Contextual probability evaluation in autistic, receptive developmental language disorder, and control children: event-related brain potential evidence.

A J Lincoln; E Courchesne; L Harms; M Allen

doi:10.1007/bf01066417

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Contextual probability evaluation in autistic, receptive developmental language disorder, and control children: event-related brain potential evidence.

A J Lincoln·E Courchesne·L Harms·M Allen

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Abstract

Compared 8- to 14-year-old children with either autism or receptive developmental language disorder (RDLD) to age- and IQ-matched normal controls in their ability to detect both frequent (p = .70) and infrequent (p = .30) randomly presented auditory stimuli under task and no-task conditions. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), behavioral reaction times, and target detection accuracy rates were measured. Although the three groups of children performed in a similar manner on behavioral measures, only the children with autism demonstrated an abnormally small amplitude of the P3b, a component of the ERP. This result is interpreted in terms of (a) the consistency of this finding with other ERP studies involving older individuals with autism; and (b) its significance with respect to the difficulty children with autism have in modifying their expectancies to contextually relevant sequences of auditory information.

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Acoustic Stimulation Adolescent Autistic Disorder Child Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem Female Humans Language Disorders Language Tests Male Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Reaction Time Speech Perception Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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A J Lincoln, E Courchesne, L Harms, M Allen. 1993. Contextual probability evaluation in autistic, receptive developmental language disorder, and control children: event-related brain potential evidence.. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01066417

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