Date: Friday, April 26,  2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92247387492

Speaker: Winko An, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Talk title: Neural oscillation and sensory prediction in children with autism

Abstract: The brain’s ability to automatically predict sensory information is key to perception. Predicted inputs are attenuated, while unexpected inputs are amplified and processed. Alteration in this “predictive coding” mechanism may contribute to autism characteristics, such as increased prediction errors and hypersensitivity, and is hypothesized to be associated with the imbalance between alpha/beta and gamma oscillations in brain signals. I will present a new study aimed at testing this hypothesis using EEG recordings from three groups of participants with different degrees of functional impairment – children with typical development, autism, and Phelan-McDermid syndrome. Preliminary findings on oscillatory power and neural response to oddballs among these groups will be shared.