DOI: 10.1097/01.NT.0000345148.63209.e5

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Issn Print: 1533-7006

Publication Date: 2009/01/02


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MEG Reveals Sound Processing Delays in Autistic Children

Charlene Laino

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Excerpt

CHICAGO —Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), researchers reported that it takes longer for children with autism to react to sounds than other children — a finding that may help explain the language and communication impairments associated with the disorder.
“We found that signatures of autism are revealed in the timing of brain activity,” said Timothy P.L. Roberts, PhD, vice chairman of research in the department of radiology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Speaking here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in December, Dr. Roberts said that the more severe a child's autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the greater the delay in processing sounds. Compared with children with normal development, response time was 20 percent to 50 percent longer in the autistic children.
The study was designed to evaluate neuromagnetic-evoked fields, as recorded by MEG, in response to auditory stimuli as possible biomarkers for ASDs.
MEG tracks magnetic fields produced by electrical impulses created as neurons process each sound, and software measures the time it takes for each sound to reach peak processing, Dr. Roberts explained.
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