Altered neural oscillations and connectivity in the beta band underlie detail-oriented visual processing in autism

Tracking the neurodevelopmental trajectory of beta band oscillations with optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography

Neural oscillations mediate the coordination of activity within and between brain networks, supporting cognition and behaviour. How these processes develop throughout childhood is not only an important neuroscientific question but could also shed light on the mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, measuring the neurodevelopmental trajectory of oscillations has been hampered by confounds from instrumentation. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of a disruptive new imaging platform - optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG) - to study oscillations during brain development. We show how a unique 192-channel OPM-MEG device, which is adaptable to head size and robust to participant movement, can be used to collect high-fidelity electrophysiological data in individuals aged between 2 and 34 years. Data were collected during a somatosensory task, and we measured both stimulus-induced modulation of beta oscillations in sensory cortex, and whole-brain connectivity, showing that both modulate significantly with age. Moreover, we show that pan-spectral bursts of electrophysiological activity drive task-induced beta modulation, and that their probability of occurrence and spectral content change with age. Our results offer new insights into the developmental trajectory of beta oscillations and provide clear evidence that OPM-MEG is an ideal platform for studying electrophysiology in neurodevelopment.

Innovation at the Intersection: Emerging Translational Research in Neurology and Psychiatry

Translational research in neurological and psychiatric diseases is a rapidly advancing field that promises to redefine our approach to these complex conditions [...].

Infants' reorienting efficiency depends on parental autistic traits and predicts future socio-communicative behaviors

Attentional reorienting is dysfunctional not only in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but also in infants who will develop ASD, thus constituting a potential causal factor of future social interaction and communication abilities. Following the research domain criteria framework, we hypothesized that the presence of subclinical autistic traits in parents should lead to atypical infants' attentional reorienting, which in turn should impact on their future socio-communication behavior in toddlerhood. During an attentional cueing task, we measured the saccadic latencies in a large sample (total enrolled n = 89; final sample n = 71) of 8-month-old infants from the general population as a proxy for their stimulus-driven attention. Infants were grouped in a high parental traits (HPT; n = 23) or in a low parental traits (LPT; n = 48) group, according to the degree of autistic traits self-reported by their parents. Infants (n = 33) were then longitudinally followed to test their socio-communicative behaviors at 21 months. Results show a sluggish reorienting system, which was a longitudinal predictor of future socio-communicative skills at 21 months. Our combined transgenerational and longitudinal findings suggest that the early functionality of the stimulus-driven attentional network-redirecting attention from one event to another-could be directly connected to future social and communication development.

The neurodevelopmental trajectory of beta band oscillations: an OPM-MEG study

Neural oscillations mediate the coordination of activity within and between brain networks, supporting cognition and behaviour. How these processes develop throughout childhood is not only an important neuroscientific question but could also shed light on the mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, measuring the neurodevelopmental trajectory of oscillations has been hampered by confounds from instrumentation. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of a disruptive new imaging platform - Optically Pumped Magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG) - to study oscillations during brain development. We show how a unique 192-channel OPM-MEG device, which is adaptable to head size and robust to participant movement, can be used to collect high-fidelity electrophysiological data in individuals aged between 2 and 34 years. Data were collected during a somatosensory task, and we measured both stimulus-induced modulation of beta oscillations in sensory cortex, and whole-brain connectivity, showing that both modulate significantly with age. Moreover, we show that pan-spectral bursts of electrophysiological activity drive task-induced beta modulation, and that their probability of occurrence and spectral content change with age. Our results offer new insights into the developmental trajectory of beta oscillations and provide clear evidence that OPM-MEG is an ideal platform for studying electrophysiology in neurodevelopment.

Beta oscillations in vision: a (preconscious) neural mechanism for the dorsal visual stream?

