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Altered Neural Oscillations During Multisensory Integration in Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Author(s) -
Bolaños Alfredo D.,
Coffman Brian A.,
CandelariaCook Felicha T.,
Kodituwakku Piyadasa,
Stephen Julia M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13510
Subject(s) - fetal alcohol spectrum disorder , fetal alcohol , autism spectrum disorder , prenatal alcohol exposure , neuroscience , fetus , psychology , fetal alcohol syndrome , alcohol , audiology , medicine , developmental psychology , pregnancy , biology , autism , genetics , biochemistry
Background Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder ( FASD ), who were exposed to alcohol in utero, display a broad range of sensory, cognitive, and behavioral deficits, which are broadly theorized to be rooted in altered brain function and structure. Based on the role of neural oscillations in multisensory integration from past studies, we hypothesized that adolescents with FASD would show a decrease in oscillatory power during event‐related gamma oscillatory activity (30 to 100 Hz), when compared to typically developing healthy controls ( HC ), and that such decrease in oscillatory power would predict behavioral performance. Methods We measured sensory neurophysiology using magnetoencephalography ( MEG ) during passive auditory, somatosensory, and multisensory (synchronous) stimulation in 19 adolescents (12 to 21 years) with FASD and 23 age‐ and gender‐matched HC . We employed a cross‐hemisphere multisensory paradigm to assess interhemispheric connectivity deficits in children with FASD . Results Time–frequency analysis of MEG data revealed a significant decrease in gamma oscillatory power for both unisensory and multisensory conditions in the FASD group relative to HC , based on permutation testing of significant group differences. Greater beta oscillatory power (15 to 30 Hz) was also noted in the FASD group compared to HC in both unisensory and multisensory conditions. Regression analysis revealed greater predictive power of multisensory oscillations from unisensory oscillations in the FASD group compared to the HC group. Furthermore, multisensory oscillatory power, for both groups, predicted performance on the Intra‐Extradimensional Set Shift Task and the Cambridge Gambling Task. Conclusions Altered oscillatory power in the FASD group may reflect a restricted ability to process somatosensory and multisensory stimuli during day‐to‐day interactions. These alterations in neural oscillations may be associated with the neurobehavioral deficits experienced by adolescents with FASD and may carry over to adulthood.