ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1689000
Exploratory Quantitative EEG Characteristics in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Provisionally accepted
- University of Rzeszow, Rzeszów, Poland
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are currently one of the most common childhood conditions. It is estimated that they affect approximately 1 in 31 children. Early and rapid diagnosis can increase a child's chances of reaching full developmental, social, and educational potential despite their condition. Our study aimed to describe a brainwave pattern in children with mild autism spectrum disorder (Level-1 according to DSM-5) based on quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) analysis. The QEEG study is one of the valuable electrophysiological methods used in neurology and psychiatry, becoming more and more popular for diagnosing ASD. Our study included 48 children aged 7-10 years. Based on previous clinical examinations, 24 of them were diagnosed with mild ASD (mASD). Quantitative electroencephalography for Delta, Theta, Alpha, sensorimotor rhythm (SMR), Beta1, and Beta2 waves was performed using electrodes placed at thirteen recording points (frontal: FzF3F4, central: CzC3C4, parietal: P3PzP4, temporal: T3T4, and occipital: O1O2 points) with eyes open and closed. A comparison of the results between the mASD group and control group revealed significantly higher amplitude values for all Delta, Theta, Alpha, SMR, Beta1, and Beta2 wave measurements in the mASD population. Furthermore, the overrepresentation of Beta2-waves could be discerned in mASD children, as compared to their non-ASD-affected peers. The described pattern may help screen for mASD or confirm the diagnosis in the pediatric population of mASD-suspected patients. Additionally, it is worth noting that the results obtained demonstrate the importance of QEEG in detecting different patterns of brain activity in children with ASD, which plays a significant role in better understanding the heterogeneity of this disorder.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders, ASD, brainwave model, quantitative electroencephalography, qEEG
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kopańska, Ochojska, Sarzyńska, Trojniak and Szczygielski. 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: Marta Kopańska, martakopanska@poczta.onet.pl
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.