A Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study of Superior Visual Search Abilities in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
David A Edmondson, Pingyu Xia, Rebecca McNally Keehn and 2 others
PMID 31909886WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism and typically developing children did not differ in visual cortex GABA+ or visual search.
Only in the autism group, higher visual cortex GABA+ was linked to more efficient search.
Key findings
01GABA+ levels did not differ significantly between children with ASD and TD children.
02The ASD and TD groups did not differ significantly in visual search accuracy, reaction time, or search efficiency.
03In children with ASD, higher visual cortex GABA+ was associated with more efficient search on absent-target trials.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The visual search task may have been too easy to show the expected advantage for children with ASD. Ten children with ASD were prescribed psychotropic medication, and medication use was not an exclusion criterion. MRS cannot tell whether the measured GABA signal reflects synaptic GABA or stored GABA. The sample was 21 children with ASD and 20 typically developing children. Typically developing children had better scan quality on some measures, although the authors said the spectra were still high quality. Associations with parent-reported symptoms did not survive multiple comparison adjustment.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The article lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that children with autism have superior visual search or that visual cortex GABA+ can guide therapy. The ASD and TD groups did not differ in search performance or GABA+ levels, and the visual cortex association was found only in the ASD group.