# The investigation of dysregulated visual perceptual organization in adults with autism spectrum disorders with phase-amplitude coupling and directed connectivity

## TL;DR

This study explores how brain activity patterns related to visual perception differ in adults with autism compared to controls using advanced brain signal analysis techniques.

## Contribution

The study introduces novel evidence on the role of alpha-gamma phase-amplitude coupling in visual perception among individuals with autism.

## Key findings

- ASD participants showed hyper-activity coupling in non-face visual conditions.
- Alpha-gamma phase modulation is important for face detection in ASD.
- Global connectivity appears more critical during visual perception in ASD.

## Abstract

Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) has been used as a powerful tool to understand the mechanism underlying neural binding by investigating neural synchrony across different frequency bands. This study examined the possibility that dysregulated alpha-gamma modulation may be crucially involved in aberrant brain functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Magnetoencephalographic data were recorded from 13 adult participants with ASD and 16 controls. The time-coursed sources averaged over a primary visual area 1 and fusiform gyrus area were reconstructed with the minimum-norm estimate method. The alpha-gamma PAC was further calculated based on these sources. The statistical analysis was implemented based on the PAC and directed asymmetry index. The results showed the hyper-activity coupling for ASD at the no-face condition and revealed the importance of alpha-gamma phase modulation in detecting a face. Our data provides novel evidence for the role of the alpha-gamma PAC and suggests that the globe connectivity may be more critical during visual perception.