Brain development and neurophysiological marker of Autism spectrum disorder in young children

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24791206
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIMURA Yuko 金沢大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 博士研究員 (70597070)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 聴覚誘発磁場 / 幼児 / 自閉症スペクトラム障害

Research Abstract

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is used to measure the auditory evoked magnetic field (AEF), which affects language-related performance. Using the child-customised MEG, we investigated the P50m bilaterally in 35 young children (3 to 7 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 35 typically developing (TD) children. The results showed that the ASD children exhibited significantly less left-hemispheric dominance in P50m intensity compared with the TD children. Furthermore, TD children showed that shorter P50m latency in both hemispheres was specifically correlated with higher language-related performance. However, the ASD children did not show any correlation with language-related performance; instead, increasing chronological age was a significant predictor of shorter P50m latency in the right hemisphere. Our results revealed an atypical brain maturation of the auditory cortex in young children with ASD, regardless of language development.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Atypical brain lateralization in the auditory cortex and language performance in 3- to 7-year-old children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder : a child-customised magnetoencephalography (MEG) study (2013)
  • Author(s): Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Shitamichi K, Ueno S, Munesue T, Ono Y, Tsubokawa T, Haruta Y, Oi M, Niida Y, Remijn GB, Takahashi T, Suzuki M, Higashida H, Minabe Y
  • Journal Title: Molecular Autism Volume: 4(1) Pages: 38
  • DOI: 10.1186/2040-2392-4-38
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The brain's response to the human voice depends on the incidence of autistic traits in the general population (2013)
  • Author(s): Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Ueno S, Okumura E, Hiraishi H, Hasegawa C, Remijn GB, Shitamichi K, Munesue T, Tsubokawa T, Higashida H, Minabe Y
  • Journal Title: PLos ONE Volume: 8(11) Pages: e80126
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080126.
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Language performance and auditory evoked fields in 2- to 5-year-old children (2012)
  • Author(s): Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Shitamichi K, Ueno S, Remijn GB, Haruta Y, Oi M, Munesue T, Tsubokawa T, Higashida H, Minabe Y
  • Journal Title: Eur J Neurosci Volume: 35(4) Pages: 644-50
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.07998.x.
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 自閉症スペクトラム児の言語発達に関する脳機能研究 (2014)
  • Author(s): 吉村優子
  • Organizer: 金沢大学認知科学シンポジウム
  • Place of Presentation: 金沢大学
  • Year and Date: 20140306-07
• [Presentation] 3-7 歳の自閉症スペクトラム障害児における聴覚野の特殊な発達と言語能力の関係 : 小児用MEGによる研究 (2013)
  • Author(s): 吉村優子
  • Organizer: 臨床神経生理学会
  • Place of Presentation: 高知県民文化ホール
  • Year and Date: 20131107-09
• [Presentation] 3-7 歳児の自閉症スペクトラム児の声に対する脳反応と言語能力 (2013)
  • Author(s): 吉村優子
  • Organizer: 金沢大学認知科学シンポジウム
  • Place of Presentation: 金沢大学
  • Year and Date: 20130306-07
• [Presentation] A longitudinal study of auditory evoked field and language development in young children (2013)
  • Author(s): Yuko Yoshimura
  • Organizer: 30th International Congress on Clinical Neurophysiology (ICCN)(2014)
  • Year and Date: 20130000