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Above average perception in infants may indicate autism later in life
A recent study found that atypical perception abilities observed early in infancy could be an indicator of later, more severe clinical symptoms of autism.
“Views on atypical perception have alternated between assigning it a core, causal role in autism and portraying it as ‘one aspect of cognition in autism spectrum disorder alongside, rather than causing/explaining, deficits in social cognition,’” Teodora Gliga, PhD, Program Leader of Siblings Study at Birkbeck College, University of London, and colleagues wrote. “Importantly, our findings corroborate evidence for atypical oculomotor behavior and increased frontal-occipital functional connectivity during the first year of life of those infants that later develop autism symptoms, by suggesting that perturbations in general processes, such as perception or attention, are more important than previously believed in the developmental pathway to this disorder.”
Researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 109 infants, 82 at a high risk of developing autism and 27 at a low risk. Previous research identified high-risk infants. In the research, 20% of younger siblings of children with autism are diagnosed with the disorder, and 30% experience higher levels of autism symptoms.
Researchers tested perception by creating circular arrays of 8 letters, all of which were the letter “X” except for a single different letter randomly placed among them. Perceptual skill was tested with an eye tracker that precisely recorded the target of the infant participant’s gaze. Infants were tested to see if they would spontaneously avert their gaze to the stand out letter. The test was conducted at age 9 months, 15 months and 2 years.
Data results showed that tests conducted on infants aged 9 months significantly predicted their Autism Observation Scale for Infants score at age 15 months (P = .049), and their Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule score at age 2 years (P = .02). Increased visual search accuracy also predicted higher symptom severity in later months.
Researchers suggested that a lack of symptoms other than atypical perception at age 9 months (P = .44) indicated a causal pathway between early perception and later onset of clinical symptoms of autism.
“Moreover, the striking predictive association between superior visual search and autism may also prove useful as one additional component of early autism identification, given a context in which most current infant markers are based on impairments common to multiple neurodevelopmental outcomes,” Gliga and colleagues wrote. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
