Auditory cortical change detection in adults with Asperger syndrome

Neurosci Lett. 2007 Mar 6;414(2):136-40. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2006.12.009. Epub 2006 Dec 29.

Abstract

The present study investigated whether auditory deficits reported in children with Asperger syndrome (AS) are also present in adulthood. To this end, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from adults with AS for duration, pitch, and phonetic changes in vowels, and for acoustically matched non-speech stimuli. These subjects had enhanced mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitudes particularly for pitch and duration deviants, indicating enhanced sound-discrimination abilities. Furthermore, as reflected by the P3a, their involuntary orienting was enhanced for changes in non-speech sounds, but tended to be deficient for changes in speech sounds. The results are consistent with those reported earlier in children with AS, except for the duration-MMN, which was diminished in children and enhanced in adults.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Adult
  • Aging / physiology
  • Asperger Syndrome / complications
  • Asperger Syndrome / physiopathology*
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiopathology*
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language Development Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Language Development Disorders / etiology
  • Language Development Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Language Tests
  • Male
  • Orientation / physiology
  • Pitch Perception
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Sound Localization / physiology
  • Speech Perception / physiology