1
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Bettoni R, Cantiani C, Riboldi EM, Molteni M, Bulf H, Riva V. Visual statistical learning in preverbal infants at a higher likelihood of autism and its association with later social communication skills. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0300274. [PMID: 38748641 PMCID: PMC11095754 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual statistical Learning (SL) allows infants to extract the statistical relationships embedded in a sequence of elements. SL plays a crucial role in language and communication competencies and has been found to be impacted in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study aims to investigate visual SL in infants at higher likelihood of developing ASD (HL-ASD) and its predictive value on autistic-related traits at 24-36 months. At 6 months of age, SL was tested using a visual habituation task in HL-ASD and neurotypical (NT) infants. All infants were habituated to a visual sequence of shapes containing statistically predictable patterns. In the test phase, infants viewed the statistically structured, familiar sequence in alternation with a novel sequence that did not contain any statistical information. HL-ASD infants were then evaluated at 24-36 months to investigate the associations between visual SL and ASD-related traits. Our results showed that NT infants were able to learn the statistical structure embedded in the visual sequences, while HL-ASD infants showed different learning patterns. A regression analysis revealed that SL ability in 6-month-old HL-ASD infants was related to social communication and interaction abilities at 24-36 months of age. These findings indicate that early differences in learning visual statistical patterns might contribute to later social communication skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Bettoni
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Cantiani
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Child Psychopathology Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Elena Maria Riboldi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Child Psychopathology Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Massimo Molteni
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Child Psychopathology Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Hermann Bulf
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Valentina Riva
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Child Psychopathology Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
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2
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Wright D, Kenny A, Mizen LAM, McKechanie AG, Stanfield AC. Profiling Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Traits in Children with SYNGAP1-Related Intellectual Disability. J Autism Dev Disord 2023:10.1007/s10803-023-06162-9. [PMID: 38055183 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06162-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
SYNGAP1-related ID is a genetic condition characterised by global developmental delay and epilepsy. Individuals with SYNGAP1-related ID also commonly show differences in attention and social communication/interaction and frequently receive additional diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We thus set out to quantify ASD and ADHD symptoms in children with this syndrome. To assess ASD and ADHD, parents and caregivers of a child with SYNGAP1-related ID (N = 34) or a typically developing control (N = 21) completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-2, the Social Communication Questionnaire with a subset of these also completing the Conners-3. We found that those with SYNGAP1-related ID demonstrated higher levels of autistic traits on both the SRS and SCQ than typically developing controls. On the SRS, those with SYNGAP1-related ID scored highest for restricted repetitive behaviours, and were least impaired in social awareness. On the Conners-3, those with SYNGAP1-related ID also showed a high prevalence of ADHD traits, with scores demonstrating difficulties with peer relations but relatively low occurrence of symptoms for DSM-5 conduct disorder and DSM-5 oppositional defiant disorder. Hierarchical clustering analysis highlighted distinct SYNGAP1-related ID subgroups for both ASD and ADHD traits. These findings provide further characterisation of the SYNGAP1-related ID behavioural phenotype, guiding diagnosis, assessment and potential interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien Wright
- Patrick Wild Centre, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University of Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, Edinburgh, UK.
| | - Aisling Kenny
- Patrick Wild Centre, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University of Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Lindsay A M Mizen
- Patrick Wild Centre, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University of Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Andrew G McKechanie
- Patrick Wild Centre, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University of Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Andrew C Stanfield
- Patrick Wild Centre, Division of Psychiatry, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University of Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, Edinburgh, UK
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3
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Strang JF, McClellan LS, Li S, Jack AE, Wallace GL, McQuaid GA, Kenworthy L, Anthony LG, Lai MC, Pelphrey KA, Thalberg AE, Nelson EE, Phan JM, Sadikova E, Fischbach AL, Thomas J, Vaidya CJ. The autism spectrum among transgender youth: default mode functional connectivity. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:6633-6647. [PMID: 36721890 PMCID: PMC10233301 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The common intersection of autism and transgender identities has been described in clinical and community contexts. This study investigates autism-related neurophenotypes among transgender youth. Forty-five transgender youth, evenly balanced across non-autistic, slightly subclinically autistic, and full-criteria autistic subgroupings, completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine functional connectivity. Results confirmed hypothesized default mode network (DMN) hub hyperconnectivity with visual and motor networks in autism, partially replicating previous studies comparing cisgender autistic and non-autistic adolescents. The slightly subclinically autistic group differed from both non-autistic and full-criteria autistic groups in DMN hub connectivity to ventral attention and sensorimotor networks, falling between non-autistic and full-criteria autistic groups. Autism traits showed a similar pattern to autism-related group analytics, and also related to hyperconnectivity between DMN hub and dorsal attention network. Internalizing, gender dysphoria, and gender minority-related stigma did not show connectivity differences. Connectivity differences within DMN followed previously reported patterns by designated sex at birth (i.e. female birth designation showing greater within-DMN connectivity). Overall, findings suggest behavioral diagnostics and autism traits in transgender youth correspond to observable differences in DMN hub connectivity. Further, this study reveals novel neurophenotypic characteristics associated with slightly subthreshold autism, highlighting the importance of research attention to this group.
