1. Mamashli F, Khan S, Bharadwaj H, Michmizos K, Ganesan S, Garel KA, Ali Hashmi J, Herbert MR, Hamalainen M, Kenet T. {{Auditory processing in noise is associated with complex patterns of disrupted functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism Res};2016 (Dec 02)
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with difficulty in processing speech in a noisy background, but the neural mechanisms that underlie this deficit have not been mapped. To address this question, we used magnetoencephalography to compare the cortical responses between ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals to a passive mismatch paradigm. We repeated the paradigm twice, once in a quiet background, and once in the presence of background noise. We focused on both the evoked mismatch field (MMF) response in temporal and frontal cortical locations, and functional connectivity with spectral specificity between those locations. In the quiet condition, we found common neural sources of the MMF response in both groups, in the right temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). In the noise condition, the MMF response in the right IFG was preserved in the TD group, but reduced relative to the quiet condition in ASD group. The MMF response in the right IFG also correlated with severity of ASD. Moreover, in noise, we found significantly reduced normalized coherence (deviant normalized by standard) in ASD relative to TD, in the beta band (14-25 Hz), between left temporal and left inferior frontal sub-regions. However, unnormalized coherence (coherence during deviant or standard) was significantly increased in ASD relative to TD, in multiple frequency bands. Our findings suggest increased recruitment of neural resources in ASD irrespective of the task difficulty, alongside a reduction in top-down modulations, usually mediated by the beta band, needed to mitigate the impact of noise on auditory processing. Autism Res 2016,. (c) 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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2. Micai M, Joseph H, Vulchanova M, Saldana D. {{Strategies of readers with autism when responding to inferential questions: An eye-movement study}}. {Autism Res};2016 (Dec 02)
Previous research suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties with inference generation in reading tasks. However, most previous studies have examined how well children understand a text after reading or have measured on-line reading behavior without response to questions. The aim of this study was to investigate the online strategies of children and adolescents with autism during reading and at the same time responding to a question by monitoring their eye movements. The reading behavior of participants with ASD was compared with that of age-, language-, nonverbal intelligence-, reading-, and receptive language skills-matched participants without ASD (control group). The results showed that the ASD group were as accurate as the control group in generating inferences when answering questions about the short texts, and no differences were found between the two groups in the global paragraph reading and responding times. However, the ASD group displayed longer gaze latencies on a target word necessary to produce an inference. They also showed more regressions into the word that supported the inference compared to the control group after reading the question, irrespective of whether an inference was required or not. In conclusion, the ASD group achieved an equivalent level of inferential comprehension, but showed subtle differences in reading comprehension strategies compared to the control group. Autism Res 2016,. (c) 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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3. Zachor DA, Vardi S, Baron-Eitan S, Brodai-Meir I, Ginossar N, Ben-Itzchak E. {{The effectiveness of an outdoor adventure programme for young children with autism spectrum disorder: a controlled study}}. {Dev Med Child Neurol};2016 (Dec 02)
AIM: Outdoor adventure programmes aim to improve interpersonal relationships using adventurous activities. The current study examined the effectiveness of an outdoor adventure programme in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). METHOD: The study included 51 participants (40 males, 11 females; age 3y 4mo-7y 4mo) enrolled in ASD special education kindergartens. Only the intervention group (n=30) participated in the outdoor adventure programme for 13 weeks, completing challenging physical activities that required cooperation and communication with peers and instructors. The control group (n=21) was not significantly different from the research group in age, sex, cognitive, and adaptive behaviour measures. RESULTS: Outcomes after the intervention revealed significant improvement in social-communication and different directions in the two groups in the social cognition, social motivation, and autistic mannerisms subdomains of the Social Responsiveness Scale. While the group that received an outdoor adventure programme showed a tendency toward a reduction in severity, the control group showed the opposite (p<0.010). INTERPRETATION: The outdoor adventure programme required problem-solving skills and forced the child to communicate in exciting situations. This study suggests that an outdoor adventure programme may be an effective intervention in addition to traditional treatments in young children with ASD. Future studies should examine the outcome of outdoor adventure programmes delivered for longer periods of time and maintenance of the achievements over time. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
