Lozano Itziar, Campos Ruth, Belinchón Mercedes
Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Iván Pavlov, 6, Madrid 28049, Spain; Neurocognitive Development Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jaracza, 1, Warsaw 00-378, Poland.
Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Iván Pavlov, 6, Madrid 28049, Spain.
Infant Behav Dev. 2025 Mar;78:102026. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2024.102026. Epub 2025 Jan 27.
Detecting temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech in infancy is fundamental for socio-communicative development, especially for language acquisition. Autism is an early-onset and highly heritable neurodevelopmental condition often associated with language difficulties that usually extend to infants with an elevated likelihood of autism. Early susceptibilities in still unclear basic mechanisms may underlie these difficulties. Here, we discuss why sensitivity to temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech should be investigated in infants with an elevated likelihood of autism as a candidate mechanism underlying language difficulties. We then review direct and indirect eye-tracking evidence. Although scarce, some studies suggest that detection of temporal synchrony in audiovisual speech may be reduced in infant siblings (but evidence is mixed); however, this does not seem to account for language difficulties. Instead, a lack of relationship between selective attention to the articulating mouth and language development may be a plausible candidate mechanism. However, longitudinal studies tracking both sensitivity to temporal synchrony and selective attention to talking faces in the first year are needed for further clarification. Our discussion highlights gaps in the literature, future research directions and implications for domain-general approaches to the emergence of autism.
检测婴儿视听言语中的时间同步性对于社会交际发展至关重要，尤其是对于语言习得。自闭症是一种早发性且具有高度遗传性的神经发育障碍，通常与语言困难相关，这些困难在自闭症患病可能性较高的婴儿中也很常见。尚不清楚的基本机制中的早期易感性可能是这些困难的根源。在此，我们讨论为何应在自闭症患病可能性较高的婴儿中研究对视听言语时间同步性的敏感性，以此作为语言困难潜在的一种机制。然后我们回顾直接和间接的眼动追踪证据。尽管相关研究较少，但一些研究表明，婴儿兄弟姐妹对视听言语时间同步性的检测能力可能会降低（但证据并不一致）；然而，这似乎并不能解释语言困难。相反，对说话嘴部的选择性注意与语言发展之间缺乏关联可能是一个合理的潜在机制。然而，需要进行纵向研究，在第一年追踪对时间同步性的敏感性以及对说话面孔的选择性注意，以进一步阐明情况。我们的讨论突出了文献中的空白、未来的研究方向以及对自闭症出现的通用领域方法的启示。
