Speech-feature discrimination in children with Asperger syndrome as determined with the multi-feature mismatch negativity paradigm.
OBJECTIVE
Asperger syndrome, belonging to the autistic spectrum of disorders, involves deficits in social interaction and prosodic use of language but normal development of formal language abilities. Auditory processing involves both hyper- and hypoactive reactivity to acoustic changes.


METHODS
Responses composed of mismatch negativity (MMN) and obligatory components were recorded for five types of deviations in syllables (vowel, vowel duration, consonant, syllable frequency, syllable intensity) with the multi-feature paradigm from 8-12-year old children with Asperger syndrome.


RESULTS
Children with Asperger syndrome had larger MMNs for intensity and smaller MMNs for frequency changes than typically developing children, whereas no MMN group differences were found for the other deviant stimuli. Furthermore, children with Asperger syndrome performed more poorly than controls in Comprehension of Instructions subtest of a language test battery.


CONCLUSIONS
Cortical speech-sound discrimination is aberrant in children with Asperger syndrome. This is evident both as hypersensitive and depressed neural reactions to speech-sound changes, and is associated with features (frequency, intensity) which are relevant for prosodic processing.


CONCLUSIONS
The multi-feature MMN paradigm, which includes variation and thereby resembles natural speech hearing circumstances, suggests abnormal pattern of speech discrimination in Asperger syndrome, including both hypo- and hypersensitive responses for speech features.
Kujala
T
T
Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: teija.m.kujala@helsinki.fi.
Kuuluvainen
S
S
Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland.
Saalasti
S
S
Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland.
Jansson-Verkasalo
E
E
Faculty of Humanities, Logopedics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 1000, FIN-90014, Oulu, Finland; Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurocognitive Unit, University Hospital of Oulu, P.O. Box 50, FIN-90029, Oulu, Finland.
Wendt
L von
LV
Department of Child Neurology, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Lepistö
T
T
Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Child Neurology, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Helsinki, Finland.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*