The Ontogeny of Social Visual Engagement in Infants at Risk for Autism

6.项目总结/摘要 本研究的目的是前瞻性地研究婴儿社会性视觉参与的发展 自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）通过眼动追踪技术和创新的量化 在观看自然主义社会情境时的视觉注意力。我们将测量（1）视觉注视时间， 观看成人从事婴儿导向的方法，和（2）时间敏感的视觉扫描模式 在观看玩耍的婴儿时。将在2、4、6、9、12、18和24小时收集实验数据 个月235名婴儿的队列将被纳入该项目，包括患有以下疾病的儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹 患有ASD的高风险自闭症患者（HR-ASD，N=135）;患有ASD的高风险婴儿 无ASD家族史的延迟（HR-DD，N=50）;和发育问题低风险儿童 具有预期的典型发育（LR-TD预期，N=50）。将进行初步诊断评估 36个月的地方主要分析将集中在儿童谁开发ASD之间的比较， 与DD和TD儿童相比。考虑到ASD的家族性和发展的潜力， 研究介导的表型，也将在ASD儿童的所有兄弟姐妹之间进行比较 （整个HR-ASD样本）与HR-DD和LR-TD预期组的相关性。 这项工作建立在我们对动态社会刺激的异常视觉固定模式的发现基础上， 青少年（R 01 HD 04217）和24- 36个月大的ASD婴儿（U 54 MH 66494，Yale STAART）。无论是 例，对感兴趣区域（眼睛、嘴、身体和物体）的视觉注视总结是强预测因子 社会残疾的同步标准化测量。在这里，我们以两种方式扩展这项工作：（1）我们将 采用我们实验室开发的新颖的逐时视觉扫描行为的群体测量方法， 对婴儿周围环境中自然发生的时间限定的社会和身体线索特别敏感 环境;（2）我们将量化社会化的关键机制及其假设的个体发育 通过纵向研究一组有更大风险的婴儿， 发展出紊乱我们利用一个项目，重点是详细的临床特征， 同一队列（项目1，PO 1 HD 003008），以及由此产生的概念和技术进步 来自我们对ASD幼儿的持续研究（项目1，P50 HD 055726）。我们的计划目标 （1）研究社会化的早期机制以及这些机制在异质性中的作用。 ASD中的综合征表达;（2）开发能够预测 发育和诊断结果，并能够作为筛查方案的婴儿在风险的ASD。 该项目涉及NIH机构间自闭症协调委员会的几个关键行动项目， 强调婴儿的发育标记和筛查，以及神经发育过程。7.项目叙述 在这个项目中，我们将绘制和量化从2到24个月的社会视觉参与的演变。 年龄，使用视觉固定和视觉扫描的措施，研究自闭症婴儿如何与 社交世界通过对自闭症大龄儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹的前瞻性研究，该项目将 测量随后被诊断患有自闭症的婴儿改变社会参与的发展过程， 自闭症谱系障碍这个项目的三个目标定量诊断标志物， 结果和内在表型能够解析更广泛的自闭症谱系的异质性也 NIH机构间自闭症委员会的主要目标。与委员会的行动项目一样， 强调婴儿的发育标志物和筛查，以及神经发育过程， 因此，与公共卫生密切相关。

6. Project Summary / Abstract The goal of this project is to study prospectively the development of social visual engagement in infants with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by means of eye-tracking technology and innovative quantification of visual attention during viewing of naturalistic social situations. We will measure (1) visual fixation time during viewing of adults engaged in infant-directed approaches, and (2) temporally-sensitive visual scanning patterns during viewing of infants engaged in play. Experimental data will be collected at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. A cohort of 235 infants will be enrolled in this project, consisting of infant siblings of children with autism who are at High Risk for developing an ASD (HR-ASD, N=135); infants at High Risk for Developmental Delays without familial history of ASD (HR-DD, N=50); and children at Low Risk of developmental problems with Typical Development expected (LR-TDexpected, N=50). Confirmatory diagnostic assessment will take place at 36 months. The primary analyses will focus on comparisons between children who develop an ASD in comparison with DD and TD children. Given the familial nature of ASD and the potential for advancing research on mediating phenotypes, comparisons will also be made between all siblings of children with ASD (entire HR-ASD sample) in relation to the HR-DD and LR-TDexpected groups. This work builds on our findings of anomalous visual fixation patterns to dynamic social stimuli in adolescents (R01 HD04217) and in 24- to 36-month-olds (U54 MH66494, Yale STAART) with ASD. In both cases, summaries of visual fixation on regions of interest (eyes, mouth, body, & object) were strong predictors of concurrent, standardized measures of social disability. Here we extend this work in two ways: (1) we will employ novel group measures of moment-by-moment visual scanning behavior developed by our lab which are particularly sensitive to time-delimited social and physical cues occurring naturally in infants' surrounding environment; and (2) we will quantify the ontogeny of a key mechanism of socialization and its hypothesized derailment in the early pathogenesis of ASD by studying longitudinally a group of infants at greater risk for developing the disorder. We capitalize on a project focused on the detailed clinical characterization of the same cohort (Project 1, PO1 HD003008), and on the conceptual and technological advancements resulting from our continuing studies of young children with ASD (Project 1, P50 HD055726). Our programmatic goals are to (1) study early mechanisms of socialization and the role of these mechanisms in the heterogeneity of syndrome expression in ASD; and (2) to develop performance-based measures capable of predicting developmental and diagnostic outcome and able to serve as screening protocols for infants at risk for ASD. This project addresses several key action items of the NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, with emphasis on developmental markers and screening in infants, and neurodevelopmental processes. 7. Project Narrative In this project we will map and quantify the unfolding of social visual engagement from 2 to 24 months of age, using measures of visual fixation and visual scanning to study how infants with autism interact with the social world. Through a prospective study of the infant siblings of older children with autism, this project will measure the developmental course of altered social engagement in infants subsequently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The three goals of this projectquantitative diagnostic markers, predictors of outcome, and endophenotypes capable of parsing the heterogeneity of the broader autism spectrumare also key objectives of the NIH Interagency Autism Committee. Like the Committee's action items, this project emphasizes developmental markers and screening in infants, as well as neurodevelopmental processes, and is, therefore, highly relevant to public health.