Atypical Pupillary Light Reflex in Individuals with Autism
Abstract
We evaluated pupillary light reflex (PLR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in 304 participants including 152 children with ASD (the ASD group), 116 children of typical development (the TD group), and 36 children with other development disorders (the NDD group). The results showed that the ASD group had significantly longer PLR latency, reduced relative constriction amplitude, and lesser constriction/redilation time than those of the TD group. A significant age effect on PLR latency was observed in children younger than 9 years in the TD group, but not in the ASD and NDD groups. Atypical HRV parameters were observed in the ASD and NDD groups. A significant negative correlation existed between the PLR constriction amplitude and average heart rate in children with an ASD, but not in children with typical development. We also developed an integrated fMRI/PLR protocol and have obtained fMRI data for 33 adolescents with ASD and 27 typically developing adolescents without ASD. Both ASD and TD groups showed robust PLR related activation in primary visual sensory areas including lateral geniculate nucleus [F(1,40) = 16.3, p < .0005] and striate cortex [F(1,40) = 17.8, p < .0005]. We found significant group differences in PLR related activation in the cerebellum as well as anterior insula and superior frontal gyrus [F(1,40) > 20, p< .00005 in all instances].
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA610835
Entities
People
- D. Q. Beversdorf
- Gang Yao
- J. H. Miles
- S. E. Christ
Organizations
- University of Missouri