Impact of Multisensory Function on Symptomatology in Young Children with ASD

项目摘要/摘要 对感觉刺激的非典型反应在自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)中非常普遍。体感 尤其是敏感性，在这种疾病中出现的频率很高。而核心症状学则是 由感觉功能障碍和社会沟通障碍组成，异常的躯体感觉和 多感官加工对社交能力的影响目前还不清楚。人们还不太清楚它有多感官 辨别异常预示着较晚的社交障碍，或感觉异常的哪些表现 会导致更严重的后果。因此，这项建议的目标是研究行为和神经模式 自闭症儿童潜在的纵向躯体感觉和多感觉辨别异常 与4-5岁和6-7岁的TD同龄人进行比较，并确定潜在的发展因果关系模式 感觉和社交障碍。我们的理论认为，功能性和非功能性行为障碍 自闭症神经系统之间的结构连接干扰了正常的发展。在这个理论范围内 框架下，我们对ASD的感觉加工做出了三个关键的预测：(1) ASD的感觉辨别异常将是客观可观察和可量化的；(2)功能性和结构性 感觉和多感觉网络内部和之间的连接模式将是非典型的；以及(3)这些非典型的 网络连接将与感觉异常的行为表现联系在一起，结合起来将在以后预测 社交障碍。为了检验这些假设，我们提出了一种纵向和多模式的方法， 包括行为测量、基于任务的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)、静息状态功能 连接性磁共振成像(FcMRI)、弥散加权成像(DWI)和神经心理学指标，以及机器- 学习方法，这将能够揭示不同的模式内和跨模式，并准确地确定模式， 可能对幼儿的自闭症症状影响最大。这项提议的独特优势在于 定量行为测量在青少年感觉辨别阈值检测中的应用 人群，结合使用先进的神经成像工具来测量功能活动和(功能 和结构)多个大脑系统之间的网络连接和机器学习的实现 预测性方法。 拟议的培训计划结合了多模式神经成像和机器学习的分析方法， 以及神经心理学评估和评估方面的培训，这对申请者的研究目标是必不可少的 研究大脑和行为的感觉异常和非典型发育。这份职业发展 奖励将使她能够开发成功完成拟议研究所需的新专业知识，同时 基于她在幼儿多感官发育和功能神经成像方面的丰富经验。这个 圣地亚哥州立大学心理学系和精心挑选的导师团队将创建 一个特殊的训练环境，以促进她成为成功的、独立的自闭症患者的长期职业目标 发展认知神经科学领域的研究人员，专注于感觉运动加工。

Project Summary/Abstract Atypical responses to sensory stimuli are highly prevalent in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Somatosensory sensitivities in particular occur prominently and with high frequency in the disorder. While core symptomatology is comprised of both sensory dysfunctions and sociocommunicative deficits, the impact of aberrant somatosensory and multisensory processing on sociocommunication abilities remains unknown. It is not well-understood how sensory discrimination anomalies predict later sociocommunicative impairment, or which manifestations of sensory abnormalities result in more severe outcomes. Thus, the objective of this proposal is to investigate the behavioral and neural patterns underlying somatosensory and multisensory discrimination abnormalities longitudinally in young children with ASD compared to TD peers at 4-5 years and 6-7 years of age and identify potential patterns of developmental causality between sensory and sociocommunicative impairments. We theorize that behavioral dysfunction and disruptions in functional and structural connectivity between neural systems in ASD interfere with normative development. Within this theoretical framework, we make three key predictions regarding sensory processing in ASD: (1) Behavioral manifestations of sensory discrimination anomalies in ASD will be objectively observable and quantifiable; (2) functional and structural connectivity patterns within and between sensory and multisensory networks will be atypical; and (3) these atypical network connections will be linked to behavioral manifestations of sensory abnormalities, and combined will predict later sociocommunicative impairments. To examine these hypotheses, we propose a longitudinal and multimodal approach, including behavioral measures, task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), resting state functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), and neuropsychological indices, along with machine- learning methods, which will be able to reveal distinct patterns within and across modalities, and pinpoint patterns that may most heavily impact autism symptomatology in young children. The distinct strengths of this proposal lie in the application of quantitative behavioral measures to examine sensory discrimination thresholds in young developmental populations, in combination with the use of advanced neuroimaging tools to measure functional activity and (functional and structural) network connectivity between multiple brain systems and the implementation of machine-learning predictive approaches. The proposed training plan incorporates analytic approaches to multimodal neuroimaging and machine-learning, as well as training in neuropsychological evaluation and assessment, which are essential to the applicant's research goals of investigating sensory abnormalities in, and atypical development of, the brain and behavior. This career development award will permit her to develop new expertise necessary for successful completion of the proposed research, while building upon her extensive experience of multisensory development and functional neuroimaging in young children. The Psychology Department at San Diego State University, together with the carefully selected mentorship team, will create an exceptional training environment to further her long-term career goal to become a successful, independent autism researcher in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience with a focus on sensorimotor processing.