Atypical Brain Connectivity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during a Music Familiarity Task (POND Network)

Background: Emerging evidence suggests autism is a disorder of brain connectivity and atypical reward processing has been proposed as an explanation for social deficits in ASD. Music is a valuable tool to study human cognition, emotion and reward networks and it is also an auditory stimulus that interests and motivates children with ASD.

Objectives: To examine neural synchrony in the reward networks associated with familiarity and liking of music listening in children with ASD.

Methods: 23 children with autism (ASD) and 23 typically developing children (TDC) children, between 7 to 14 years old, matched on age and sex were recruited. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure brain activation and neural synchrony, while listening to different types of music (familiar liked, familiar disliked, unfamiliar liked and unfamiliar disliked). These music selections were chosen by the children and then modified (and matched with unfamiliar songs of the same genre, tempo, mode and dissonance) for presentation in the MEG.

Preliminary Results: 23 ASD (mean age 10.09 ± 1.41) and 23 TDC (mean age 10.26 ± 1.85) of IQ>70 have been recruited. Whole brain connectivity revealed significant group differences in the theta band (4-8 Hz) frequency while listening to different types of music (familiar liked, familiar disliked, unfamiliar liked and unfamiliar disliked). ASD group engaged different networks, showing over-connectivity in frontal areas and under-connectivity in posterior areas including the occipital and parietal lobes. MEG analyses of the reward networks are currently underway, using reward network seeds (such as the nucleus accumbens).

Conclusions: These findings reinforce functional disconnection in brain networks mediating music listening in children with ASD. The outcome of this research will enhance our understanding of the neurobiology of music listening and reward processing in ASD population so that meaningful translation can occur into innovative music therapy interventions.