Elsabbagh Mayada, Volein Agnes, Csibra Gergely, Holmboe Karla, Garwood Holly, Tucker Leslie, Krljes Sanya, Baron-Cohen Simon, Bolton Patrick, Charman Tony, Baird Gillian, Johnson Mark H
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Jan 1;65(1):31-8. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.09.034.
Studies of infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism have allowed for a prospective approach to study the emergence of autism in infancy and revealed early behavioral characteristics of the broader autism phenotype. In view of previous findings of atypical eye gaze processing in children and adults with autism, the aim of this study was to examine the early autism phenotype in infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (sib-ASD), focusing on the neural correlates of direct compared with averted gaze.
A group of 19 sib-ASD was compared with 17 control infants with no family history of ASD (mean age=10 months) on their response to direct versus averted gaze in static stimuli.
Relative to the control group, the sib-ASD group showed prolonged latency of the occipital P400 event-related potentials component in response to direct gaze, but they did not differ in earlier components. Similarly, time-frequency analysis of high-frequency oscillatory activity in the gamma band showed group differences in response to direct gaze, where induced gamma activity was late and less persistent over the right temporal region in the sib-ASD group.
This study suggests that a broader autism phenotype, which includes an atypical response to direct gaze, is manifest early in infancy.
对被诊断为自闭症儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹进行的研究，为研究自闭症在婴儿期的出现提供了一种前瞻性方法，并揭示了更广泛自闭症表型的早期行为特征。鉴于先前在自闭症儿童和成人中发现的非典型注视处理，本研究的目的是检查被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹（sib-ASD）的早期自闭症表型，重点关注直接注视与回避注视的神经关联。
将一组19名sib-ASD与17名无自闭症家族史的对照婴儿（平均年龄 = 10个月）在静态刺激中对直接注视与回避注视的反应进行比较。
相对于对照组，sib-ASD组在对直接注视的反应中，枕叶P400事件相关电位成分的潜伏期延长，但在早期成分上没有差异。同样，γ波段高频振荡活动的时频分析显示，两组在对直接注视的反应上存在差异，sib-ASD组在右侧颞区诱发的γ活动较晚且持续时间较短。
本研究表明，包括对直接注视的非典型反应在内的更广泛自闭症表型在婴儿期早期就已显现。
