Response inhibition in children with high functioning autism:A near-infrared spectroscopy study

Objective:To investigate the difference in cognitive function domains of response inhibition between children with high functioning autism(HFA)and healthy controls.Methods:Go/no-go task were applied to assess the function of response inhibition in 33 boys with HFA and 19 normal controls.Oxygenated hemoglobin(oxyHb)concentration levels in prefrontal cortex area were obtained by functional near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS).Then these boys with HFA were compared with healthy controls by multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA).Results:The HFA group had more commission errors[(6.03±4.82)vs.(2.84±1.61),P0.05]and longer reaction time[(564.55±124.90)ms vs.(473.63±45.63)ms,P0.05]than control group in no-go task.After controlling for IQ,the two groups still had significant difference in reaction time(P0.05);Concentration levels of oxyHb in HFA group decreased in the right prefrontal cortex area during performing no-go task than that in controls[(-0.34±0.45)10-2×a.u vs.(0.15±0.69)10-2×a.u,P0.05].Conclusion:There are significant deficiencies in response inhibition in children with high functioning autism.