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Affiliation(s)
- John F Strang
- Gender and Autism Program, Children’s National Hospital, 15245 Shady Grove Road, Suite 350, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
- Division of Neuropsychology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Lucy S McClellan
- Division of Neuropsychology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Sufang Li
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Allison E Jack
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - Gregory L Wallace
- Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Goldie A McQuaid
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - Lauren Kenworthy
- Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
- Division of Neuropsychology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Laura G Anthony
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Meng-Chuan Lai
- Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kevin A Pelphrey
- Department of Neurology, University of Virginia Medical School, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | | | - Eric E Nelson
- Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Jenny M Phan
- Division of Neuropsychology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Eleonora Sadikova
- School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Abigail L Fischbach
- Division of Neuropsychology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | - Chandan J Vaidya
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
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4
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Guilfoyle J, Winston M, Sideris J, Martin GE, Nayar K, Bush L, Wassink T, Losh M. Childhood Academic Performance: A Potential Marker of Genetic Liability to Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:1989-2005. [PMID: 35194728 PMCID: PMC9932999 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05459-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/20/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder, confers genetic liability that is often expressed among relatives through subclinical, genetically-meaningful traits, or endophenotypes. For instance, relative to controls, parents of individuals with ASD differ in language-related skills, with differences emerging in childhood. To examine ASD-related endophenotypes, this study investigated developmental academic profiles among clinically unaffected siblings of individuals with ASD (n = 29). Lower performance in language-related skills among siblings mirrored previously-reported patterns among parents, which were also associated with greater subclinical ASD-related traits in themselves and their parents, and with greater symptom severity in their sibling with ASD. Findings demonstrated specific phenotypes, derived from standardized academic testing, that may represent childhood indicators of genetic liability to ASD in first-degree relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janna Guilfoyle
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 N Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Molly Winston
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 N Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - John Sideris
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
| | | | - Kritika Nayar
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 N Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Lauren Bush
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 N Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | | | - Molly Losh
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 N Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
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5
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Autism traits and real-world executive functioning in parents of children with disabilities and undergraduates. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-04097-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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6
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Costanzo V, Narzisi A, Cerullo S, Crifaci G, Boncoddo M, Turi M, Apicella F, Tancredi R, Muratori F, Calderoni S, Billeci L. High-Risk Siblings without Autism: Insights from a Clinical and Eye-Tracking Study. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12111789. [PMID: 36573785 PMCID: PMC9699372 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12111789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Joint attention (JA)-the human ability to coordinate our attention with that of other people-is impaired in the early stage of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the JA skills in the younger siblings of children with ASD who do not develop ASD at 36 months of age [high-risk (HR)-noASD]. In order to advance our understanding of this topic, a prospective multicenter observational study was conducted with three groups of toddlers (age range: 18-33 months): 17 with ASD, 19 with HR-noASD and 16 with typical development (TD). All subjects underwent a comprehensive clinical assessment and an eye-tracking experiment with pre-recorded stimuli in which the visual patterns during two tasks eliciting initiating joint attention (IJA) were measured. Specifically, fixations, transitions and alternating gaze were analyzed. Clinical evaluation revealed that HR-noASD subjects had lower non-verbal cognitive skills than TD children, while similar levels of restricted and repetitive behaviors and better social communication skills were detected in comparison with ASD children. Eye-tracking paradigms indicated that HR-noASD toddlers had visual patterns resembling TD in terms of target-object-to-face gaze alternations, while their looking behaviors were similar to ASD toddlers regarding not-target-object-to-face gaze alternations. This study indicated that high-risk, unaffected siblings displayed a shared profile of IJA-eye-tracking measures with both ASD patients and TD controls, providing new insights into the characterization of social attention in this group of toddlers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Costanzo
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
| | - Antonio Narzisi
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
| | - Sonia Cerullo
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Via Don Luigi Monza 20, Bosisio Parini, 22040 Lecco, Italy
| | - Giulia Crifaci
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Maria Boncoddo
- Interdepartmental Program “Autism 0-90”, “G. Martino” University Hospital of Messina, 98100 Messina, Italy
| | - Marco Turi
- Stella Maris Mediterraneo Foundation, 85032 Chiaromonte, Italy
| | - Fabio Apicella
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
| | - Raffaella Tancredi
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
| | - Filippo Muratori
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
| | - Sara Calderoni
- Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56128 Calambrone, Italy
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel./Fax: +39-050-886200
| | - Lucia Billeci
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy
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7
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Developmental and mental health risks among siblings of patients with autism spectrum disorder: a nationwide study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2022; 31:1361-1366. [PMID: 33870447 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-021-01784-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Accepted: 04/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Studies have suggested that unaffected siblings of patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have some other neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, the risks of mental and developmental disorders have rarely been investigated among unaffected siblings. Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, 1304 unaffected siblings born between 1980 and 2010 with ASD probands and 13,040 age-/sex-/family structure-matched controls were included in our study and followed up from 1996 or birth to the end of 2011. Developmental delay, language delay, developmental coordination disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, unipolar disorder, and bipolar disorder were identified during the follow-up period. Unaffected siblings were more likely to develop any developmental delay, developmental speech or language disorder, developmental coordination disorder, intelligence disability, ADHD, anxiety disorders, unipolar depression, and disruptive behavior disorders compared with the control group. Brothers of patients with ASD had a higher risk of neurodevelopmental abnormalities, ADHD, anxiety disorders, and disruptive behavior disorders; sisters were prone to having neurodevelopmental abnormalities, ADHD, anxiety disorders, unipolar depression, and disruptive behavior disorders. Unaffected siblings of patients with ASD were prone to developing any developmental or mental disorder later in life. Clinicians and public health officials should pay more attention to the developmental condition and mental health of unaffected siblings of patients with ASD.
