ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1611438
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative and Cutting-edge Approaches to the Identification and Management of Autism Spectrum DisordersView all 11 articles
Altered tactile abnormalities in children with ASD during tactile processing and recognition revealed by dynamic EEG features
Provisionally accepted
- Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by sensory processing abnormalities, particularly in tactile perception. Early and objective screening methods are critical for timely intervention, yet current approaches often rely on subjective behavioral assessments. This study developed a portable electro-tactile stimulation system combined with EEG to objectively evaluate tactile processing differences in children with ASD (n=36) compared to typically developing (TD) controls (n=36). Key electrophysiological findings revealed significantly reduced ERP amplitudes in ASD children at critical processing stages: P200 at FP2 (F(1,70)=10.82, p=0.0454), N200 at F3 (F(1,70)=58.33, p<0.0001), and P300 at C4 (F(1,70)=45.62, p<0.0001). Topographic analysis identified pronounced group differences (>10μV) across frontal, central, and parietal regions (F8, FC5/6, CP1/2/5/6, Pz, Oz). Dynamic processing analysis showed ASD children exhibited prolonged but less efficient tactile discrimination, with compensatory prefrontal activation (FP2 CV: p=0.043). The paradigm demonstrated strong reliability (CV ICC: ASD=0.779, TD=0.729) and achieved 85.2% classification accuracy using ANN (AUC=0.91), with optimal performance from F8 P300 features (sensitivity=87.5%, specificity=83.7%). These neurophysiological markers provide an objective, efficient (15-minute) screening method that overcomes limitations of questionnairebased approaches. The findings advance understanding of tactile processing abnormalities in ASD and support development of physiological biomarkers for early identification.
Keywords: ASD1, tactile processing2, ERP3, electrotactile4, EEG
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Liu, Zhang, Wang, Li, Liu and Ming. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wenjie Wang, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
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