Neural oscillations in alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) frequency bands are thought to reflect feedback/reentrant loops and large-scale cortical interactions. In the last decades a main effort has been made in linking perception with alpha-band oscillations, with converging evidence showing that alpha oscillations have a key role in the temporal and featural binding of visual input, configuring the alpha rhythm a key determinant of conscious visual experience. Less attention has been historically dedicated to link beta oscillations and visual processing. Nonetheless, increasing studies report that task conditions that require to segregate/integrate stimuli in space, to disentangle local/global shapes, to spatially reorganize visual inputs, and to achieve motion perception or form-motion integration, rely on the activity of beta oscillations, with a main hub in parietal areas. In the present review, we summarize the evidence linking oscillations within the beta band and visual perception. We propose that beta oscillations represent a neural code that supports the functionality of the magnocellular-dorsal (M-D) visual pathway, serving as a fast primary neural code to exert top-down influences on the slower parvocellular-ventral visual pathway activity. Such M-D-related beta activity is proposed to act mainly pre-consciously, providing the spatial coordinates of vision and guiding the conscious extraction of objects identity that are achieved with slower alpha rhythms in ventral areas. Finally, within this new theoretical framework, we discuss the potential role of M-D-related beta oscillations in visuo-spatial attention, oculo-motor behavior and reading (dis)abilities.

Characterizing social and cognitive EEG-ERP through multiple kernel learning

EEG-ERP social-cognitive studies with healthy populations commonly fail to provide significant evidence due to low-quality data and the inherent similarity between groups. We propose a multiple kernel learning-based approach to enhance classification accuracy while keeping the traceability of the features (frequency bands or regions of interest) as a linear combination of kernels. These weights determine the relevance of each source of information, which is crucial for specialists. As a case study, we classify healthy ex-combatants of the Colombian armed conflict and civilians through a cognitive valence recognition task. Although previous works have shown accuracies below 80% with these groups, our proposal achieved an F1 score of 98%, revealing the most relevant bands and brain regions, which are the base for socio-cognitive trainings. With this methodology, we aim to contribute to standardizing EEG analyses and enhancing their statistics.

Wider and Stronger Inhibitory Ring of the Attentional Focus in Schizophrenia

Anomalies of attentional selection have been repeatedly described in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, a precise analysis of their ability to inhibit irrelevant visual information during attentional selection is not documented. Recent behavioral as well as neurophysiological and computational evidence showed that attentional search among different competing stimuli elicits an area of suppression in the immediate surrounding of the attentional focus. In the present study, the strength and spatial extension of this surround suppression were tested in individuals with schizophrenia and neurotypical controls. Participants were asked to report the orientation of a visual "pop-out" target, which appeared in different positions within a peripheral array of non-target stimuli. In half of the trials, after the target appeared, a probe circle circumscribed a non-target stimulus at various target-to-probe distances; in this case, participants were asked to report the probe orientation instead. Results suggest that, as compared to neurotypical controls, individuals with schizophrenia showed stronger and spatially more extended filtering of visual information in the areas surrounding their attentional focus. This increased filtering of visual information outside the focus of attention might potentially hamper their ability to integrate different elements into coherent percepts and influence higher order behavioral, affective, and cognitive domains.

Haploinsufficiency of Shank3 increases the orientation selectivity of V1 neurons

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose hallmarks are social deficits, language impairment, repetitive behaviors, and sensory alterations. It has been reported that patients with ASD show differential activity in cortical regions, for instance, increased neuronal activity in visual processing brain areas and atypical visual perception compared with healthy subjects. The causes of these alterations remain unclear, although many studies demonstrate that ASD has a strong genetic correlation. An example is Phelan-McDermid syndrome, caused by a deletion of the Shank3 gene in one allele of chromosome 22. However, the neuronal consequences relating to the haploinsufficiency of Shank3 in the brain remain unknown. Given that sensory abnormalities are often present along with the core symptoms of ASD, our goal was to study the tuning properties of the primary visual cortex to orientation and direction in awake, head-fixed Shank3^+/- mice. We recorded neural activity in vivo in response to visual gratings in the primary visual cortex from a mouse model of ASD (Shank3^+/- mice) using the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6f, imaged with a two-photon microscope through a cranial window. We found that Shank3^+/- mice showed a higher proportion of neurons responsive to drifting gratings stimuli than wild-type mice. Shank3^+/- mice also show increased responses to some specific stimuli. Furthermore, analyzing the distributions of neurons for the tuning width, we found that Shank3^+/- mice have narrower tuning widths, which was corroborated by analyzing the orientation selectivity. Regarding this, Shank3^+/- mice have a higher proportion of selective neurons, specifically neurons showing increased selectivity to orientation but not direction. Thus, the haploinsufficiency of Shank3 modified the neuronal response of the primary visual cortex.