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8
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Uljarević M, Bott NT, Libove RA, Phillips JM, Parker KJ, Hardan AY. Characterizing Emotion Recognition and Theory of Mind Performance Profiles in Unaffected Siblings of Autistic Children. Front Psychol 2022; 12:736324. [PMID: 35283803 PMCID: PMC8907847 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.736324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotion recognition skills and the ability to understand the mental states of others are crucial for normal social functioning. Conversely, delays and impairments in these processes can have a profound impact on capability to engage in, maintain, and effectively regulate social interactions. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the performance of 42 autistic children (Mage = 8.25 years, SD = 2.22), 45 unaffected siblings (Mage = 8.65 years, SD = 2.40), and 41 typically developing (TD) controls (Mage = 8.56 years, SD = 2.35) on the Affect Recognition (AR) and Theory of Mind (TOM) subtests of the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment Battery. There were no significant differences between siblings and TD controls. Autistic children showed significantly poorer performance on AR when compared to TD controls and on TOM when compared to both TD controls and unaffected siblings. An additional comparison of ASD, unaffected sibling and TD control subsamples, matched on full-scale IQ, revealed no group differences for either AR or TOM. AR and TOM processes have received less research attention in siblings of autistic children and remain less well characterized. Therefore, despite limitations, findings reported here contribute to our growing understanding of AR and TOM abilities in siblings of autistic children and highlight important future research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirko Uljarević
- Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology and Counseling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Nicholas T. Bott
- Department of Medicine, Clinical Excellence Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States
- PGSP-Stanford Consortium, Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, United States
| | - Robin A. Libove
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Jennifer M. Phillips
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Karen J. Parker
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Antonio Y. Hardan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
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9
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The amplitude of fNIRS hemodynamic response in the visual cortex unmasks autistic traits in typically developing children. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:53. [PMID: 35136021 PMCID: PMC8826368 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-01820-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Autistic traits represent a continuum dimension across the population, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) being the extreme end of the distribution. Accumulating evidence shows that neuroanatomical and neurofunctional profiles described in relatives of ASD individuals reflect an intermediate neurobiological pattern between the clinical population and healthy controls. This suggests that quantitative measures detecting autistic traits in the general population represent potential candidates for the development of biomarkers identifying early pathophysiological processes associated with ASD. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been extensively employed to investigate neural development and function. In contrast, the potential of fNIRS to define reliable biomarkers of brain activity has been barely explored. Features of non-invasiveness, portability, ease of administration, and low-operating costs make fNIRS a suitable instrument to assess brain function for differential diagnosis, follow-up, analysis of treatment outcomes, and personalized medicine in several neurological conditions. Here, we introduce a novel standardized procedure with high entertaining value to measure hemodynamic responses (HDR) in the occipital cortex of adult subjects and children. We found that the variability of evoked HDR correlates with the autistic traits of children, assessed by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. Interestingly, HDR amplitude was especially linked to social and communication features, representing the core symptoms of ASD. These findings establish a quick and easy strategy for measuring visually-evoked cortical activity with fNIRS that optimize the compliance of young subjects, setting the background for testing the diagnostic value of fNIRS visual measurements in the ASD clinical population.
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10
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Real-World Executive Functioning and Subclinical Autism Traits in Autism Parents, Other Disability Parents, and Non-Clinical Undergraduates. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02740-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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11
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The use of a tablet-based app for investigating the influence of autistic and ADHD traits on performance in a complex drawing task. Behav Res Methods 2022; 54:2479-2501. [PMID: 35018608 PMCID: PMC9579087 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01746-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This paper describes a smart tablet-based drawing app to digitally record participants’ engagement with the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF) task, a well-characterised perceptual memory task that assesses local and global memory. Digitisation of the tasks allows for improved ecological validity, especially in children attracted to tablet devices. Further, digital translation of the tasks affords new measures, including accuracy and computation of the fine motor control kinematics employed to carry out the drawing Here, we report a feasibility study to test the relationship between two neurodevelopmental conditions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The smart tablet app was employed with 39 adult participants (18-35) characterised for autistic and ADHD traits, and scored using the ROCF perceptual and organisational scoring systems. Trait scores and conditions were predictor variables in linear regression models. Positive correlations were found between the attention-to-detail, attention-switching and communication subscales of the autistic trait questionnaire and organisational scores on the ROCF task. These findings suggest that autistic traits might be linked to differential performance on the ROCF task. Novelty and future applications of the app are discussed.
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12
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Jean FA, Jouni A, Bouvard MP, Camelot G, Beggiato A, Scheid I, Gaman A, Bouquet C, Ly-Le Moal M, Houenou J, Delorme R, Leboyer M, Amestoy A. Overlap of anxiety, depression, irritability and aggressiveness in autism spectrum disorder: an exploratory study using cluster analysis. ADVANCES IN AUTISM 2021. [DOI: 10.1108/aia-08-2020-0048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the overlap between symptoms of depression, anxiety, irritability and aggressiveness in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to measure specific and idiosyncratic emotional responses.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 42 high functioning adolescents and adults, between 12 and 39 years old, meeting the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders – 5 criteria for ASD were selected from the InFoR Autism cohort. Data were analyzed in an exploratory way using Hill and Smith and K-medoids cluster analysis.
