic participants exhibited significantly lower scores on all IQ measures. To examine whether IQ was related to 40 Hz power, we computed Pearson-correlation coefficients using each IQ scale (verbal, performance, full) and relative 40 Hz mean power for each hemisphere (i.e., 6 total correlations). Our results showed no evidence of correlation between IQ and 40
Discussion
We examined gamma band power of auditory SSR in a group of healthy children and adolescents, and an age-matched sample with autism. Our results indicated right hemispheric gamma power increases were relatively equal between control and autistic participants. Conversely, gamma power fluctuations for left hemispheric cortices showed significant disruption in participants with autism, as the series of pulse trains did not elicit a SSR of increased 40 Hz power (relative to baseline) as it clearly
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