2009 — 2010 |
Macari, Suzanne |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Perceptual Factors Affecting Social Attention in Autism Spectrum Disorders
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A striking and characteristic feature of very young children with ASD is their reduced interest in people in their immediate environment: they frequently focus more on the toys and objects in the room and less on adults who are in close proximity. While the phenomenon of apparent heightened interest in objects in toddlers with ASD is not well understood, it has been documented as early as the first birthday. These early differences in attention in toddlers with ASD may be part of a developmental cascade that leads to a more intense focus on objects at the expense of attending to people. Such a preference for objects over people can interfere with opportunities for social learning and may also contribute to difficulties in the acquisition of language and problem solving skills. Indeed, a fundamental goal of behavioral therapy for children with ASD is to shift their attention away from objects and towards parents, teachers, and peers. The main goal of the current proposal is to elucidate the perceptual processes that serve to bias toddlers with ASD toward objects and drive their unusual exploratory behaviors. We will focus on two perceptual dimensions that in our previous work have been found particularly important in driving attention of toddlers with ASD: contrast and motion. We are taking a novel two-pronged approach, incorporating eye-tracking tasks with analogous behavioral tasks to examine the associations between visual preferences as exhibited in a context of eye-tracking experiments and attentional biases (preferences) observable during free play situations. The proposed study will address the following questions: (1) Are toddlers with ASD biased toward high-contrast stimuli? (2) Are certain kinds of motion such as rotational movement especially salient to toddlers with ASD? (3) Does the presence of perceptually salient distractors impede attention to social stimuli in toddlers with ASD? We plan to conduct these experiments with 18-24-month-old toddlers who are exhibiting signs of ASD. Targeting this group is critical from a clinical standpoint, as abnormalities in visual attention (e.g., unusual visual interests) constitute part of the diagnostic criteria for ASD, yet these difficulties often manifest at this age only in a limited form. Thus, designing more sensitive behavioral approaches to detect emerging abnormalities in this domain is vital. Through these experiments, we will elucidate the perceptual components of stimuli that attract toddlers'visual attention and effectively draw them away from social experiences that are critical to their development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed experiments focus on visuo-perceptual abnormalities in the early stages of ASD, perhaps even prior to the manifestation of behavioral symptoms in this area, and thus advance our understanding of the processes and mechanisms underlying behavioral symptoms of the disorder. By shedding light on the mechanisms that lead to deficits in attention to social stimuli in everyday situations in young children with ASD, the project's findings will inform interventions that aim to minimize the cascading effects of such deficits over the first years of life. Furthermore, our findings could be highly consequential for the design of early diagnostic measures for high-risk infant sibling populations or infants with emerging but unclear symptoms of ASD.
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0.915 |
2021 |
Chawarska, Katarzyna [⬀] Macari, Suzanne |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Multimodal Investigation of Emotional Reactivity as a Predictor of Later Psychopathology in Infants At Risk For Asd
SUMMARY Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by social impairments and restricted and repetitive behaviors. Those with a genetic liability for social deficits, including individuals with ASD and their unaffected relatives are also at high risk for internalizing and externalizing conditions. The presence of comorbid affective and behavioral conditions impairs adaptive functioning, increases family stress, and is associated with psychiatric hospitalizations and residential placement. Identification of risk factors for internalizing and externalizing disorders amongst young children with ASD and their siblings would improve diagnostic practices and promote implementation of preventative and early interventions. Extensive research in the general population indicates that precursors of internalizing and externalizing disorders can be identified in the first two years of life as indexed by elevated or attenuated levels of Emotional Reactivity (eReactivity), or intensity of emotional reactions in response to internal or external triggers. Extant, albeit limited, evidence suggests that toddlers with ASD and their unaffected siblings exhibit atypical eReactivity profiles both on the behavioral and physiological levels, though the evidence is incomplete and both their origins and the links with later psychopathology are largely unknown. To fill this gap, we propose to prospectively examine the development of eReactivity from 4 to 30 months in 150 younger siblings of children with ASD, who, due to familial factors, are at high risk for developing ASD (HR) and 30 low-risk (LR) siblings. We plan to examine eReactivity to real- world triggers aimed to elicit fear, anger, and joy, and to evaluate the effects of the social and nonsocial nature of the triggers on eReactivity across the three emotions using a state-of-the-art multi-method behavioral and physiological approach. Aim 1 will evaluate prospectively whether the HRASD group (siblings with ASD), HRATP (siblings with developmental challenges), and HRTD (siblings without developmental challenges) are characterized by distinct patterns of eReactivity to social vs nonsocial triggers as measured by behavioral and physiological indices between 4 and 30 months compared to the LRTD group. The aim will clarify if differential emotional reactivity to social and nonsocial triggers constitutes an emerging characteristic of the autism phenotype in ASD. Aim 2 will examine predictive relationships between development of eReactivity in infancy and severity of internalizing and externalizing symptoms at 30 months. Identification of early predictors of internalizing/externalizing problems will facilitate access to early interventions aimed at amelioration of behavioral and emotional challenges. Consistent with the Research Domain Criteria research framework recommendations, the project (1) employs multiple levels of analysis, (2) investigates negative and positive valence systems as well as arousal systems, and (3) examines a spectrum of ASD risk with long-term goals of improving diagnostic precision in ASD and enabling discovery of novel treatment targets and interventions both during prodromal and early syndromal stages of the disorder.
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0.915 |