Findings
The authors found an aggregation of anxiety, depression, aggressive behaviors and irritability. Cluster analysis was maximized for two groups with 17 and 25 participants, respectively. The first group was characterized by high levels of symptoms of irritability, aggressiveness, hyperactivity and intermediate levels of anxiety and depression. In the first group, participants had significantly higher levels of autistic symptoms considering the social responsiveness scale and repetitive behavior scale-revised scales (relatives’ reports) suggesting that a particular group of subjects with a high level of ASD specific symptoms may express anxiety and depression in a specific way based on externalizing behaviors in addition to the common mood and anxiety symptoms.
Research limitations/implications
Improved understanding of the aggregation of externalized symptoms with symptoms of anxiety and mood disorders in ASD should lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms related to emotion dysregulation in ASD.
Practical implications
Improved knowledge of the symptoms could lead to enhanced detection of psychiatric comorbidities in ASD.
Originality/value
The study was based on a transdiagnostic approach of psychiatric symptoms in individuals with ASD. Aggregation and clustering analysis was used to explore naive patterns of these psychiatric symptoms.
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13
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Eyring KW, Geschwind DH. Three decades of ASD genetics: Building a foundation for neurobiological understanding and treatment. Hum Mol Genet 2021; 30:R236-R244. [PMID: 34313757 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddab176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Methodological advances over the last three decades have led to a profound transformation in our understanding of the genetic origins of neuropsychiatric disorders. This is exemplified by the study of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for which microarrays, whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) have yielded over a hundred causal loci. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in ASD have also been fruitful, identifying 5 genome-wide significant loci thus far and demonstrating a substantial role for polygenic inherited risk. Approaches rooted in systems biology and functional genomics have increasingly placed genes implicated by risk variants into biological context. Genetic risk affects a finite group of cell-types and biological processes, converging primarily on early stages of brain development (though, the expression of many risk genes persists through childhood). Coupled with advances in stem cell-based human in vitro model systems, these findings provide a basis for developing mechanistic models of disease pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine W Eyring
- Neurogenetics Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Daniel H Geschwind
- Neurogenetics Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Center For Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Department of Human Genetics and Institute for Precision Health, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
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14
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Akter T, Ali MH, Khan MI, Satu MS, Uddin MJ, Alyami SA, Ali S, Azad AKM, Moni MA. Improved Transfer-Learning-Based Facial Recognition Framework to Detect Autistic Children at an Early Stage. Brain Sci 2021; 11:734. [PMID: 34073085 PMCID: PMC8230000 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11060734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neuro-developmental disorder that affects social skills, language, speech and communication. Early detection of ASD individuals, especially children, could help to devise and strategize right therapeutic plan at right time. Human faces encode important markers that can be used to identify ASD by analyzing facial features, eye contact, and so on. In this work, an improved transfer-learning-based autism face recognition framework is proposed to identify kids with ASD in the early stages more precisely. Therefore, we have collected face images of children with ASD from the Kaggle data repository, and various machine learning and deep learning classifiers and other transfer-learning-based pre-trained models were applied. We observed that our improved MobileNet-V1 model demonstrates the best accuracy of 90.67% and the lowest 9.33% value of both fall-out and miss rate compared to the other classifiers and pre-trained models. Furthermore, this classifier is used to identify different ASD groups investigating only autism image data using k-means clustering technique. Thus, the improved MobileNet-V1 model showed the highest accuracy (92.10%) for k = 2 autism sub-types. We hope this model will be useful for physicians to detect autistic children more explicitly at the early stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tania Akter
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh; (T.A.); (M.H.A.)
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gono Bishwabidyalay, Savar, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh;
| | - Mohammad Hanif Ali
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh; (T.A.); (M.H.A.)
| | - Md. Imran Khan
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gono Bishwabidyalay, Savar, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh;
| | - Md. Shahriare Satu
- Department of Management Information Systems, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Sonapur, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh;
| | - Md. Jamal Uddin
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj Town Road, Gopalgonj 8100, Bangladesh;
| | - Salem A. Alyami
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh 13318, Saudi Arabia;
| | - Sarwar Ali
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh;
| | - AKM Azad
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia;
| | - Mohammad Ali Moni
- WHO Collaborating Centre on eHealth, UNSW Digital Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
- Healthy Aging Theme, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia
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Keating CT, Fraser DS, Sowden S, Cook JL. Differences Between Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults in the Recognition of Anger from Facial Motion Remain after Controlling for Alexithymia. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:1855-1871. [PMID: 34047905 PMCID: PMC8159724 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05083-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
To date, studies have not established whether autistic and non-autistic individuals differ in emotion recognition from facial motion cues when matched in terms of alexithymia. Here, autistic and non-autistic adults (N = 60) matched on age, gender, non-verbal reasoning ability and alexithymia, completed an emotion recognition task, which employed dynamic point light displays of emotional facial expressions manipulated in terms of speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic participants exhibited significantly lower accuracy for angry, but not happy or sad, facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic, and not alexithymic, traits were predictive of accuracy for angry facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Alexithymic traits, in contrast, were predictive of the magnitude of both correct and incorrect emotion ratings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dagmar S Fraser
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Sophie Sowden
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jennifer L Cook
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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16
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Roberta B, Riva V, Cantiani C, Riboldi EM, Molteni M, Macchi Cassia V, Bulf H. Dysfunctions in Infants' Statistical Learning are Related to Parental Autistic Traits. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:4621-4631. [PMID: 33582879 PMCID: PMC8531064 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-04894-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Statistical learning refers to the ability to extract the statistical relations embedded in a sequence, and it plays a crucial role in the development of communicative and social skills that are impacted in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here, we investigated the relationship between infants’ SL ability and autistic traits in their parents. Using a visual habituation task, we tested infant offspring of adults (non-diagnosed) who show high (HAT infants) versus low (LAT infants) autistic traits. Results demonstrated that LAT infants learned the statistical structure embedded in a visual sequence, while HAT infants failed. Moreover, infants’ SL ability was related to autistic traits in their parents, further suggesting that early dysfunctions in SL might contribute to variabilities in ASD symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bettoni Roberta
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo, 1 (U6), 20126, Milano, Italy. .,NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy.
| | - Valentina Riva
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Chiara Cantiani
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Elena Maria Riboldi
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Massimo Molteni
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Viola Macchi Cassia
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo, 1 (U6), 20126, Milano, Italy.,NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy
| | - Hermann Bulf
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo, 1 (U6), 20126, Milano, Italy.,NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy
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Naeem AA, El-boraie HA, Abou-Elsaad TA, Khater ME, Manzar MD, Spence DW, Pandi-Perumal SR, Zaki NF. Can sleep profiles predict autistic traits in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder? Sleep Sci 2021; 14:214-223. [PMID: 35186199 PMCID: PMC8848519 DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20200073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION As the prevalence of ASD (autism spectrum disorder) continues to rise, so does the need to evaluate the impact of associated difficulties on both the diagnosed child and the immediate family. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to assess reports of sleep disturbance or abnormal sleep behaviours (sleep profiles) in the siblings of diagnosed autistic children (referred to throughout this study as high-risk siblings, or HR-sibs) and to determine if these sleep patterns correlated with evidence of disturbed sleep among their siblings who had full symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder. MATERIAL AND METHODS This case control cross-sectional study investigated 64 autistic children, 80 HR-sibs, and 80 typically developing children. Each study subject was assessed for sleep problems and autistic traits through the use of a sleep-wake diary, a school sleep habit survey, and a childhood autism spectrum test. RESULTS Children with autism spectrum disorders and their HR-sibs showed no significant differences regarding their sleep profiles. Typically, developing children had more middle insomnia than HR-sibs and had more wake latency. CONCLUSION Increased risks for sleep problems in children with autism and their HR-sibs emphasized the importance of early screening for sleep problems in children with autism and their siblings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hala A. El-boraie
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt
| | - Tamer A. Abou-Elsaad
- Phoniatrics Unit, Department of E.N.T., Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt
| | - Mohammed E. Khater
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt
| | - Md. Dilshad Manzar
- Department of Nursing, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia
| | | | | | - Nevin Fayez Zaki
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. , Sleep Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. ,Corresponding author: Nevin Fayez Zaki. E-mail:
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Beffel JH, Cary KM, Nuttall AK, Chopik WJ, Maas MK. Associations between the broad autism phenotype, adult attachment, and relationship satisfaction among emerging adults. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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The broad autism phenotype in real-life: clinical and functional correlates of autism spectrum symptoms and rumination among parents of patients with autism spectrum disorder. CNS Spectr 2020; 25:765-773. [PMID: 31747980 DOI: 10.1017/s1092852919001615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Increasing literature reported higher rates of psychiatric disorders in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as of autistic-like features in social and cognitive functioning. However, little attention has been paid to the association between autistic traits (AT) and global functioning in this population. The aim of the present work was to investigate clinical and functional correlates of AT among parents of ASD children, with a specific focus on ruminative thinking. METHODS One hundred and twenty parents of ASD children were assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS Spectrum), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS). RESULTS Subjects with at least 1 psychiatric disorder (39.2%) showed significantly higher AdAS Spectrum and RRS scores. Subjects with a history of school difficulties and with language development alterations scored significantly higher on specific AdAS Spectrum domains. A significant negative correlation was found between SOFAS and AdAS Spectrum scores, as well as between SOFAS and RRS scores. AdAS Spectrum nonverbal communication domain score was identified has a statistically predictive variable for the presence of psychiatric disorders and lower SOFAS scores. Finally, we found a significant indirect effect of AdAS total score on SOFAS score, which was fully mediated by RRS total score. CONCLUSIONS AT in parents of ASD children seem to be associated with a higher vulnerability toward psychopathology and with a lower global functioning. Ruminative thinking may play a role in the relationship between AT and functional outcome.
