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Postdoctorial Fellowship Award Winner 

Auditory task-related aperiodic EEG activity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 3 - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm PST, Salon E.

Miguel A. Velasquez¹, Mya V. Scott¹, Charlie R. Weinstein¹, Debra S. Karhson¹; ¹University of New Orleans

Autistic individuals have an increased auditory perceptual capacity relative to allistic individuals, meaning autistic individuals can process an increased amount of information at any one time (Karhson & Golob, 2015; Remington & Fairnie, 2017). However, the underlying potential mechanism for increased perceptual capacity in ASD remains unclear, and reports of increased “neural noise” in ASD may obscure the underlying brain dynamics (Paul et al., 2024; Simmons et al., 2007). Therefore, the present study examined the aperiodic slopes (the 1/f component) of the EEG signal in autistic and allistic individuals during an auditory selective attention task. Twenty-five (n = 12 ASD) IQ and age-matched participants (ASD: 22.5 years ± 4.1; Controls: 22.8 years ± 5.1) completed the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile questionnaire prior to performing a modified 3-stimulus (target, non-target, and distractor) auditory oddball detection task. Aperiodic EEG components were extracted from the neural power spectra using the Fitting Oscillations and One Over F (FOOOF) tool. Results revealed a significant interaction between group and perceptual load for the aperiodic exponent during the distractor trials (F(1,23) = 7.05, p = 0.015, p-adj = 0.043), characterized by a steeper slope in low perceptual load trials in ASD participants. Steeper slopes of the aperiodic exponent have been previously characterized as indicating stronger cognitive engagement and increased vigilance states. As such, in ASD, there is greater cognitive engagement with distractors even when perceptual demands are low. This mismatch between load and cognitive engagement in ASD may provide a plausible mechanistic bridge to understanding “autistic burnout”.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Auditory