Contextual probability evaluation in autistic, receptive developmental language disorder, and control children: event-related brain potential evidence.
Compared 8- to 14-year-old children with either autism or receptive developmental language disorder (RDLD) to age- and IQ-matched normal controls in their ability to detect both frequent (p = .70) and infrequent (p = .30) randomly presented auditory stimuli under task and no-task conditions. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), behavioral reaction times, and target detection accuracy rates were measured. Although the three groups of children performed in a similar manner on behavioral measures, only the children with autism demonstrated an abnormally small amplitude of the P3b, a component of the ERP. This result is interpreted in terms of (a) the consistency of this finding with other ERP studies involving older individuals with autism; and (b) its significance with respect to the difficulty children with autism have in modifying their expectancies to contextually relevant sequences of auditory information.
Lincoln
A J
AJ
Neuropsychology Research Laboratory, Children's Hospital Research Center, San Diego.
Courchesne
E
E
Harms
L
L
Allen
M
M
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D013067:Speech Perception