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Mason LA, Zimiga BM, Anders-Jefferson R, Paap KR. Autism Traits Predict Self-reported Executive Functioning Deficits in Everyday Life and an Aversion to Exercise. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 51:2725-2750. [PMID: 33043413 PMCID: PMC8254704 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04741-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Are Autism Quotient (AQ) scores related to executive functioning (EF)? We sampled 200 students of normal intelligence and examined the relationship between AQ scores and: (a) 5 self-ratings of EF, (b) 5 performance-based measures of EF, and (c) 5 types of activities or experiences that are assumed to recruit EF and sometimes enhance EF. Our findings reveal that as AQ scores increase, self-rated EF ability decreases. AQ scores and self-reported EF measures do not correlate with objective EF task performance. Furthermore, AQ scores were shown to be negatively associated with many specific types of physical activity. As AQ scores increase, individuals report fewer positive reasons for exercise and more rationalizations for not engaging in more exercise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A. Mason
- San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA USA
- Present Address: Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave., Medford, MA 02155 USA
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Beffel JH, Nuttall AK. Influences of parentification and benefit finding on prosocial behavior among typically developing siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2020; 104:103694. [PMID: 32502846 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Revised: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prior research examining typically developing siblings (TDS) of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) reports both higher and lower levels of prosocial behavior among TDS. TDS' experiences (parent-focused parentification, sibling-focused parentification) and perceptions of experiences (ASD benefit finding, role benefit finding) may interact to influence TDS prosocial behavior. AIMS 1) Examine influences of TDS' experiences and perceptions of TDS experiences on prosocial behavior and 2) examine interactions between TDS' experiences of parentification and perceptions of experiences influencing prosocial behavior while controlling for the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP). METHODS AND PROCEDURES TDS [N = 108; M(SD) age = 20.37(1.55)] were college students who reported having a sibling with ASD, defined as "Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Autism", "Asperger's", and "Pervasive Developmental Disability". TDS completed an online survey about their experiences and perceptions of experiences. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Controlling for gender and BAP, there was a significant interaction between ASD benefit finding and sibling-focused parentification such that at low levels of ASD benefit finding, sibling-focused parentification negatively predicted prosocial behavior. Lower BAP scores and female gender were associated with greater levels of prosocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS TDS experiences and perceptions of experiences are important for understanding TDS prosocial behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenna H Beffel
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, 552 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States; Center for Research in Autism, Intellectual, and Other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, Michigan State University, 426 Auditorium Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States.
| | - Amy K Nuttall
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, 552 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States; Center for Research in Autism, Intellectual, and Other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, Michigan State University, 426 Auditorium Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States
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Vuillier L, Carter Z, Teixeira AR, Moseley RL. Alexithymia may explain the relationship between autistic traits and eating disorder psychopathology. Mol Autism 2020; 11:63. [PMID: 32758290 PMCID: PMC7406391 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-020-00364-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autistic people are disproportionately vulnerable to anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders (ED), and within the general population, autistic traits correlate with ED psychopathology. A putative mechanism which may underpin this heightened risk is alexithymia, a difficulty identifying and describing emotional states which is observed in both autism and ED. In two experiments with independent non-clinical samples, we explored whether alexithymia might mediate the heightened risk of eating psychopathology in individuals high in autistic traits. METHODS Our first experiment used the PROCESS macro for SPSS to examine relationships between alexithymia (measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)), autistic traits (autism quotient (AQ)), and eating psychopathology (Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26)) in 121 participants. Our second experiment (n = 300) replicated and furthered this analysis by examining moderating effects of sex and controlling for anxiety and depression as covariates. We also included an additional performance-based measure of alexithymia, the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). RESULTS Study 1 suggested that TAS-20 scores mediated the relationship between heightened autistic traits and eating psychopathology. Replication and further scrutiny of this finding, in study 2, revealed that this mediation effect was partial and specific to the female participants in this sample. The mediation effect appeared to be carried by the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, even when depression and anxiety were controlled for. LEAS scores, however, were not significantly related to autistic traits or eating psychopathology. LIMITATIONS Cross-sectional data prevents any conclusions around the direction and causality of relationships between alexithymia, autistic traits, and eating psychopathology (alongside depression and anxiety), necessitating longitudinal research. Our non-clinical sample was predominantly Caucasian undergraduate students, so it remains to be seen if these results would extrapolate to clinical and/or autistic samples. Divergence between the TAS-20 and LEAS raises crucial questions regarding the construct validity of these measures. CONCLUSIONS Our findings with respect to autistic traits suggest that alexithymia could partially explain the prevalence of ED in autistic people and may as such be an important consideration in the pathogenesis and treatment of ED in autistic and non-autistic people alike. Further research with clinical samples is critical to explore these ideas. Differences between men and women, furthermore, emphasize the importance of looking for sex-specific as well as generic risk factors in autistic and non-autistic men and women.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. Vuillier
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - Z. Carter
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - A. R. Teixeira
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - R. L. Moseley
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
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Identifying latent subgroups of children with developmental delay using Bayesian sequential updating and Dirichlet process mixture modelling. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0233542. [PMID: 32484833 PMCID: PMC7266333 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying children who are at-risk for developmental delay, so that these children can have access to interventions as early as possible, is an important and challenging problem in developmental research. This research aimed to identify latent subgroups of children with developmental delay, by modelling and clustering developmental milestones. The main objectives were to (a) create a developmental profile for each child by modelling milestone achievements, from birth to three years of age, across multiple domains of development, and (b) cluster the profiles to identify groups of children who show similar deviations from typical development. The ensemble methodology used in this research consisted of three components: (1) Bayesian sequential updating was used to model the achievement of milestones, which allows for updated predictions of development to be made in real time; (2) a measure was created that indicated how far away each child deviated from typical development for each functional domain, by calculating the area between each child’s obtained sequence of posterior means and a sequence of posterior means representing typical development; and (3) Dirichlet process mixture modelling was used to cluster the obtained areas. The data used were 348 binary developmental milestone measurements, collected from birth to three years of age, from a small community sample of young children (N = 79). The model identified nine latent groups of children with similar features, ranging from no delays in all functional domains, to large delays in all domains. The performance of the Dirichlet process mixture model was validated with two simulation studies.
