Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38307983›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Atypical brain lateralization for speech processing at the sublexical level in autistic children revealed by fNIRS.

Baojun Lai, Aiwen Yi, Fen Zhang, Suiping Wang, Jing Xin, Suping Li, Luodi Yu

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.9field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Autistic Children With Speech Onset Delay Show Reversed Bias in Spectral Versus Temporal Auditory Processing.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Observational
  9. Acoustic Exaggeration Enhances Speech Discrimination in Young Autistic Children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Baojun Lai *Center for Autism Research, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Aiwen Yi *Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Pediatrics; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Major 0bstetric Diseases; Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology; Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Higher Education Laboratory of Maternal-Fetal Joint Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Fen ZhangVITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium.
Suiping WangPhilosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.
Jing XinFoshan Clinical Medical School, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan, China.
Suping LiFoshan Clinical Medical School, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan, China.
Luodi YuCenter for Autism Research, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China. yuluodi@gzhu.edu.cn.
South China Normal University · CNGuangzhou University of Chinese Medicine · CNFlemish Institute for Technological Research · BEPediatrics and Genetics · US

Funding

Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation 2020A1515111034Medical Science and Technology Research Fund of Guangdong Province A2021363National Natural Science Foundation of China 31900775Research Fund of Guangdong TCM Bureau 20221372
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Autistic children often exhibit atypical brain lateralization of language processing, but it is unclear what aspects of language contribute to this phenomenon. This study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure hemispheric lateralization by estimating hemodynamic responses associated with processing linguistic and non-linguistic auditory stimuli. The study involved a group of autistic children (N = 20, mean age = 5.8 years) and a comparison group of nonautistic peers (N = 20, mean age = 6.5 years). The children were presented with stimuli with systematically decreasing linguistic relevance: naturalistic native speech, meaningless native speech with scrambled word order, nonnative speech, and music. The results revealed that both groups showed left lateralization in the temporal lobe when listening to naturalistic native speech. However, the distinction emerged between autism and nonautistic in terms of processing the linguistic hierarchy. Specifically, the nonautistic comparison group demonstrated a systematic reduction in left lateralization as linguistic relevance decreased. In contrast, the autism group displayed no such pattern and showed no lateralization when listening to scrambled native speech accompanied by enhanced response in the right hemisphere. These results provide evidence of atypical neural specialization for spoken language in preschool- and school-age autistic children and shed new light on the underlying linguistic correlates contributing to such atypicality at the sublexical level.

Indexed as

Autistic DisorderSpeech PerceptionBrainChildChild, PreschoolFunctional LateralityHumansSpeech

Identifiers

PMID38307983
PMCPMC10837203
OpenAlexW4391474692

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.