Considering the early role of human faces as compelling stimuli for typically developing newborns and considering the emergence of sophisticated face recognition skills by six months in typical development, it is very likely that face processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is affected from the first months of life. This project aims to characterize the emergence of face processing abnormalities in infants with ASD by prospectively following, from 3 months to 36 months of life, 160 infants at high risk for developing ASD due to a genetic liability (i.e. by having an older sibling with ASD). At 36 months, clinical diagnosis of the high-risk population will afford the division of the population into three groups: 1) siblings with ASD;2) Non-Affected siblings (NAF);and 3) siblings with various developmental delays but without ASD features (DD). Developmental changes in face processing skills will be compared against 40 low-risk, typically developing infants (TYP). The set of interrelated face processing skills to be examined include: 1) localization of faces and focused attention to faces;2) attentional disengagement from faces;and 3) face scanning and recognition. Localization of faces and focused attention towards faces tests the hypothesis that, when presented with faces in naturalistic environments, children who later develop ASD will take longer to localize a face, and, when they do, will spend less time focused on the face. Disengagement from faces task tests the hypothesis that DD, TYP and NAF attend to faces in an obligatory manner and process them on a deeper level as compared to children who develop ASD. This hypothesis will be reflected by a longer latency in shifting attention away from the face to a remote target that appears suddenly. Face scanning and recognition will test the hypothesis that infants with ASD will, with age, exhibit a progressively atypical pattern of face scanning and that the degree of abnormality will correlate with recognition skills as well as social and cognitive deficits. The process of encoding facial features and recognition skills will be gauged via an infant-controlled habituation paradigm. It is expected that the patterns in localization of faces, focused attention towards faces, attention capture by faces, and face scanning and recognition, will, in combination, highlight the developmental divergence in high-risk and low-risk children and correlate with worsening autistic symptoms. Our goals are to identify the type of primary impairments in face processing and to understand the developmental trajectories of face processing abnormalities in the earliest stages of ASD. This will inform early diagnosis (through identification of potential early indicators of risk for ASD), treatment (though identification of pivotal target skills), and theory (through enhancing understanding of mechanisms underlying abnormalities in face perception in ASD). This project addresses several key action items of the NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, with emphasis on understanding of underlying mechanisms of social impairment and identifying behavioral markers for ASD in infancy.

Public Health Relevance

In this project we will characterize the emergence of face processing abnormalities in infants with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) by prospectively following, from 3 months to 36 months of life, infants that are, due to a genetic liability, at high risk for developing ASD. We will employ cutting-edge eye tracking methodologies and analytic strategies to study aspects of attention, learning, and recognition associated with face perception in order to inform early diagnosis (through identification of early indicators of risk for ASD), treatment (through identification of pivotal target skills), neurodevelopmental theory (through enhancing understanding of mechanisms underlying abnormalities in face perception in ASD), and clinical theory (by parsing heterogeneity in ASD and tracking broader autism-related phenotypes). These are amongst key objectives identified by the NIH Interagency Autism Committee and therefore highly relevant to public health.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH087554-02
Application #
8048141
Study Section
Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Study Section (CPDD)
Program Officer
Gilotty, Lisa
Project Start
2010-04-01
Project End
2015-02-28
Budget Start
2011-03-01
Budget End
2012-02-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$409,613
Indirect Cost
Name
Yale University
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
043207562
City
New Haven
State
CT
Country
United States
Zip Code
06520
Macari, Suzanne L; Wu, Grace C; Powell, Kelly K et al. (2018) Do Parents and Clinicians Agree on Ratings of Autism-Related Behaviors at 12 Months of Age? A Study of Infants at High and Low Risk for ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 48:1069-1080
Wang, Quan; Campbell, Daniel J; Macari, Suzanne L et al. (2018) Operationalizing atypical gaze in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders: a cohesion-based approach. Mol Autism 9:25
Wang, Quan; DiNicola, Lauren; Heymann, Perrine et al. (2018) Impaired Value Learning for Faces in Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 57:33-40
Macari, Suzanne L; Koller, Judah; Campbell, Daniel J et al. (2017) Temperamental markers in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 58:819-828
Charman, Tony; Young, Gregory S; Brian, Jessica et al. (2017) Non-ASD outcomes at 36 months in siblings at familial risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A baby siblings research consortium (BSRC) study. Autism Res 10:169-178
Prince, Emily Barbara; Kim, Elizabeth S; Wall, Carla Anne et al. (2017) The relationship between autism symptoms and arousal level in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder, as measured by electrodermal activity. Autism 21:504-508
Kim, So Hyun; Joseph, Robert M; Frazier, Jean A et al. (2016) Predictive Validity of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) Born Very Preterm. J Pediatr 178:101-107.e2
Messinger, Daniel S; Young, Gregory S; Webb, Sara Jane et al. (2016) Commentary: sex difference differences? A reply to Constantino. Mol Autism 7:31
Szatmari, Peter; Chawarska, Katarzyna; Dawson, Geraldine et al. (2016) Prospective Longitudinal Studies of Infant Siblings of Children With Autism: Lessons Learned and Future Directions. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 55:179-87
Chawarska, Katarzyna; Macari, Suzanne; Powell, Kelly et al. (2016) Enhanced Social Attention in Female Infant Siblings at Risk for Autism. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 55:188-95.e1

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