The Role of Alpha Oscillations among the Main Neuropsychiatric Disorders in the Adult and Developing Human Brain: Evidence from the Last 10 Years of Research

Alpha oscillations (7-13 Hz) are the dominant rhythm in both the resting and active brain. Accordingly, translational research has provided evidence for the involvement of aberrant alpha activity in the onset of symptomatological features underlying syndromes such as autism, schizophrenia, major depression, and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, findings on the matter are difficult to reconcile due to the variety of paradigms, analyses, and clinical phenotypes at play, not to mention recent technical and methodological advances in this domain. Herein, we seek to address this issue by reviewing the literature gathered on this topic over the last ten years. For each neuropsychiatric disorder, a dedicated section will be provided, containing a concise account of the current models proposing characteristic alterations of alpha rhythms as a core mechanism to trigger the associated symptomatology, as well as a summary of the most relevant studies and scientific contributions issued throughout the last decade. We conclude with some advice and recommendations that might improve future inquiries within this field.

MVME-RCMFDE framework for discerning hyper-responsivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders

BACKGROUND

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), characterized by impaired sensory processing, has a wide range of clinical heterogeneity, which handicaps effective therapeutic interventions. Therefore, it is imperative to develop potential mechanisms for delineating clinically meaningful subgroups, so as to provide individualised medical treatment. In this study, an attempt is being made to differentiate the hyper-responsive subgroup from ASD by analysing the complexity pattern of Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs), recorded from a group of 30 ASD participants, in the presence of vertical achromatic sinewave gratings at varying contrast conditions of low (5%), medium (50%) and high (90%).

METHOD

This study proposes a new diagnostic framework incorporating a novel signal decomposition method termed as Modified Variational Mode Extraction (MVME) and a multiscale entropy approach. MVME segments the signal into five constituent modes with less spectral overlap in lower frequencies. Refined Composite Multiscale Fluctuation-based Dispersion entropy (RCMFDE) is extracted from these constituent modes, thereby facilitating the identification of hyper-responsive subgroup in ASD.

RESULTS

When tested on both simulated and real VEPs, MVME displays appreciable performance in terms of root mean square error and minimal spectral overlap in the lower frequencies, in comparison with the other state-of-the-art techniques. Relative Complexity analysis with RCMFDE exhibits a rising trend in 43%-50% of ASD in modes 1, 2, 3 and 4.

CONCLUSION

The proposed MVME-RCMFDE approach is efficient in discriminating the hyper-responsive subgroup in ASD in multiple modes namely mode 1, 2, 3 and 4, which correspond to delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands of brain signals.

Sex differences in neuronal systems function and behaviour: beyond a single diagnosis in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with functional brain alterations that underlie the expression of behaviour. Males are diagnosed up to four times more than females, and sex differences have been identified in memory, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, and social communication. Unfortunately, there exists a lack of information on the sex-dependent mechanisms of ASD, as well as biological markers to distinguish sex-specific symptoms in ASD. This can often result in a standardized diagnosis for individuals across the spectrum, despite significant differences in the various ASD subtypes. Alterations in neuronal connectivity and oscillatory activity, such as is observed in ASD, are highly coupled to behavioural states. Yet, despite the well-identified sexual dimorphisms that exist in ASD, these functional patterns have rarely been analyzed in the context of sex differences or symptomology. This review summarizes alterations in neuronal oscillatory function in ASD, discusses the age, region, symptom and sex-specific differences that are currently observed across the spectrum, and potential targets for regulating neuronal oscillatory activity in ASD. The need to identify sex-specific biomarkers, in order to facilitate specific diagnostic criteria and allow for more targeted therapeutic approaches for ASD will also be discussed.

