Electroencephalogram Coherence in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders: Decreased Interhemispheric Connectivity in Autism

Electroencephalogram coherence was measured in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and control children at baseline and while watching videos of a familiar and unfamiliar person reading a story. Coherence was measured between the left and right hemispheres of the frontal, parietal, and temporal-parietal lobes (interhemispheric) and between the frontal and parietal lobes in each hemisphere (intrahemispheric). A data-reduction technique was employed to identify the frequency (alpha) that yielded significant differences in video conditions. Children with ASD displayed reduced coherence at the alpha frequency between the left and right temporal-parietal lobes in all conditions and reduced coherence at the alpha frequency between left and right frontal lobes during baseline. No group differences in intrahemispheric coherence at the alpha frequency emerged at the chosen statistical threshold. Results suggest decreased interhemispheric connectivity in frontal and temporal-parietal regions in children with ASD compared to controls. Autism Res 2014, 7: 334-343. (c) 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.