Peak Alpha Frequency and Thalamic Structure in Children with Typical Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Heather L Green, Marissa Dipiero, Simon Koppers and 12 others
PMID 33629214WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism and typical development did not differ in peak alpha frequency or thalamic volume.
In typical development, peak alpha frequency and left thalamic volume increased with age; in autism, they did not.
Key findings
01No group differences were observed in peak alpha frequency or thalamic volume.
02In typical development, age was associated with peak alpha frequency and left thalamic volume; in autism, it was not.
03Thalamic volume was not associated with full-scale IQ, verbal IQ, nonverbal IQ, processing speed, or Social Responsiveness Scale scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Only right-handed male children were included, so the findings may not apply to girls or left-handed children. The autism group was biased toward higher-functioning children, and minimally verbal or nonverbal children were not included. The sample was a subset of earlier studies, and about 65% of participants across those studies had evaluable eyes-closed resting-state MEG data. Some children were taking stimulant or other psychotropic medication, and only some stimulant users withheld medication before testing. The average age was about 12 years, so group differences in peak alpha frequency were not expected in this age range.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that peak alpha frequency or thalamic volume can identify autism in individual children. The groups did not differ in these measures, and the study did not show that they explain IQ, processing speed, or autism symptom severity.