Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Sep 8;13(18):2878.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13182878.

EEG Correlates of Cognitive Functions in a Child with ASD and White Matter Signal Abnormalities: A Case Report with Two-and-a-Half-Year Follow-Up

Milica Ćirović  1   2 , Ljiljana Jeličić  1   2 , Slavica Maksimović  1   2 , Saška Fatić  1   2 , Maša Marisavljević  1   2 , Tatjana Bošković Matić  3   4 , Miško Subotić  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

EEG Correlates of Cognitive Functions in a Child with ASD and White Matter Signal Abnormalities: A Case Report with Two-and-a-Half-Year Follow-Up

Milica Ćirović et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the EEG correlates of different stimuli processing instances in a child with ASD and white matter signal abnormalities and to investigate their relationship to the results of behavioral tests. The prospective case study reports two and a half years of follow-up data from a child aged 38 to 66 months. Cognitive, speech-language, sensory, and EEG correlates of auditory-verbal and auditory-visual-verbal information processing were recorded during five test periods, and their mutual interrelation was analyzed. EEG findings revealed no functional theta frequency range redistribution in the frontal regions favoring the left hemisphere during speech processing. The results pointed to a positive linear trend in the relative theta frequency range and a negative linear trend in the relative alpha frequency range when listening to and watching the cartoon. There was a statistically significant correlation between EEG signals and behavioral test results. Based on the obtained results, it may be concluded that EEG signals and their association with the results of behavioral tests should be evaluated with certain restraints considering the characteristics of the stimuli during EEG recording.

Keywords: EEG correlates; autism spectrum disorder; cognitive functions; white matter signal abnormalities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The time dependence of differences between the mean spectral power of the left and right hemispheres in the theta frequency range during watching and listening to a cartoon and listening to a story. Theta Cartoon—differences between the mean spectral power of the left and right hemispheres in the theta frequency range during watching and listening to a cartoon; Theta Story—differences between the mean spectral power of the left and right hemispheres in the theta frequency range during listening to a story; Linear (Theta Cartoon)—linear approximations of Theta Cartoon; Linear (Theta Story)—linear approximations of Theta Story.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time dependences of the relative ratios of theta, alpha, and beta rhythms calculated according to Equation (1) during watching and listening to a cartoon. RThetaC—the relative contribution of the theta frequency range to the total signal during watching and listening to a cartoon; RAlphaC—the relative contribution of the alpha frequency range to the total signal during watching and listening to a cartoon; RBetaC—the relative contribution of the beta frequency range to the total signal during watching and listening to a cartoon; Linear (RThetaC)—linear approximations of RThetaC; Linear (RAlphaC)—linear approximations of RAlphaC; Linear (RBetaC)—linear approximations of RBetaC.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time dependences of the relative ratios of theta, alpha, and beta rhythms calculated according to Equation (1) during listening to a story. RThetaS—the relative contribution of the theta frequency range to the total signal during listening to a story; RAlphaS—the relative contribution of the alpha frequency range to the total signal during listening to a story; RBetaS—the relative contribution of the beta frequency range to the total signal during listening to a story; Linear (RThetaS)—linear approximations of RThetaS; Linear (RAlphaS)—linear approximations of RAlphaS; Linear (RBetaS)—linear approximations of RBetaS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Whitehouse A. Commentary: A spectrum for all? A response to Green et al.(2023), neurodiversity, autism and health care. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health. 2023;28:443–445. doi: 10.1111/camh.12666. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wilkinson M., Wang R., van der Kouwe A., Takahashi E. White and gray matter fiber pathways in autism spectrum disorder revealed by ex vivo diffusion MR tractography. Brain Behav. 2016;6:e00483. doi: 10.1002/brb3.483. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bach B., Vestergaard M. Differential Diagnosis of ICD-11 Personality Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adolescents. Children. 2023;10:992. doi: 10.3390/children10060992. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amaral D.G. Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science. Dana Foundation; New York, NY, USA: 2017. Examining the causes of autism. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wolff J.J., Gu H., Gerig G., Elison J.T., Styner M., Gouttard S., Botteron K.N., Dager S.R., Dawson G., Estes A.M. Differences in white matter fiber tract development present from 6 to 24 months in infants with autism. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2012;169:589–600. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.11091447. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources