Attentive brain states in infants with and without later autism

Abstract: Early difficulties in engaging attentive brain states in social settings could affect learning and have cascading effects on social development. We investigated this possibility using multichannel electroencephalography during a face/non-face paradigm in 8-month-old infants with (FH, n = 91) and without (noFH, n = 40) a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An event-related potential component reflecting attention engagement, the Nc, was compared between FH infants who received a diagnosis of ASD at 3 years of age (FH-ASD; n = 19), FH infants who did not (FH-noASD; n = 72) and noFH infants (who also did not, hereafter noFH-noASD; n = 40). ‘Prototypical’ microstates during social attention were extracted from the noFH-noASD group and examined in relation to later categorical and dimensional outcome. Machine-learning was used to identify the microstate features that best predicted ASD and social adaptive skills at three years. Results suggested that whilst measures of brain state timing were related to categorical ASD outcome, brain state strength was related to dimensional measures of social functioning. Specifically, the FH-ASD group showed shorter Nc latency relative to other groups, and duration of the attentive microstate responses to faces was informative for categorical outcome prediction. Reduced Nc amplitude difference between faces with direct gaze and a non-social control stimulus and strength of the attentive microstate to faces contributed to the prediction of dimensional variation in social skills. Taken together, this provides consistent evidence that atypical attention engagement precedes the emergence of difficulties in socialization and indicates that using the spatio-temporal characteristics of whole-brain activation to define brain states in infancy provides an important new approach to understanding of the neurodevelopmental mechanisms that lead to ASD

Understanding the nature of face processing in early autism: a prospective study

4AbstractDimensional approaches to psychopathology interrogate the core neurocognitive domains interactingat the individual level to shape diagnostic symptoms. Embedding this approach in prospective longitudinal studies couldtransform our understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Such designs require us to move beyond traditional group comparisons and determine which domain-specific alterations apply at the level of the individual, and whether they vary across distinct phenotypic subgroups. As a proof of principle, this studyexamineshow the domain of face processingcontributes to the emergenceof Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We used an event-related potentials (ERPs) task in a cohort of 8-month-oldinfants with (n=148) and without (n=68) an older sibling withASD, andcombined traditional case-control comparisonswith machine-learningtechniques for prediction of social traits and ASD diagnosisat 36 months,and Bayesian hierarchical clustering for stratification into subgroups. Abroad profile of alterations in the time-course of neural processing of faces in infancy was predictive oflaterASD, with a strong convergence in ERP features predicting social traits and diagnosis.We identified two main subgroups in ASD,defined by distinct patternsof neural responsestofaces,which differed on latersensory sensitivity. Taken together, our findings suggest that individual differences between infantscontribute to the diffuse pattern of alterations predictive of ASD in the first year of life. Moving from group-level comparisons to pattern recognition and stratification can help to understand and reduce heterogeneity in clinical cohorts, and improve our understanding of the mechanisms that lead to later neurodevelopmental outcomes

Latent trajectories of adaptive behaviour in infants at high and low familial risk for autism spectrum disorder

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by persisting difficulties in everyday functioning. Adaptive behaviour is heterogeneous across individuals with ASD, and it is not clear to what extent early development of adaptive behaviour relates to ASD outcome in toddlerhood. This study aims to identify subgroups of infants based on early development of adaptive skills and investigate their association with later ASD outcome. Methods: Adaptive behaviour was assessed on infants at high (n=166) and low (n=74) familial risk for ASD between 8 and 36 months using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS-II). The four domains of VABS-II were modelled in parallel using growth mixture modelling to identify distinct classes of infants based on adaptive behaviour. Then, we associated class membership with clinical outcome and ASD symptoms at 36 months, and longitudinal measures of cognitive development. Results: We observed three classes characterised by: decreasing trajectories below age-appropriate norms (8.3%); stable trajectories around age-appropriate norms (73.8%); increasing trajectories reaching average scores by age 2 (17.9%). Infants with declining adaptive behaviour had a higher risk [odd ratio, OR=4.40 (confidence interval, CI: 1.90; 12.98)] for ASD and higher parent-reported symptoms in the social, communication and repetitive behaviour domains at 36 months. Furthermore, there was a discrepancy between adaptive and cognitive functioning as the class with improving adaptive skills showed stable cognitive development around average scores. Conclusions: Findings confirm the heterogeneity of trajectories of adaptive functioning in infancy, with a higher risk for ASD in toddlerhood linked to a plateau in the development of adaptive functioning after the first year of life

Manipulation of phasic arousal by auditory cues and its modulatory effect on visual attention to faces in infancy.

In the present study, we extend the work from Kleberg and colleagues [2019] to investigate the interaction between short-term arousal and selective attention at 5 and 10 months of age, and how this is possibly modulated by additional levels of experimental manipulation. To this aim, we collected eye-tracking data from infants who took part in a pop-out visual attention task. Visual stimulation was preceded by auditory cues manipulated along 3 dimensions: audio type (3 levels: silent, social, and non-social); audio volume (2 levels: low and high); order (2 levels: first and second repetition). In addition to previous studies, our work will provide useful insight on: (1) the modulatory role of social content and volume of the auditory stimuli used to elicit phasic alertness; (2) possible habituation effects in phasic alertness; (3) the role of arousal as a possible moderator on visual orienting abilities towards a socially meaningful target (i.e., face); (4) possible age effects on the modulation of phasic arousal and its relationship with selective attention to faces in infancy

The latent structure of emerging cognitive abilities: an infant twin study.

It is well known that genetic factors account for 20% to 70% of variability in cognition from childhood to adulthood. However, less is known about the first year of life. This study investigated the etiological factors influencing individual variability in different domains of emerging cognitive and motor abilities in early infancy, and to what extent genetic and environmental influences are unique or shared across different domains. We compared multivariate twin models built on scores from the five scales of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) in a community sample of monozygotic and dizygotic twins at 5 months of age (n=567). The results indicated a hierarchical etiological structure whereby a general genetic component accounted for 54% of shared variance among different domains of emerging cognitive and motor abilities. We discuss implications of this common etiological factor, which we term infant g, on early brain processes and cognitive development

Missing data strategies in developmental psychology: a practical example on the Babytwins Study Sweden.

This study provides a detailed description of rationale and methods for multiple imputation of missing data across the entire set of questionnaire and clinical variables available longitudinally in the BATSS sample. The BATSS study is a large, multi-modal study investigating genetic and environmental influences on developmental trait variation in infancy, including attentional and neural measures obtained from eye-tracking and electrophysiology, based on a twin design

The sensory-first account of autism

Recent data suggest that infants with later autism have striking differences in sensory processing. We recap these findings and discuss their implications for theories of autism emergence. Due to the primacy of sensory processing for developing cognitive systems, it is time to embrace a ‘sensory-first’ account of autism