Bradshaw Jessica, Schwichtenberg Amy J, Iverson Jana M
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
Child Dev Perspect. 2022 Mar;16(1):18-26. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12439. Epub 2022 Jan 19.
Developmental change emerges from dynamic interactions among networks of neural activity, behavior systems, and experience-dependent processes. A developmental cascades framework captures the sequential, multilevel, cross-domain nature of human development and is ideal for demonstrating how interconnected systems have far-reaching effects in typical and atypical development. Neurodevelopmental disorders represent an intriguing application of this framework. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is complex and heterogeneous, with biological and behavioral features that cut across multiple developmental domains, including those that are motor, cognitive, sensory, and bioregulatory. Mapping developmental cascades in ASD can be transformational in elucidating how seemingly unrelated behaviors (e.g., those emerging at different points in development and occurring in multiple domains) are part of an interconnected neurodevelopmental pathway. In this article, we review evidence for specific developmental cascades implicated in ASD and suggest that theoretical and empirical advances in etiology and change mechanisms can be accelerated using a developmental cascades framework.
发育变化源于神经活动网络、行为系统和经验依赖过程之间的动态相互作用。发育级联框架捕捉了人类发育的顺序性、多层次、跨领域性质，非常适合用于展示相互关联的系统如何在典型和非典型发育中产生深远影响。神经发育障碍是该框架的一个有趣应用。自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）复杂且具有异质性，其生物学和行为特征跨越多个发育领域，包括运动、认知、感觉和生物调节等领域。绘制ASD中的发育级联图对于阐明看似不相关的行为（例如，在发育不同阶段出现且发生在多个领域的行为）如何成为相互关联的神经发育途径的一部分可能具有变革性意义。在本文中，我们回顾了与ASD相关的特定发育级联的证据，并表明使用发育级联框架可以加速病因学和变化机制方面的理论和实证进展。
