Human neurocognitive development: Early-stage processing, modifiers, and outcomes

发育障碍，如自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD），很少在3岁之前被诊断出来。了解这些疾病在最初几年的出现对于改善早期识别和治疗方案至关重要。我们的目标是了解生命最初几年的大脑发育与典型和非典型发育结果之间的关系。为此，我们将实施两个大项目。首先，我们将跟踪那些更有可能患上自闭症和多动症等常见疾病的婴儿，从5个月到幼儿期（A部分）。其次，我们将研究从怀孕到婴儿期早期发育正常的婴儿（B部分）。我们计划的两个部分都旨在：(1)找到婴儿如何处理声音、视觉和触觉（感官处理）的标记；(2)了解后期出现的技能，如社会动机或自我调节，这些技能可以帮助婴儿弥补早期感觉加工的困难；(3)了解这些因素如何塑造和预测日后的行为困难，如社会沟通或注意力和活动水平的问题。在A部分，我们建立在我们长期与患有自闭症的家庭成员的婴儿打交道的经验上，这些婴儿有1/5的机会自己被诊断出自闭症。我们将进一步将我们的工作扩展到有家庭成员患有多动症的婴儿，这些婴儿同样有更高的可能性被诊断为多动症。我们还将研究一组新的被诊断为神经纤维瘤病的婴儿，这种遗传疾病通常会导致后来的ASD或ADHD诊断。我们将把这些婴儿的大脑发育和认知功能与其他没有发育障碍家族史的婴儿进行比较。所有这些婴儿组都将参与我们的研究，我们在婴儿出生后的三年内跟踪他们五次到我们的实验室。我们使用各种婴儿友好的方法研究大脑发育，如近红外光谱（NIRS -一种光成像），脑电图（EEG），眼动追踪和亲子互动。我们选择比较婴儿自闭症和多动症的风险有几个原因。其中之一是确定早期预警信号对特定的后期结果有多具体。另一个原因是我们知道这些情况通常同时发生在同一个孩子身上。我们还与国际伙伴合作，共同提出有关自闭症和多动症早期症状和干预措施的重要问题。出生是大脑在其一生中所经历的环境中最剧烈的变化，但其对新兴功能的影响仍令人惊讶地未知。在B部分，我们将对从怀孕到5个月的典型发育进行基础科学研究。我们将研究胎儿对超声波测量的光和声音的反应是否在出生后保持个体差异。此外，我们会问，在出生后的最初几周，大脑功能是否会发生巨大的变化。最后，我们将研究婴儿早期与其他人互动的经历如何影响他们的大脑发育。总的来说，这个项目将为人类发展的关键时期提供深刻的见解。

Developmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are rarely diagnosed before age 3. Understanding the emergence of these disorders during the first years is critical to improving early identification and treatment options. We aim to understand how brain development over the first years of life relates to both typical and atypical developmental outcomes. To do this, we will conduct two large projects. First, we will follow infants who are more likely to develop common conditions like autism and ADHD from five months to toddlerhood (Part A). Second, we will study typically developing babies from pregnancy to early infancy (Part B). Both parts of our programme aim to: (1) find markers of how babies process sounds, sights and touch (sensory processing); (2) understand later-emerging skills like social motivation or self-regulation that can help babies compensate for any early difficulties in sensory processing; (3) understand how these factors might shape and predict later behavioural difficulties, like problems with social communication or attention and activity level.In Part A we build on our long experience in working with infants with a family member with ASD, who have a 1/5 chance of going on to a diagnosis themselves. We will further expand our work to infants with a family member with ADHD, who have a similarly heightened likelihood of receiving an ADHD diagnosis. We will also work with a new group of infants diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis 1, a genetic condition that frequently leads to a later ASD or ADHD diagnosis. We will compare the development of brain and cognitive functions in these groups to other babies who do not have a family history of a developmental disorder. All these groups of babies will take part in our study where we follow babies over five visits to our laboratory over the first three years of life. We study brain development using a variety of baby-friendly methods such as Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS - a type of light imaging), electroencephalography (EEG), eye-tracking, and parent-infant interaction. We have chosen to compare infant routes to autism and ADHD risk for several reasons. One of these is to determine how specific the early warning signs are for particular later outcomes. Another reason is that we know that these conditions quite commonly co-occur in the same children. We also work with international partners to join together to ask important questions about early signs and interventions for autism and ADHD.Birth is the single most dramatic change in environment that a brain experiences in its lifetime, yet its consequences for emerging functions remain surprisingly unknown. In Part B we will conduct a basic science study of typical development from pregnancy to age 5 months. We will look at whether individual differences in how foetuses respond to lights and sounds measured with ultrasound are maintained after birth. Further, we will ask whether or not there are dramatic changes in brain function that happen over the first weeks post-birth. Finally, we will study how infant's experiences interacting with other people in early infancy influences their brain development. Taken together, this project will provide deep insights into a vital period of human development.