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Hillus J, Moseley R, Roepke S, Mohr B. Action Semantic Deficits and Impaired Motor Skills in Autistic Adults Without Intellectual Impairment. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:256. [PMID: 31404247 PMCID: PMC6669914 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies indicate the functional importance of the motor cortex for higher cognition, language and semantic processing, and place the neural substrate of these processes in sensorimotor action-perception circuits linking motor, sensory and perisylvian language regions. Interestingly, in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), semantic processing of action and emotion words seems to be impaired and is associated with hypoactivity of the motor cortex during semantic processing. In this study, the relationship between semantic processing, fine motor skills and clinical symptoms was investigated in 19 individuals with ASD and 22 typically-developing matched controls. Participants completed two semantic decision tasks involving words from different semantic categories, a test of alexithymia (the Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and a test of fine motor skills (the Purdue Pegboard Test). A significant Group × Word Category interaction in accuracy (p < 0.05) demonstrated impaired semantic processing for action words, but not object words in the autistic group. There was no significant group difference when processing abstract emotional words or abstract neutral words. Moreover, our study revealed deficits in fine motor skills as well as evidence for alexithymia in the ASD group, but not in neurotypical controls. However, these motor deficits did not correlate significantly with impairments in action-semantic processing. We interpret the data in terms of an underlying dysfunction of the action-perception system in ASD and its specific impact on semantic language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josephina Hillus
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rachel Moseley
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
| | - Stefan Roepke
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Bettina Mohr
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany
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Screening of Broader Autism Phenotype Symptoms in Siblings: Support for a Distinct Model of Symptomatology. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:4686-4690. [PMID: 31385174 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04157-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Research on siblings of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggests that some phenotypic presentation, known as the broader autism phenotype (BAP), is common among siblings without an ASD diagnosis (e.g., Ruzich et al. in Autism Res 9(6):658-665, 2016). Whereas the symptoms that underlie both ASD and the BAP share commonality, the structure of these symptoms in youth with ASD and their siblings may differ. The current study assessed whether differences arise in the factor structure of the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) between youth with ASD and their siblings in a sample of 221 sibling dyads. Results suggest similar factor structures for ASD and BAP; however, number of symptoms endorsed, as opposed to the degree of severity, may better differentiate BAP.
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Camodeca A. Theory of Mind Performance in Broad Autism Phenotype Groups: Between-Group Differences and Predictor Variables. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 49:4079-4096. [PMID: 31267287 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04126-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Investigated between-group differences in cognitive/affective theory of mind (ToM) and predictors of cognitive ToM both within broad autism phenotype/non (BAP/Non-BAP) groups as well as across the sample. The BAP group (n = 45) performed worse than the Non-BAP group (n = 102) on the unexpected outcomes test (UOT), but groups were similar regarding reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET). Stepwise regression indicated RMET best predicted UOT for the BAP group; block design best predicted UOT in the Non-BAP group. BAP traits did not mediate the relation of RMET to UOT performance. While RMET and UOT appear similarly related in BAP/Non-BAP samples, use of emotion recognition abilities in a cognitive ToM task may reflect over-reliance on this skill in the BAP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Camodeca
- Psychology Department, The Pennsylvania State University, 100 University Drive, Monaca, PA, 15061, USA.
- University of Windsor, 100 University Drive, Windsor, ON, Canada.
- The Pennsylvania State University, Beaver Campus, 100 University Drive, Monaca, PA, 15108, USA.
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Kellerman AM, Schwichtenberg AJ, Tonnsen BL, Posada G, Lane SP. Dyadic interactions in children exhibiting the broader autism phenotype: Is the broader autism phenotype distinguishable from typical development? Autism Res 2019; 12:469-481. [PMID: 30624017 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
In families raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), infant siblings are at elevated risk for ASD and other developmental concerns, including elements of the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Typically, the BAP is indexed using standardized developmental assessments; however, these measures do not capture a number of social difficulties commonly associated with the BAP. The present study aims to expand our developmental understanding of the BAP by comparing children exhibiting the BAP to their typically developing peers on, (a) standardized measures of development, and (b) social behaviors exhibited during dyadic play interactions. As part of a prospective study, dyads were recruited from families with at least one older child with ASD (high-risk, n = 36), and families with no history of ASD (low-risk, n = 38). During laboratory visits at 12, 15, 18, and 24 months of age, infants completed a series of standardized assessments and a mother-child play interaction. Dyadic play interactions were micro-analytically coded for gaze, positive affect, and vocalizations to create theory-driven composites to index dyadic synchrony and responsiveness. Videos were also coded with an existing rating scheme for joint engagement and child responsiveness. Multilevel models revealed significant group differences on select constructs within the first 2 years. Language and cognitive differences emerged by 24 months of age, whereas dyadic differences were evident as early as 15 months. Recognizing the increasing demand for elevated-risk interventions, these findings highlight several social constructs through which interventions may identify risk and promote optimal development. Autism Res 2019, 12: 469-481 © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: In families raising children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), younger siblings are at an increased risk for social and developmental difficulties that characterize a "broader autism phenotype." The present study explored the emergence of social, language, and cognitive differences in the first 2 years of life. Social differences were evident as early as 15 months of age for several play-based measures, and language and cognitive differences emerged by 24 months of age. For infant siblings of children with ASD, some of the earliest behavioral marks for subclinical features of ASD are evident within the first 2 years of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- A M Kellerman
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
| | - A J Schwichtenberg
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
| | - B L Tonnsen
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
| | - G Posada
- Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
| | - S P Lane
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
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Abbott P, Happé FG, Charlton RA. Exploratory Study of Executive Function Abilities Across the Adult Lifespan in Individuals Receiving an ASD Diagnosis in Adulthood. J Autism Dev Disord 2018; 48:4193-4206. [PMID: 29980900 PMCID: PMC6223764 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3675-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Little is known about cognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across adulthood. We examined executive function abilities and autism traits in 134 adults receiving a first diagnosis of ASD. Participants aged 18–75 years with abilities in the normal range were assessed on executive function and self-report autism traits. Results suggest that for some abilities relying on speed and sequencing (Trails A and B; Digit Symbol), late-diagnosed individuals with ASD may demonstrate better performance than typical age-norms. On other executive measures (Digit Span, Hayling and Brixton tests) age-related correlations were similar to typical age-norms. Different domains of executive function may demonstrate different trajectories for ageing with ASD, with patterns of slower, accelerated or equivalent age-related change being observed across different measures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Francesca G Happé
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Rebecca A Charlton
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW, UK.
