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Neural Noise and Its Connection to Language Development in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Poster Session B, Wednesday, September 30, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, Wangari Maathai
Hanna Górecka1, Anna Redeł1, Karolina Zielińska1, Anna Banaszkiewicz1, Katarzyna Jednoróg1; 1Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS
Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, have wide-ranging effects on cognition, social interaction, sensory processing, and emotional regulation. Given their significant impact on daily functioning and long-term development, understanding their neural foundations is essential. This study examines the relationship between brain activity, language abilities, and sex in children with and without NDDs. A central focus is the neural noise hypothesis, which suggests that these disorders are associated with disruptions in synaptic transmission, particularly an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neural processes. Neural noise was measured using electroencephalography (EEG), focusing on the 1/f slope. A steeper slope (higher exponent) reflects greater inhibitory activity, whereas a flatter slope (lower exponent) indicates increased excitation (Donoghue, T., et al., 2020). Such imbalances are thought to contribute to cognitive and behavioral difficulties. Although previous studies have suggested elevated neural noise in children with ADHD (Ostlund, B. D. et al., 2021) and ASD (Arutiunian, V. et al., 2024), findings have been inconsistent. Moreover, most research has focused predominantly on males, due to the underdiagnosis in females, leaving sex differences relatively understudied. This study addresses these gaps by examining both diagnostic group differences and potential sex-related variations in neural noise. Children with NDDs often experience delays in language development, which can negatively affect communication and social functioning. While language difficulties are a core feature of autism and are also frequently observed in ADHD, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. In particular, the extent to which neural noise contributes to these language differences has not been well established. To investigate this, the study used an EEG paradigm involving passive listening to continuous, naturalistic speech. The sample included 269 children aged 5 to 8 years, divided into groups with ADHD (N = 92), autism (N = 92), and typically developing controls (N = 85). Participants completed behavioral assessments of language skills (Smoczyńska, M., et al., 2015, Szewczyk, J., et al., 2015), while parents provided information on symptom severity using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (Wheelwright, S., et al., 2006), the Social Communication Questionnaire (Rutter, M., 2003), the Social Responsiveness Scale (Constantino, J. N., & Gruber, C. P., 2012), the Conners’ Rating Scales (Conners, C. K., 2014), and an in-house adaptation of the Language Development Questionnaire. Contrary to the initial hypotheses, the results revealed no significant differences in slope between diagnostic groups or between sexes. Significant associations emerged between exponent, language-task performance, and questionnaire measures of symptom severity. However, the strongest correlation was observed between exponent and the model-fitting error of the slope. These findings raise the question of whether reliable conclusions about neural noise can be drawn from EEG studies conducted on children. Overall, these findings provide a novel perspective on the neural noise hypothesis. The relatively large sample size enhances the reliability and generalizability of the results, offering an important contribution to ongoing research in this field.
Topic Areas: Language Development/Acquisition, Disorders: Developmental