Motivation, Self-Monitoring, & Family Process in Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请描述了一个相互关联的研究项目，将提供有关神经生物学和家庭过程的广泛和多方面的数据，这些数据有助于高功能自闭症儿童（UFA儿童）的社会发展。它的目的是提供必要的描述性科学数据，为发展更有效的诊断和干预方法建立一个立即有用的基础，以满足小学到高中阶段功能较高的儿童的特定社会情感需求。结合这一应用目标，该研究项目也被设计用于测试关于动机和自我监控相关大脑系统以及家庭因素在HFA儿童社会发展中的作用的新假设。特别地，本申请描述了研究，将检查神经生物学和家庭过程的维度，理论认为这有助于高功能儿童的社会障碍和合并症。这里包括：1)与前侧脑电图不对称相关的动机过程，2)与脑电图错误相关的负性相关的自我监控过程，以及3)与父母情绪状态和家庭关键表达情绪（EE）相关的过程。本研究的目的是复制和扩展初步观察，即前路脑电图不对称测量为HFA儿童亚组提供了一个重要的标志，这些亚组在社交障碍、共病焦虑和执行功能的测量上彼此显著不同。第二个目的是检验高脂肪儿童在自我监测方面与对照组不同的假设，以及自我监测与高脂肪儿童亚组在社交障碍和共病焦虑方面的差异有关。本应用程序的最终目的是检查父母的情感状态和/或家庭表达的情感在多大程度上与HFA儿童的社会障碍和合并症的个体差异有关。为了解决这些具体的目标，本申请提出了一个研究120 HFA儿童在2个年龄组（8-12岁和13-17岁）和120年龄，性别和智商匹配的对照。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes an interrelated program of studies that will provide a broad and multifaceted array of data on neurobiological and family processes that contribute to the social development of higher-function children with autism (UFA children). It has been designed to provide descriptive scientific data necessary to establish an immediately useful foundation for the development of more effective diagnostic and intervention methods to meet the specific social emotional needs of higher functioning children in the elementary through high-school years. In conjunction with this applied goal, this program of studies has also been designed to test new hypotheses about the role of motivation and self-monitoring related brain systems, as well as family factors, in the social development of HFA children. In particular, this application describes research that will examine dimensions of neurobiological and family processes that theory suggests contribute to both social impairments and comorbidity in higher functioning children. Included here are: 1) motivation processes associated with anterior EEG asymmetry, 2) self-monitoring processes associated with EEG error related negativity and, 3) processes associated with parent's emotional status and family critical expressed emotion (EE). 1 aim of this research is to replicate and extend preliminary observations that anterior EEG asymmetry measures provide an important marker of subgroups of HFA children that significantly differ from each other, and controls, on measures of social impairment, comorbid anxiety and executive functions. A second aim is to test the hypotheses that HFA children will differ from controls on measures of self-monitoring, and that self-monitoring will be related to HFA sub-group differences in social impairments and comorbid anxiety. A final aim of this application is to examine the degree to which parent emotional status and/or family expressed emotion is related to individual differences in social impairments and comorbidity among HFA children. To address these specific aims this application proposes a study of 120 HFA children in 2 age groups (8-12 and 13-17 years) and 120 age, gender and IQ matched controls.