Brain oscillations and connectivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD): new approaches to methodology, measurement and modelling

K. Kessler*, R.A. Seymour, G. Rippon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Although atypical social behaviour remains a key characterisation of ASD, the presence ofsensory and perceptual abnormalities has been given a more central role in recentclassification changes. An understanding of the origins of such aberrations could thus prove afruitful focus for ASD research. Early neurocognitive models of ASD suggested that thestudy of high frequency activity in the brain as a measure of cortical connectivity mightprovide the key to understanding the neural correlates of sensory and perceptual deviations inASD. As our review shows, the findings from subsequent research have been inconsistent,with a lack of agreement about the nature of any high frequency disturbances in ASD brains.Based on the application of new techniques using more sophisticated measures of brainsynchronisation, direction of information flow, and invoking the coupling between high andlow frequency bands, we propose a framework which could reconcile apparently conflictingfindings in this area and would be consistent both with emerging neurocognitive models ofautism and with the heterogeneity of the condition.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)601-620
Number of pages20
JournalNeuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Volume71
Early online date5 Oct 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2016

Bibliographical note

© 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

  • Autism
  • Brain connectivity
  • Brain oscillations
  • Gamma
  • Predictive coding

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