The Role of Autonomic Regulation of Attention in the Emergence of ASD

项目总结 注意力障碍是自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)最早出现的终生特征之一， 研究表明，在新生儿和早期婴儿期有一个临界点，在这个临界点注意力可能受到干扰。 可检测到的。这种干扰的时机与神经发育的关键成熟转变相一致，但 与自闭症注意力障碍相关的神经生物学机制仍然难以捉摸。一种神经生物学 从婴儿期起调节注意力的系统是自主神经系统(ANS)。宽泛的ANS 在已经诊断为ASD的大龄儿童中观察到功能障碍，但ANS功能障碍是否以及何时发生 ASD中注意力异常的作用仍不清楚。这项研究的总体目标是检查 注意力的非典型自主调节如何与ASD症状的出现相关。一个 自主调节注意力的关键标志是心脏限定的注意力。相应地，心灵的成熟 早期婴儿期的明确注意及其对儿童发育的影响 互动行为和ASD症状将被检查。这项研究的一个关键创新是利用 经历ASD症状升高的婴儿(患有ASD的婴儿的兄弟姐妹)的三组设计 ASD；ASIB)将与典型发育期(TD)和早产儿(PT)对照组进行比较。出生的婴儿 早产经历广泛的ANS功能障碍从出生开始，比较ASIB和PTS将有助于描绘如何 注意力特异性ANS功能障碍预示着ASD特异性症状的出现。目标1将比较 在神经发育的非常关键时期(1-3个月)出现注意力的自主调节 在ASIB、PT婴儿和TD婴儿中。目标2将量化心脏定义的注意力之间的联系 以及在6个月、9个月和12个月时的互动行为，并比较这三种情况 组。Aim 3将利用机器学习技术在3岁时预测ASD症状 自主和注意特征(摘自目标1-2)。测定自主性调节的特异性 注意力作为与ASD相关的关键、早期出现的特征，对 性价比高的生物标志物。这项工作将为ASD的发育模型提供信息，其中ASD扰乱了自主神经 注意力的调节对现实世界的互动有直接影响，可能会干扰学习，并具有 对长期结果的连锁效应。

PROJECT SUMMARY Disrupted attention is among the earliest-emerging, lifelong features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and research suggests a critical point in the neonatal and early infant period at which disrupted attention may be detectable. The timing of this disruption aligns with key maturational shifts in neurodevelopment, but the neurobiological mechanisms associated with disrupted attention in ASD remain elusive. One neurobiological system that regulates attention from early infancy is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Broad ANS dysfunction is observed in older children already diagnosed with ASD, but whether and when ANS dysfunction contributes to attention abnormalities in ASD remains unknown. The overall goal of this study is to examine how atypical autonomic regulation of attention may be associated with the emergence of ASD symptoms. A key marker of autonomic regulation of attention is heart defined attention. Accordingly, maturation of heart defined attention in the early infant period and the developmental consequences therein for the emergence of interactive behaviors and ASD symptoms will be examined. A critical innovation of this study is leveraging a three-group design in which infants who experience elevated ASD symptoms (infant siblings of children with ASD; ASIBs) will be compared to typically developing (TD) and preterm (PT) control groups. Infants born preterm experience broad ANS dysfunction from birth and comparing ASIBs to PTs will help delineate how attention-specific ANS dysfunction predicts the emergence of ASD-specific symptoms. Aim 1 will compare the emergence of autonomic regulation of attention during a very critical period of neurodevelopment (1-3 months) across ASIBs, PT infants, and TD infants. Aim 2 will quantify the association between heart defined attention and interactive behavior on a moment-to-moment basis at 6, 9, and 12 months, and compare across the three groups. Aim 3 will utilize machine learning techniques to predict ASD symptoms at age 3 years from early autonomic and attentional features (from Aims 1-2). Determining the specificity of autonomic regulation of attention as a key, early emerging feature associated with ASD, has significant translational potential for a cost-effective biomarker. This work will inform developmental models of ASD wherein disrupted autonomic regulation of attention has proximal effects on real-world interactions that may interfere with learning and have cascading effects on long-term outcomes.