Alpha connectivity and inhibitory control in adults with autism spectrum disorder.
Veronica Yuk, Benjamin T Dunkley, Evdokia Anagnostou and 1 others
PMID 33287904WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with autism matched controls on lab-based inhibition tasks but reported more everyday difficulties.
Brain scans showed reduced alpha-band connectivity in a right-hemisphere network, which correlated with self-reported poor inhibition. This suggests a specific difficulty suppressing distractions in complex real-world settings.
Key findings
01Participants with ASD performed equally well to controls on the Go/No-go task, but reported significantly more inhibition problems in everyday life than their informants did.
02During inhibition, adults with ASD showed decreased alpha-band connectivity in a network centered on the right inferior frontal gyrus compared to controls.
03Lower alpha-band connectivity in this network was associated with higher self-reported difficulty with inhibition in daily life.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study excluded participants who performed poorly on the task, so the sample represents adults with relatively preserved inhibitory control. The groups were matched for IQ, so results may not generalise to adults with ASD who have lower cognitive abilities. Questionnaire data was missing for some participants. The study was exploratory and did not correct for multiple comparisons across frequency bands; the main alpha-band finding would not have survived such correction. Effect sizes were small to medium.
Declared interests
Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. No other conflicts declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adults with ASD have a general deficit in response inhibition. They performed equally well as controls on the lab task; the finding is specific to alpha-band connectivity related to suppressing distractions in complex environments.