Alzheimer’s Disease genetic risk factor APoE 4 impact auditory processing in young adults
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Abstract Background Recent studies have suggested that prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are accompanied with central auditory system dysfunction, which may be used as early indicators of disease onset and progression. In AD patients of 60 years old and more and in APOE4 carriers, atypical patterns of oscillatory entrainment to repetitive sound transients have been reported and suggested as potential neuromarkers of AD. Whether such alterations of auditory functions relate to genetic risk factor of AD (APOE4) at an early age (<30) is unknown. Method We used EEG recordings to measure auditory responses to repetitive sounds (1 second click trains presented at various frequencies (10‐250Hz) in 32 young neurotypical participants). To test whether auditory responsivity is affected by AD risk factor, we compared auditory brain responses from 17 APOE3 (age mean = 21.6, sd = 1.8) and 17 APOE4 carriers (age mean = 23.6, sd = 4.9). Result Comparing the magnitude of auditory event related potentials (ERP) we observed that APOE4 carriers exhibit slightly attenuated P2 and P3 ERP responses as well as delayed N1 and P2 ERP responses compared to APOE3 carriers. Focusing on Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR) power across frequencies (10‐90Hz), we observed that APOE3 carriers exhibit reliably larger neural entrainment than APOE4 carriers (Cohens’ d = 0.8, ‘large’ effect size). This difference was sustained across the peristimulus time course and did vary across stimulus frequencies. Conclusion Overall, these results suggest that central auditory differences can be detected very early in at‐risk populations. Studying these signals could help identify early AD pathology and provide an entry point for therapeutic interventions against neurodegeneration.Keywords:
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Auditory System
Apolipoprotein E
Previous work indicates that first impressions of autistic adults are more favorable when neurotypical raters know their clinical diagnosis and have high understanding about autism, suggesting that social experiences of autistic adults are affected by the knowledge and beliefs of the neurotypical individuals they encounter. Here, we examine these patterns in more detail by assessing variability in first impression ratings of autistic adults ( N = 20) by neurotypical raters ( N = 505). Variability in ratings was driven more by characteristics of raters than those of autistic adults, particularly for items related to “intentions to interact.” Specifically, variability in rater stigma toward autism and autism knowledge contributed to first impression ratings. Only ratings of “awkwardness” were driven more by characteristics of the autistic adults than characteristics of the raters. Furthermore, although first impressions of autistic adults generally improved when raters were informed of their autism status, providing a diagnosis worsened impressions made by neurotypical raters with high stigma toward autism. Variations in how the diagnosis was labeled (e.g. “autistic” vs “has autism”) did not affect results. These findings indicate a large role of neurotypical perceptions and biases in shaping the social experiences for autistic adults that may be improved by reducing stigma and increasing acceptance.
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Individuals diagnosed with autistic spectrum conditions often show deficits in processing emotional faces relative to neurotypical peers. However, little is known about whether similar deficits exist in neurotypical individuals who show high‐levels of autistic‐like traits. To address this question, we compared performance on an attentional blink task in a large sample of adults who showed low‐ or high‐levels of autistic‐like traits on the Autism Spectrum Quotient. We found that threatening faces inserted as the second target in a rapid serial visual presentation were identified more accurately among individuals with low‐ compared to high‐levels of autistic‐like traits. This is the first study to show that attentional blink abnormalities seen in autism extend to the neurotypical population with autistic‐like traits, adding to the growing body of research suggesting that autistic‐related patterns of behaviors extend into a subset of the neurotypical population. Autism Res 2017, 10: 311–320 . © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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A growing body of research has suggested heart rate variability (HRV) may be reduced in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to neurotypical cohorts. While there have been several studies investigating HRV in children diagnosed with ASD, few studies have been conducted in adults. The objective of the current study was to investigate autonomic nervous system activity as assessed by HRV in adults diagnosed with ASD. We hypothesized that adults with ASD would show a reduction in HRV compared to neurotypical participants. Participants diagnosed with ASD ( n = 55) were recruited from the Autism Clinic for Translational Research at the Brain and Mind Centre (University of Sydney) between 2013 and 2017. Neurotypical participants were recruited from advertisements and online media. Resting state heart rate was measured for 5 min while participants sat in an upright position. Results showed there was an overall significant difference in resting‐state HRV between adults diagnosed with ASD compared to the neurotypical control group. Logarithmically transformed high frequency (HF) and root mean square of successive differences were particularly decreased in the ASD group, suggesting lower parasympathetic activity. The use of psychotropic medications and comorbidities were associated with reductions in low frequency of HRV. Our data suggest an overall dysregulation in resting autonomic activity in adults with ASD. This may represent an important physiological mechanism leading to potential cardiovascular risk in ASD, which warrants further investigation. Autism Res 2019, 12: 922–930 . © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary ASD is commonly associated with a range of physical and mental health comorbidities. Autonomic disruptions underlying reductions in heart rate variability (HRV) have been linked to a range of mental and physical health conditions. We assessed resting‐state HRV in adults diagnosed with ASD in comparison to healthy individuals. Our results showed reduced heart rate variability in people diagnosed with ASD compared to adults without ASD. These findings implicate a role for autonomic activity as a potentially modifiable risk factor for ASD.
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Social "difficulties" associated with ASD may be a product of neurotypical-autistic differences in emotion expression and recognition. Research suggests that neurotypical and autistic individuals exhibit expressive differences, with autistic individuals displaying less frequent expressions that are rated lower in quality by non-autistic raters. Autistic individuals have difficulties recognizing neurotypical facial expressions; neurotypical individuals have difficulties recognizing autistic expressions. However, findings are mixed. Task-related factors (e.g., intensity of stimuli) and participant characteristics (e.g., age, IQ, comorbid diagnoses) may contribute to the mixed findings. The authors conclude by highlighting important areas for future research and the clinical implications of the discussed findings.
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Participation in Organised Extracurricular Social Activities (OESA) can provide positive outcomes for children. This study investigated whether children aged 4 to 12 years diagnosed with autism differ in their OESA participation and experience compared to neurotypical peers. Parents of autistic children (n = 35) and those of neurotypical peers (n = 171) responded to questions that asked them to reflect on their child's participation and experiences in OESAs. Parents of autistic children reported significantly less OESA participation compared to parents of neurotypical children. Additionally, when evaluating factors that facilitated OESA participation, parents of autistic children rated their child's individual abilities and behaviour, the OESA's features, and the social environment less positively, compared to parents of neurotypical children. OESA participation and experiences differ for autistic and neurotypical children. This study identifies factors that can be adjusted to mitigate this difference.
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Recent research has shown that adults and children with autism spectrum disorders have a more conservative decision criterion in perceptual decision making compared to neurotypical individuals, meaning that autistic participants prioritise accuracy over speed of a decision. Here, we test whether autistic traits in the neurotypical population correlate with increased response conservativeness. We employed three different tasks; for two tasks we recruited participants from China ( N = 39) and for one task from the United Kingdom ( N = 37). Our results show that autistic traits in the neurotypical population do not predict variation in response criterion. We also failed to replicate previous work showing a relationship between autistic traits and sensitivity to coherent motion and static orientation. Following the argument proposed by Gregory and Plaisted-Grant, we discuss why perceptual differences between autistic and neurotypical participants do not necessarily predict perceptual differences between neurotypical participants with high and low autistic traits.
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