Neuromagnetic 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response in the left auditory cortex is related to language comprehension in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Language impairment is comorbid in most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but its neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. Some studies hypothesize that the atypical low-level sensory perception in the auditory cortex accounts for the abnormal language development in these children. One of the potential non-invasive measures of such low-level perception can be the cortical gamma-band oscillations registered with magnetoencephalography (MEG), and 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response (40 Hz ASSR) is a reliable paradigm for eliciting auditory gamma response. Although there is research in children with and without ASD using 40 Hz ASSR, nothing is known about the relationship between this auditory response in children with ASD and their language abilities measured directly in formal assessment.In the present study, we used MEG and individual brain models to investigate 40 Hz ASSR in primary-school -aged children with and without ASD. It was also used to assess how the strength of the auditory response is related to language abilities of children with ASD, their non-verbal IQ, and social functioning. A total of 40 children were included in the study.The results demonstrated that 40 Hz ASSR was reduced in the right auditory cortex in children with ASD when comparing them to typically developing controls. Importantly, our study provides the first evidence of the as-sociation between 40 Hz ASSR in the language-dominant left auditory cortex and language comprehension in children with ASD. This link was domain-specific because the other brain-behavior correlations were non-significant.

Automated summary

Language impairment is common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the neural mechanisms behind it are not well understood. This study investigates the relationship between a specific auditory response (40 Hz ASSR) and language abilities in children with ASD using MEG and individual brain models. The results show reduced 40 Hz ASSR in the right auditory cortex of children with ASD and an association between 40 Hz ASSR in the left auditory cortex and language comprehension.