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29
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Morales-Hidalgo P, Ferrando PJ, Canals J. Assessing the heterogeneity of autism spectrum symptoms in a school population. Autism Res 2018; 11:979-988. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Revised: 12/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paula Morales-Hidalgo
- Research Center for Behavioral Assessment (CRAMC), Department of Psychology; Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Tarragona Spain
- Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Department of Psychology; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Ctra. Valls s/n; Tarragona 43007 Spain
| | - Pere J. Ferrando
- Research Center for Behavioral Assessment (CRAMC), Department of Psychology; Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Tarragona Spain
| | - Josefa Canals
- Research Center for Behavioral Assessment (CRAMC), Department of Psychology; Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Tarragona Spain
- Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Department of Psychology; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Ctra. Valls s/n; Tarragona 43007 Spain
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30
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Abstract
This study examined sensory responsiveness in unaffected siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and associations between sensory responsiveness and social severity. Sensory Profile Caregiver Questionnaires and Social Responsiveness Scales were completed by parents of 185 children between age 4 and 10.95 years. Significant differences were found between participants with ASD and controls, and between participants with ASD and unaffected siblings for all sensory quadrants and domains, but not between controls and unaffected siblings. Social responsiveness scores were significantly correlated with scores from most sensory profile categories. Sensory responsiveness as an endophenotype of ASD is not indicated from these findings; however, studies with larger numbers of unaffected siblings and controls are needed to confirm the null hypothesis.
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31
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Abstract
While most typically developing (TD) participants have a coarse-to-fine processing style, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to be less globally and more locally biased when processing visual information. The stimulus-specific spatial frequency content might be directly relevant to determine this temporal hierarchy of visual information processing in people with and without ASD. We implemented a semantic priming task in which (in)congruent coarse and/or fine spatial information preceded target categorization. Our results indicated that adolescents with ASD made more categorization errors than TD adolescents and needed more time to process the prime stimuli. Simultaneously, however, our findings argued for a processing advantage in ASD, when the prime stimulus contains detailed spatial information and presentation time permits explicit visual processing.
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32
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Psychometric Properties of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient for Assessing Low and High Levels of Autistic Traits in College Students. J Autism Dev Disord 2017; 47:1838-1853. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3109-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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33
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Howsmon DP, Kruger U, Melnyk S, James SJ, Hahn J. Classification and adaptive behavior prediction of children with autism spectrum disorder based upon multivariate data analysis of markers of oxidative stress and DNA methylation. PLoS Comput Biol 2017; 13:e1005385. [PMID: 28301476 PMCID: PMC5354243 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The number of diagnosed cases of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has increased dramatically over the last four decades; however, there is still considerable debate regarding the underlying pathophysiology of ASD. This lack of biological knowledge restricts diagnoses to be made based on behavioral observations and psychometric tools. However, physiological measurements should support these behavioral diagnoses in the future in order to enable earlier and more accurate diagnoses. Stepping towards this goal of incorporating biochemical data into ASD diagnosis, this paper analyzes measurements of metabolite concentrations of the folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism and transulfuration pathways taken from blood samples of 83 participants with ASD and 76 age-matched neurotypical peers. Fisher Discriminant Analysis enables multivariate classification of the participants as on the spectrum or neurotypical which results in 96.1% of all neurotypical participants being correctly identified as such while still correctly identifying 97.6% of the ASD cohort. Furthermore, kernel partial least squares is used to predict adaptive behavior, as measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Composite score, where measurement of five metabolites of the pathways was sufficient to predict the Vineland score with an R2 of 0.45 after cross-validation. This level of accuracy for classification as well as severity prediction far exceeds any other approach in this field and is a strong indicator that the metabolites under consideration are strongly correlated with an ASD diagnosis but also that the statistical analysis used here offers tremendous potential for extracting important information from complex biochemical data sets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel P. Howsmon
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
- Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
| | - