Visual attention and fine motor coordination in infants at risk for autism

项目总结 导言：自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)发病率的上升使研究人员迫切需要开发敏感的工具来早期识别。最近的进展使专家能够在第二年通过一系列社交沟通和运动协调缺陷来识别ASD。该项目试图将这项工作扩展到婴儿期。目的：这项研究的广泛目标是开发新的工具来早期识别自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)出生前六个月内的运动、社交和认知缺陷。在这项建议中，接触、物体探索和联想学习任务被用作强大的背景，以确定与ASD和更广泛的自闭症表型(BAP)相关的障碍在生命的前六个月。我们将纵向比较两组：1)自闭症儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹(AU Sibs)，他们是患ASD和BAP损害的高遗传风险队列；2)典型的发育良好的，没有ASD家族史的儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹(TD Sibs)，在3个月和6个月时进行跟踪筛查。方法：在触觉和物体探索过程中，观察婴儿在单音和多音状态下的触觉、握力和视觉注意/探索模式。此外，在联想学习过程中，婴儿将了解他们的手臂动作与激活音乐玩具之间的关系。我们将对学习、玩具激活模式和视觉注意模式进行编码。精细运动措施，如伸展和有节奏的手臂运动，将使用便携式电磁运动跟踪系统进行量化。初步研究结果：我们的初步数据表明，在3个月和6个月的测试中，AU兄弟姐妹在接触和掌握协调能力方面存在缺陷，并且在接触和物体探索任务中存在过度的视觉探索。此外，在联想学习任务中，AU同胞在转移视觉注意力方面表现出困难。通过这项建议，我们在初步数据的基础上，扩大了我们关于非盟同胞人口精细运动协调和视觉注意障碍的数据库。意义：这个项目将极大地增加我们对导致ASD核心缺陷的早期发育过程的了解。此外，如果达到这些目的，将为ASD的早期诊断确定可靠的行为标志物。具体地说，这项研究的结果将暗示，通过精细运动和视觉注意标记，在3至6个月大的婴儿早期发现ASD和BAP是可能的。它还将强调，患有自闭症儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹有普遍感觉-运动迟缓的风险，需要感觉-运动干预。

PROJECT SUMMARY Introduction: The rising incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) charges researchers with a sense of urgency to develop sensitive tools for early identification. Recent advances allow experts to identify ASD in the second year through an array of social communication and motor coordination deficits. This project attempts to extend this work into infancy. Aims: The broad objectives of this research are to develop novel tools for early identification of motor, social, and cognitive deficits of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) within the first six months of life. In this proposal, reaching, object exploration, and associative learning tasks are used as powerful contexts to identify impairments related to ASD and the broader autism phenotype (BAP) within the first six months of life. We will longitudinally compare two groups: 1) infant siblings of children with autism (AU Sibs), who are a cohort at high genetic risk to develop ASD and BAP impairments, and 2) typically developing, infant siblings of children with no family history of ASD (TD Sibs) at 3 and 6 months along with follow-up screening at 16 months. Methods: During reaching and object exploration, infants will be observed during single-rattle or multi-rattle conditions to probe their reaching, grasping, and visual attention/exploration patterns. In addition, during associative learning, infants will learn the relationship between their arm movements and the activation of a musical toy. We will code for learning, pattern of toy activation, and visual attention patterns. Fine-motor measures such as reaching and rhythmic arm movements will be quantified using a portable electromagnetic motion tracking system. Preliminary Findings: Our preliminary data suggest that AU Sibs tested at 3 and 6 months have reaching and grasping coordination deficits as well as excessive visual exploration during reaching and object exploration tasks. Moreover, AU Sibs show difficulty shifting visual attention during an associative learning task. Through this proposal, we build on our preliminary data and expand our database on fine-motor coordination and visual attention impairments of the AU Sibs population. Significance: This project will vastly add to our understanding of the early developmental processes that lead to the core deficits of ASD. In addition, if the aims are achieved it will identify reliable behavioral markers for early diagnosis of ASD. Specifically, the results of this study would implicate that early detection of ASD and the BAP is possible between 3 and 6 months of age through fine-motor and visual attention markers. It would also emphasize that infant siblings of children with autism are at risk for general sensori-motor delays and need sensori-motor interventions.