Name recognition in autism: EEG evidence of altered patterns of brain activity and connectivity.
Impaired orienting to social stimuli is one of the core early symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, in contrast to faces, name processing has rarely been studied in individuals with ASD. Here, we investigated brain activity and functional connectivity associated with recognition of names in the high-functioning ASD group and in the control group.



EEG was recorded in 15 young males with ASD and 15 matched one-to-one control individuals. EEG data were analyzed with the event-related potential (ERP), event-related desynchronization and event-related synchronization (ERD/S), as well as coherence and direct transfer function (DTF) methods. Four categories of names were presented visually: one's own, close-other's, famous, and unknown.



Differences between the ASD and control groups were found for ERP, coherence, and DTF. In individuals with ASD, P300 (a positive ERP component) to own-name and to a close-other's name were similar whereas in control participants, P300 to own-name was enhanced when compared to all other names. Analysis of coherence and DTF revealed disruption of fronto-posterior task-related connectivity in individuals with ASD within the beta range frequencies. Moreover, DTF indicated the directionality of those impaired connections-they were going from parieto-occipital to frontal regions. DTF also showed inter-group differences in short-range connectivity: weaker connections within the frontal region and stronger connections within the occipital region in the ASD group in comparison to the control group.



Our findings suggest a lack of the self-preference effect and impaired functioning of the attentional network during recognition of visually presented names in individuals with ASD.
Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Anna
A
Nowicka
Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland ; Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute, Czerniakowska 16, 00-701 Warsaw, Poland.
Hanna B
HB
Cygan
Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland ; Brain, Body, and Self Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Retzius väg 8, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden.
Paweł
P
Tacikowski
Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 19/31 Chodakowska Street, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland.
Paweł
P
Ostaszewski
Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, 5 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Rafał
R
Kuś
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009275:Names; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
Autism spectrum disorder; Coherence; Directed transfer function; ERP; Event-related desynchronization and synchronization