Children with autism have specific difficulty in the initiation of social communication behaviors, including looking at the faces of social partners. The Polyvagal theory proposes a social engagement system, including temporal lobe activity in the fusiform gyrus and superior temporal sulcus, vagal control of the heart, and facial motor control, that evolved to enable social engagement behavior in humans during states of calm and safety. Applying this theory to autism leads to predictions that elements of the social engagement system are compromised. This study will examine this hypothesis by measuring EEG temporal power, vagal tone, and eye movements while children with autism are viewing audiovisual images of their caregiver versus a stranger in simple and complex environments. It is hypothesized that, in contrast to controls, children with autism will show decreased EEG temporal activity, vagal control of the heart, and gazes to the eyes of their caregiver, especially the stimuli in complex environments, whereas controls will show increased activity of the social engagement system to their caregiver and will not be affected by complexity of the stimuli environment.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32MH072207-02
Application #
6956504
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-G (21))
Program Officer
Ferrell, Courtney
Project Start
2004-08-20
Project End
2007-08-19
Budget Start
2005-08-20
Budget End
2006-08-19
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$43,976
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
098987217
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60612
Carson, Audrey M; Salowitz, Nicole M G; Scheidt, Robert A et al. (2014) Electroencephalogram coherence in children with and without autism spectrum disorders: decreased interhemispheric connectivity in autism. Autism Res 7:334-43
Vaughan Van Hecke, Amy; Lebow, Jocelyn; Bal, Elgiz et al. (2009) Electroencephalogram and heart rate regulation to familiar and unfamiliar people in children with autism spectrum disorders. Child Dev 80:1118-33
Vaughan Van Hecke, Amy; Mundy, Peter C; Acra, C Francoise et al. (2007) Infant joint attention, temperament, and social competence in preschool children. Child Dev 78:53-69