BACKGROUND Visual abnormality is a common sensory impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may cause behavioral problems. However, only a few studies exist on the neural features corresponding to the visual symptoms in ASD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between cortical responses to visual stimuli and visual abnormality to examine the neurophysiological mechanisms of the visual abnormality in ASD. METHODS Twenty-two high-functioning children with ASD (10.95 ± 2.01 years old) and 23 age-matched typically developing (TD) children (10.13 ± 2.80 years old) participated in this study. We measured the cortical responses (i.e., activated intensity and attenuation ratio) elicited by the Original visual image and other two types of bright images (the Dot noise or Blind image, which includes overlapped particles onto the Original image or the enhanced-brightness version of the Original image, respectively) using magnetoencephalography. RESULTS The severity of visual abnormalities was significantly associated with behavioral problems in children with ASD. In addition, we found the increased cortical activation in response to the Original image in the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and middle temporal gyrus in children with ASD. However, there were no inter-group differences in the primary visual and medial orbitofrontal cortices. Furthermore, when we compared cortical responses according to the type of images, children with ASD showed lesser attenuation of the activated intensities than children with TD in response to the bright images compared with the Original image in the right SMG. These attenuation ratios (Dot noise/Original and Blind/Original) were also associated with the severity of visual abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that dysfunction of stimulus-driven neural suppression plays a crucial role in the neural mechanism of visual abnormality in children with ASD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first magnetoencephalography study to demonstrate the association between the severity of visual abnormality and lower attenuation ratios in children with ASD. Our results contribute to the knowledge of the mechanisms underlying visual abnormality in children with ASD, and may therefore lead to more effective diagnosis and earlier intervention.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍儿童对明亮视觉刺激和视觉异常反应的抑制较小：一项磁脑图研究。

背景技术视觉异常是自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的常见感觉障碍，可能引起行为问题。但是，关于与ASD视觉症​​状相对应的神经特征的研究很少。这项研究的目的是调查视觉刺激的皮质反应和视觉异常之间的关系，以检查ASD视觉异常的神经生理机制。方法22例ASD高功能儿童（10.95±2.01岁）和23例年龄相匹配的典型发育（TD）儿童（10.13±2.80岁）参加了这项研究。我们测量了原始视觉图像和其他两种明亮图像（点噪声或盲图像，包括使用脑磁图将重叠的粒子分别叠加到原始图像或原始图像的增强亮度版本上）。结果视力异常的严重程度与ASD儿童的行为问题显着相关。此外，我们发现ASD儿童左上指上回（SMG）和颞中回对原始图像的反应增加了皮质激活。然而，在主要的视觉和内侧眼眶额皮质中没有组间差异。此外，当我们根据图像类型比较皮质反应时，与右图SMG中的原始图像相比，ASD儿童对明亮图像的反应显示的激活强度衰减小于TD儿童。这些衰减率（点噪声/原始和盲/原始）也与视觉异常的严重程度相关。结论我们的研究结果表明，刺激驱动的神经抑制功能障碍在ASD儿童视觉异常的神经机制中起着至关重要的作用。据我们所知，这是第一项脑磁图研究，旨在证明ASD儿童的视觉异常严重程度与较低的衰减比之间存在关联。我们的结果有助于了解ASD儿童视觉异常的潜在机制，因此可能导致更有效的诊断和更早的干预。结论我们的研究结果表明，刺激驱动的神经抑制功能障碍在ASD儿童视觉异常的神经机制中起着至关重要的作用。据我们所知，这是第一项脑磁图研究，旨在证明ASD儿童的视觉异常严重程度与较低的衰减比之间存在关联。我们的结果有助于了解ASD儿童视觉异常的潜在机制，因此可能导致更有效的诊断和更早的干预。结论我们的研究结果表明，刺激驱动的神经抑制功能障碍在ASD儿童视觉异常的神经机制中起着至关重要的作用。据我们所知，这是第一项脑磁图研究，旨在证明ASD儿童的视觉异常严重程度与较低的衰减比之间存在关联。我们的结果有助于了解ASD儿童视觉异常的潜在机制，因此可能导致更有效的诊断和更早的干预。这是第一项磁化脑电图研究，旨在证明ASD儿童的视觉异常严重程度与较低的衰减比之间存在关联。我们的结果有助于了解ASD儿童视觉异常的潜在机制，因此可能导致更有效的诊断和更早的干预。这是第一项磁化脑电图研究，旨在证明ASD儿童的视觉异常严重程度与较低的衰减比之间存在关联。我们的结果有助于了解ASD儿童视觉异常的潜在机制，因此可能导致更有效的诊断和更早的干预。