Blanco Borja, Lloyd-Fox Sarah, Begum-Ali Jannath, Pirazzoli Laura, Goodwin Amy, Mason Luke, Pasco Greg, Charman Tony, Jones Emily J H, Johnson Mark H
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Cortex. 2023 Dec;169:18-34. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.07.010. Epub 2023 Sep 29.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are highly prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions that often co-occur and present both common and distinct neurodevelopmental profiles. Studying the developmental pathways leading to the emergence of ASD and/or ADHD symptomatology is crucial in understanding neurodiversity and discovering the mechanisms that underpin it. This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate differences in cortical specialization to social stimuli between 4- to 6-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD. Results showed that infants at both elevated likelihood of ASD and ADHD had reduced selectivity to vocal sounds in left middle and superior temporal gyrus. Furthermore, infants at elevated likelihood of ASD showed attenuated responses to visual social stimuli in several cortical regions compared to infants at typical likelihood. Individual brain responses to visual social stimuli were associated with later autism traits, but not ADHD traits. These outcomes support our previous observations showing atypical social brain responses in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and align with later atypical brain responses to social stimuli observed in children and adults with ASD. These findings highlight the importance of characterizing antecedent biomarkers of atypicalities in processing socially relevant information that might contribute to both phenotypic overlap and divergence across ASD and ADHD conditions and their association with the later emergence of behavioural symptoms.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）是高度普遍的神经发育疾病，它们经常同时出现，呈现出共同和独特的神经发育特征。研究导致ASD和/或ADHD症状出现的发育途径对于理解神经多样性和发现其背后的机制至关重要。本研究使用功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）来调查4至6个月大的婴儿中，ASD和/或ADHD发生可能性处于典型水平和较高水平的婴儿在对社会刺激的皮质特化方面的差异。结果表明，ASD和ADHD发生可能性较高的婴儿在左侧颞中回和颞上回对声音的选择性降低。此外，与发生可能性处于典型水平的婴儿相比，ASD发生可能性较高的婴儿在几个皮质区域对视觉社会刺激的反应减弱。个体对视觉社会刺激的大脑反应与后来的自闭症特征相关，但与ADHD特征无关。这些结果支持了我们之前的观察，即ASD发生可能性较高的婴儿存在非典型的社会大脑反应，并且与后来在患有ASD的儿童和成人中观察到的对社会刺激的非典型大脑反应一致。这些发现强调了表征在处理社会相关信息方面非典型性的先行生物标志物的重要性，这些信息可能导致ASD和ADHD病症在表型上的重叠和差异，以及它们与行为症状后期出现的关联。
