Title: Infant Neural Sensitivity to Dynamic Eye Gaze Is Associated with Later Emerging Autism
Abstract: Autism spectrum disorders (henceforth autism) are diagnosed in around 1% of the population [1Baird G. Simonoff E. Pickles A. Chandler S. Loucas T. Meldrum D. Charman T. Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP).Lancet. 2006; 368: 210-215Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1438) Google Scholar]. Familial liability confers risk for a broad spectrum of difficulties including the broader autism phenotype (BAP) [2Pickles A. Starr E. Kazak S. Bolton P. Papanikolaou K. Bailey A. Goodman R. Rutter M. Variable expression of the autism broader phenotype: findings from extended pedigrees.J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry. 2000; 41: 491-502Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 3Losh M. Adolphs R. Poe M.D. Couture S. Penn D. Baranek G.T. Piven J. Neuropsychological profile of autism and the broad autism phenotype.Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 2009; 66: 518-526Crossref PubMed Scopus (199) Google Scholar]. There are currently no reliable predictors of autism in infancy, but characteristic behaviors emerge during the second year, enabling diagnosis after this age [4Elsabbagh M. Johnson M.H. Getting answers from babies about autism.Trends Cogn. Sci. (Regul. Ed.). 2010; 14: 81-87Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (177) Google Scholar, 5Zwaigenbaum L. Thurm A. Stone W. Baranek G. Bryson S. Iverson J. Kau A. Klin A. Lord C. Landa R. et al.Studying the emergence of autism spectrum disorders in high-risk infants: methodological and practical issues.J. Autism Dev. Disord. 2007; 37: 466-480Crossref PubMed Scopus (173) Google Scholar]. Because indicators of brain functioning may be sensitive predictors, and atypical eye contact is characteristic of the syndrome [6Baron-Cohen S. Baldwin D.A. Crowson M. Do children with autism use the speaker's direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language?.Child Dev. 1997; 68: 48-57Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 7Leekam S.R. Hunnisett E. Moore C. Targets and cues: gaze-following in children with autism.J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry. 1998; 39: 951-962Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 8Grice S.J. Halit H. Farroni T. Baron-Cohen S. Bolton P. Johnson M.H. Neural correlates of eye-gaze detection in young children with autism.Cortex. 2005; 41: 342-353Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (112) Google Scholar, 9Senju A. Tojo Y. Yaguchi K. Hasegawa T. Deviant gaze processing in children with autism: an ERP study.Neuropsychologia. 2005; 43: 1297-1306Crossref PubMed Scopus (103) Google Scholar] and the BAP [10Elsabbagh M. Volein A. Csibra G. Holmboe K. Garwood H. Tucker L. Krljes S. Baron-Cohen S. Bolton P. Charman T. et al.Neural correlates of eye gaze processing in the infant broader autism phenotype.Biol. Psychiatry. 2009; 65: 31-38Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (147) Google Scholar, 11Dalton K.M. Nacewicz B.M. Alexander A.L. Davidson R.J. Gaze-fixation, brain activation, and amygdala volume in unaffected siblings of individuals with autism.Biol. Psychiatry. 2007; 61: 512-520Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (184) Google Scholar], we examined whether neural sensitivity to eye gaze during infancy is associated with later autism outcomes [12Dawson G. Webb S. Schellenberg G.D. Dager S. Friedman S. Aylward E. Richards T. Defining the broader phenotype of autism: genetic, brain, and behavioral perspectives.Dev. Psychopathol. 2002; 14: 581-611Crossref PubMed Scopus (304) Google Scholar, 13Johnson M.H. Griffin R. Csibra G. Halit H. Farroni T. de Haan M. Tucker L.A. Baron-Cohen S. Richards J. The emergence of the social brain network: evidence from typical and atypical development.Dev. Psychopathol. 2005; 17: 599-619Crossref PubMed Google Scholar]. We undertook a prospective longitudinal study of infants with and without familial risk for autism. At 6–10 months, we recorded infants' event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to viewing faces with eye gaze directed toward versus away from the infant [14Senju A. Johnson M.H. The eye contact effect: mechanisms and development.Trends Cogn. Sci. (Regul. Ed.). 2009; 13: 127-134Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (545) Google Scholar]. Longitudinal analyses showed that characteristics of ERP components evoked in response to dynamic eye gaze shifts during infancy were associated with autism diagnosed at 36 months. ERP responses to eye gaze may help characterize developmental processes that lead to later emerging autism. Findings also elucidate the mechanisms driving the development of the social brain in infancy.