Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: Jun 01, 2009

The Importance of Electroencephalogram Assessment for Autistic Disorders

PhD
Page Range: 71 – 80
DOI: 10.5298/1081-5937-37.2.71
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Abstract

Autistic disorders are a set of complex syndromes that lead to challenges impacting communication, behavior repertoire, and social skills. The etiology of autism is unknown but is likely epigenetic in nature. It is likely associated with an inflammatory process leading to neuroinflammation in early childhood. Autistic disorders include seizures in approximately one-third of the cases and there are often regions of brain dysfunction associated with neural connectivity anomalies. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is presented as a premiere tool to assess these difficulties due to its' non-invasive nature, availability and utility in detailing these difficulties. Techniques for seizure detection, monitoring, and tracing their propagation are shown. Similar approaches can then be utilized for assessing EEG oscillations, which are at the heart of these neuronal regulation dysfunctions. Autistic disorders are clearly associated with regions of dysfunction and quantitative electroencephalogram strategies for assessing these impairments are shown. These include techniques for increasing the specificity and spatial resolution of the EEG such as source localization and independent components analysis. Lastly, advanced methods for assessing the neural connectivity problems that underlie the difficulties of these children are presented. EEG assessment, when processed and analyzed with the most advanced techniques, can be invaluable in the evaluation of autistic disorders.

Keywords: EEG; QEEG; autism; source localization; independent components analysis; connectivity
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Copyright: © Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback
Figure 1a.
Figure 1a.

Spike and wave pattern detected by the Persyst/reveal–spike and seizure detection system (longitudinal montage) with voltage mapping.

Figure 1b.
Figure 1b.

Summary of spike reveal/reveal with component mapping, time, and perception.

Figure 1c.
Figure 1c.

Spike review propogation mapping.

Figure 2a.
Figure 2a.

Mu oscillation with EEG, spectral display, and topographical mapping (laplacian montage).

Figure 2b.
Figure 2b.

Right posterior slow activity with EEG, spectral display, and topographical mapping (longitudinal montage).

Figure 3a.
Figure 3a.

Topographical mapping of EEG magnitude data in single Hz bins (weighted average montage). Mu seen maximally at 9–11 Hz.

Figure 3b.
Figure 3b.

Source localization of mu pattern performed and displayed with sLoreta slice viewer. Maximal localization shown in white, red, yellow, and green. A color version of this figure will be posted, along with this article, at http://www.aapb.org/magazine.html.

Figure 3c.
Figure 3c.

Independent component analysis (ICA) (runica function of EEGLAB) of 10 Hz mu activity showing ICA. Maximal activity is shown in darker colors.

Figure 4a.
Figure 4a.

Topographical mapping of EEG magnitude data in single Hz bins (weighted average montage). Maximal right posterior slow activity shown in white–gray from 1–4 Hz.

Figure 4b.
Figure 4b.

Source localization of right posterior slow activity pattern performed and displayed with sLoreta slice viewer. Maximal localization shown in white, purple, red, yellow, and green. A color version of this figure will be posted, along with this article, at http://www.aapb.org/magazine.html.

Figure 4c.
Figure 4c.

ICA (runica function of EEGLAB) of 2 Hz activity showing independent components of activity. Maximal activity is shown in darker colors with special emphasis on components 1, 6, 8, and 9.

Figure 5a.
Figure 5a.

Multivariate connectivity analysis (Hudspeth, 2008) in the horizontal view showing findings in the alpha band for mu activity.

Figure 5b.
Figure 5b.

Multivariate connectivity analysis (Hudspeth, 2008) in the horizontal view showing findings in the delta band for slow activity over the right posterior regions.

Contributor Notes

Correspondence: Robert Coben, PhD, Director, Neurorehabilitation & Neuropsychological Services, 1035 Park Blvd., Suite 2B, Massapequa Park, NY 11762, email: robcoben@optonline.net.