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. 2020 May 1;10(5):272.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci10050272.

Atypical Electrophysiological Indices of Eyes-Open and Eyes-Closed Resting-State in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Autism

Alessio Bellato  1 , Iti Arora  1 , Puja Kochhar  1 , Chris Hollis  1   2 , Madeleine J Groom  1
Affiliations

Atypical Electrophysiological Indices of Eyes-Open and Eyes-Closed Resting-State in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Autism

Alessio Bellato et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Investigating electrophysiological measures during resting-state might be useful to investigate brain functioning and responsivity in individuals under diagnostic assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. EEG was recorded in 43 children with or without ADHD and autism, during a 4-min-long resting-state session which included an eyes-closed and an eyes-open condition. We calculated and analyzed occipital absolute and relative spectral power in the alpha frequency band (8-12 Hz), and alpha reactivity, conceptualized as the difference in alpha power between eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions. Alpha power was increased during eyes-closed compared to eyes-open resting-state. While absolute alpha power was reduced in children with autism, relative alpha power was reduced in children with ADHD, especially during the eyes-closed condition. Reduced relative alpha reactivity was mainly associated with lower IQ and not with ADHD or autism. Atypical brain functioning during resting-state seems differently associated with ADHD and autism, however further studies replicating these results are needed; we therefore suggest involving research groups worldwide by creating a shared and publicly available repository of resting-state EEG data collected in people with different psychological, psychiatric, or neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD and autism.

Keywords: ADHD; EEG; alpha; alpha reactivity; autism; resting-state.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of absolute alpha power during eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state conditions. Error bars are 95% credible intervals.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of absolute alpha power between children with and without autism. Error bars are 95% credible intervals.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of relative alpha power during eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state conditions. Error bars are 95% credible intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of relative alpha power during eyes-open and eyes-closed, across children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Error bars are 95% credible intervals.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Correlation plot between full scale IQ (FSIQ) and relative alpha reactivity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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