The (a)typical burden of COVID-19 pandemic scenario in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Psychological and mental health consequences of large-scale anti-contagion policies are assuming strong relevance in the COVID-19 pandemic. We proposed a specific focus on a large sample of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), developing an ad hoc instrument to investigate changes occurred in specific (sub-)domains during a period of national lockdown (Italy). Our questionnaire, named AutiStress, is both context-specific (being set in the COVID-19 pandemic scenario) and condition-specific (being structured taking into account the autistic functioning peculiarities in the paediatric age). An age- and gender-matched group of neurotypical (TD) controls was also provided. As expected, the severe lockdown policies had a general negative impact both on ASD and TD children, reflecting the obvious burden of the pandemic situation. However, our findings also indicate that children with ASD experienced more positive changes than TD ones. Noteworthy, we report a thought-provoking double dissociation in the context-specific predictor (i.e., accessibility to private outdoor spaces), indicating that it impacts differently on the two groups. Focusing on the ASD group, results suggest a condition-specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on core autistic (sub-)domains. Taken together, our data call for a multi-layered, context- and condition-specific analysis of the pandemic burden beyond any oversimplification.

The Directionality of Fronto-Posterior Brain Connectivity Is Associated with the Degree of Individual Autistic Traits

Altered patterns of brain connectivity have been found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and associated with specific symptoms and behavioral features. Growing evidence suggests that the autistic peculiarities are not confined to the clinical population but extend along a continuum between healthy and maladaptive conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a differentiated connectivity pattern could also be tracked along the continuum of autistic traits in a non-clinical population. A Granger causality analysis conducted on a resting-state EEG recording showed that connectivity along the posterior-frontal gradient is sensitive to the magnitude of individual autistic traits and mostly conveyed through fast oscillatory activity. Specifically, participants with higher autistic traits were characterized by a prevalence of ascending connections starting from posterior regions ramping the cortical hierarchy. These findings point to the presence of a tendency within the neural mapping of individuals with higher autistic features in conveying proportionally more bottom-up information. This pattern of findings mimics those found in clinical forms of autism, supporting the idea of a neurobiological continuum between autistic traits and ASD.

Binding Mechanisms in Visual Perception and Their Link With Neural Oscillations: A Review of Evidence From tACS

Neurophysiological studies in humans employing magneto- (MEG) and electro- (EEG) encephalography increasingly suggest that oscillatory rhythmic activity of the brain may be a core mechanism for binding sensory information across space, time, and object features to generate a unified perceptual representation. To distinguish whether oscillatory activity is causally related to binding processes or whether, on the contrary, it is a mere epiphenomenon, one possibility is to employ neuromodulatory techniques such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). tACS has seen a rising interest due to its ability to modulate brain oscillations in a frequency-dependent manner. In the present review, we critically summarize current tACS evidence for a causal role of oscillatory activity in spatial, temporal, and feature binding in the context of visual perception. For temporal binding, the emerging picture supports a causal link with the power and the frequency of occipital alpha rhythms (8-12 Hz); however, there is no consistent evidence on the causal role of the phase of occipital tACS. For feature binding, the only study available showed a modulation by occipital alpha tACS. The majority of studies that successfully modulated oscillatory activity and behavioral performance in spatial binding targeted parietal areas, with the main rhythms causally linked being the theta (~7 Hz) and beta (~18 Hz) frequency bands. On the other hand, spatio-temporal binding has been directly modulated by parieto-occipital gamma (~40-60 Hz) and alpha (10 Hz) tACS, suggesting a potential role of cross-frequency coupling when binding across space and time. Nonetheless, negative or partial results have also been observed, suggesting methodological limitations that should be addressed in future research. Overall, the emerging picture seems to support a causal role of brain oscillations in binding processes and, consequently, a certain degree of plasticity for shaping binding mechanisms in visual perception, which, if proved to have long lasting effects, can find applications in different clinical populations.