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. 2024 Nov;55(6):613-624.
doi: 10.1177/15500594241255499. Epub 2024 May 16.

Pre-attentive and Attentive Auditory Event-related Potentials in Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism

Ulrich Schall  1   2   3 , Ross Fulham  1   3 , Max Günther  1   4 , Jessica Bergmann  1   5 , Renate Thienel  1   3 , Julie Ortmann  1   6 , Natalie G Wall  1   3   5 , Paula Gómez Álvarez  7 , Anne-Marie Youlden  2
Affiliations

Pre-attentive and Attentive Auditory Event-related Potentials in Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism

Ulrich Schall et al. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Abnormalities in auditory processing are believed to play a major role in autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Both conditions often co-occur in children, causing difficulties in deciding the most promising intervention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been investigated and are showing promise to act as potential biomarkers for both conditions. This study investigated mismatch negativity (MMN) using a passive listening task and P3b in an active auditory go/no-go discrimination task. Recordings were available from 103 children (24 females): 35 with ADHD, 27 autistic, 15 autistic children with co-occurring ADHD, and 26 neurotypical (NT) children. The age range considered was between 4 and 17 years, but varied between groups. The results revealed increases in the MMN and P3b amplitudes with age. Older children with ADHD exhibited smaller P3b amplitudes, while younger autistic children showed reduced MMN amplitudes in response to phoneme changes compared to their NT counterparts. Notably, children diagnosed with autism and ADHD did not follow this pattern; instead, they exhibited more similarities to NT children. The reduced amplitudes of phonetically elicited MMN in children with autism and reduced P3b in children with ADHD suggest that the two respective ERPs can act as potential biomarkers for each condition. However, optimisation and standardisation of the testing protocol, as well as longitudinal studies are required in order to translate these findings into clinical practice.

Keywords: P3b; attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; autism; mismatch negativity; phonemes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Frequency spectra of the standard and deviant sound stimuli in the P3b recording.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
ERPs of neurotypical children recorded in a passive listening task increase with age in response to the frequent standard tone and the infrequent longer duration deviant tone, thus resulting in a larger MMN predominantly at the front-central electrode Fz. ERPs, event-related potentials. MMN, mismatch negativity.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
ERPs of neurotypical children in response to target and non-target tones in an auditory go/no-go discrimination task. P3b amplitudes in response to target tones increase with age. ERPs, event-related potentials.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
ERPs in response to duration (Dur), frequency (Frq) and phoneme (Phon) stimuli in a passive listening task. ERPs in response to standard (STD), deviant (DEV) and resulting MMN are shown for the four groups (Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder with co-morbid ADHD and neurotypical children). ERPs, event-related potentials; MMN, mismatch negativity.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
ERPs of children for the four groups (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), autistic spectrum disorder with co-morbid ADHD and neurotypical children) in response to target and non-target tones elicited in an auditory go/no-go discrimination task. ERPs, event-related potentials.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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