Visual event-related potentials to biological motion stimuli in autism spectrum disorders

Anne Kröger; Anke Bletsch; Christoph Krick; Michael Siniatchkin; Tomasz A Jarczok; Christine M Freitag; Stephan Bender

doi:10.1093/scan/nst103

Visual event-related potentials to biological motion stimuli in autism spectrum disorders

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Aug;9(8):1214-22. doi: 10.1093/scan/nst103. Epub 2013 Jul 24.

Authors

Anne Kröger¹, Anke Bletsch², Christoph Krick², Michael Siniatchkin², Tomasz A Jarczok², Christine M Freitag², Stephan Bender³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JW Goethe University Frankfurt, Deutschordenstrasse 50, Frankfurt 60528, Germany, Department of Neuroradiology, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrbergerstraße, Homburg/Saar 66424, Germany, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany Anne.Kroeger@kgu.de.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JW Goethe University Frankfurt, Deutschordenstrasse 50, Frankfurt 60528, Germany, Department of Neuroradiology, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrbergerstraße, Homburg/Saar 66424, Germany, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany.
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JW Goethe University Frankfurt, Deutschordenstrasse 50, Frankfurt 60528, Germany, Department of Neuroradiology, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrbergerstraße, Homburg/Saar 66424, Germany, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JW Goethe University Frankfurt, Deutschordenstrasse 50, Frankfurt 60528, Germany, Department of Neuroradiology, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrbergerstraße, Homburg/Saar 66424, Germany, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany.

Abstract

Atypical visual processing of biological motion contributes to social impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the exact temporal sequence of deficits of cortical biological motion processing in ASD has not been studied to date. We used 64-channel electroencephalography to study event-related potentials associated with human motion perception in 17 children and adolescents with ASD and 21 typical controls. A spatio-temporal source analysis was performed to assess the brain structures involved in these processes. We expected altered activity already during early stimulus processing and reduced activity during subsequent biological motion specific processes in ASD. In response to both, random and biological motion, the P100 amplitude was decreased suggesting unspecific deficits in visual processing, and the occipito-temporal N200 showed atypical lateralization in ASD suggesting altered hemispheric specialization. A slow positive deflection after 400 ms, reflecting top-down processes, and human motion-specific dipole activation differed slightly between groups, with reduced and more diffuse activation in the ASD-group. The latter could be an indicator of a disrupted neuronal network for biological motion processing in ADS. Furthermore, early visual processing (P100) seems to be correlated to biological motion-specific activation. This emphasizes the relevance of early sensory processing for higher order processing deficits in ASD.

Keywords: N200; P100; event-related-potentials; hemisphere-asymmetry; motion perception.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Brain / physiopathology*
Child
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / physiopathology*
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials, Visual / physiology*
Humans
Male
Motion Perception / physiology*
Neuropsychological Tests
Photic Stimulation
Social Perception*