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. 2023 Dec;53(12):4856-4871.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05771-0. Epub 2022 Oct 7.

Assessing Trial-to-Trial Variability in Auditory ERPs in Autism and Schizophrenia

Sarah M Haigh  1   2 , Laura Van Key  3 , Pat Brosseau  4 , Shaun M Eack  5 , David I Leitman  6 , Dean F Salisbury  7 , Marlene Behrmann  4
Affiliations

Assessing Trial-to-Trial Variability in Auditory ERPs in Autism and Schizophrenia

Sarah M Haigh et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Sensory abnormalities are characteristic of autism and schizophrenia. In autism, greater trial-to-trial variability (TTV) in sensory neural responses suggest that the system is more unstable. However, these findings have only been identified in the amplitude and not in the timing of neural responses, and have not been fully explored in schizophrenia. TTV in event-related potential amplitudes and inter-trial coherence (ITC) were assessed in the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) in autism, schizophrenia, and controls. MMN was largest in autism and smallest in schizophrenia, and TTV was greater in autism and schizophrenia compared to controls. There were no differences in ITC. Greater TTV appears to be characteristic of both autism and schizophrenia, implicating several neural mechanisms that could underlie sensory instability.

Keywords: Auditory; Autism; Event-related potentials; Inter-trial coherence; Schizophrenia; Trial-to-trial variability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Example of the roving pitch paradigm used.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Location of electrodes (open circles) used in the analyses.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) Subtraction waveforms in autism (red), non-clinical (green), and schizophrenia groups (blue) all electrodes included in the analysis. (B) MMN amplitudes for autism, non-clinical, and schizophrenia groups from electrode Fz where the group difference was maximal.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Trial-to-trial variability (TTV) in the autism, non-clinical, and schizophrenia groups in electrodes Fz, FCz, and Cz.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Scatter graphs of the significant correlations. Top left: MMN amplitude increases with higher verbal learning scores in the schizophrenia group. Top right: MMN amplitude decreases with age across autism, non-clinical, and schizophrenia groups. Bottom: TTV decreasing with IQ in schizophrenia (left) and autism (right).
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
ITC for autism, non-clinical, and schizophrenia groups in the Fz (top), FCz (middle), and Cz (bottom) electrodes. Group comparisons showed that there were no time points across the 41 linearly spaced frequencies (which make up the whole epoch) where there were significant differences between groups (p>.05, FDT corrected).
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
ERSPs for autism, non-clinical, and schizophrenia groups in the Fz (top), FCz (middle), and Cz (bottom) electrodes. Group comparisons showed that there were no time points (of 41 points) across the whole epoch where there were significant differences between groups (p>.05, FDT corrected).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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