UC Riverside

Sensory symptoms, including auditory processing deficits, are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Processing of temporal aspects of auditory input is understudied; yet, deficits in this domain could contribute to language-related impairments. In children with ASD and well-matched controls, this study examined electrophysiological response to silent gaps in auditory stimuli. Results revealed attenuated amplitude of the P2 event-related potential (ERP) component in ASD. The P2 amplitude reduction was also associated with sensory, language, and diagnostic features. These results suggest that neural response during auditory gap detection is a promising ASD biomarker that could be useful for stratifying subgroups and evaluating treatment response.