University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Autism Res. 2017 Jul;10(7):1239-1248. doi: 10.1002/aur.1770. Epub 2017 Mar 16.
One recently proposed theory of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) hypothesizes that individuals with the disorder may have difficulty using prior experiences to predict future events [Hellendoorn et al., 2015; Northrup, 2016; Sinha et al., 2014]. To date, this theory has not been tested in infancy. The current study analyzed how young infants at heightened (HR; older sibling with ASD) vs. low risk (LR; no first degree relatives with ASD) for ASD responded to changing contingencies when interacting with two visually identical rattles-one that produced sounds during shaking (Sound), and one that did not (Silent). Infants were given the rattles in a Sound-Silent-Sound order at 6 and 10 months, and shaking behavior was coded. Results indicated that LR and HR infants (regardless of ASD diagnosis) did not differ from each other in shaking behavior at 6 months. However, by 10 months, LR infants demonstrated high initial shaking with all three rattles, indicating expectations for rattle affordances, while HR infants did not. Significantly, HR infants, and particularly those with an eventual ASD diagnosis, did not demonstrate an "extinction burst"-or high level of shaking-in the first 10 sec with the "silent" rattle, indicating that they may have difficulty generalizing learning from one interaction to the next. Further, individual differences in the strength of this "extinction burst" predicted cognitive development in toddlerhood among HR infants. Difficulty forming expectations for new interactions based on previous experiences could impact learning and behavior in a number of domains. Autism Res 2017. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1239-1248. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
一种最近提出的自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）理论假设，患有该障碍的个体可能难以利用先前的经验来预测未来的事件[Hellendoorn 等人，2015 年；Northrup，2016 年；Sinha 等人，2014 年]。迄今为止，该理论尚未在婴儿期进行过测试。本研究分析了在自闭症风险较高（HR；有自闭症谱系障碍的兄弟姐妹）和风险较低（LR；没有一级亲属患有自闭症谱系障碍）的婴儿在与两个视觉上完全相同的拨浪鼓互动时，如何应对变化的偶然性，一个在摇晃时发出声音（有声），另一个则不发出声音（无声）。婴儿在 6 个月和 10 个月时以有声-无声-有声的顺序接受拨浪鼓，并对摇晃行为进行编码。结果表明，LR 和 HR 婴儿（无论自闭症谱系障碍诊断如何）在 6 个月时的摇晃行为没有差异。然而，到 10 个月时，LR 婴儿对所有三个拨浪鼓的初始摇晃行为都很高，这表明他们对拨浪鼓的功能有期望，而 HR 婴儿则没有。值得注意的是，HR 婴儿，尤其是那些最终被诊断为自闭症的婴儿，在第一个 10 秒内没有表现出“消退爆发”——即对无声拨浪鼓的高摇晃水平，这表明他们可能难以将一次互动的学习推广到下一次。此外，HR 婴儿中这种“消退爆发”的个体差异预测了他们在幼儿期的认知发展。根据以往的经验形成对新互动的期望的能力障碍可能会影响许多领域的学习和行为。自闭症研究 2017. 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，Inc. 自闭症研究 2017 年，10：1239-1248. 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，Inc.
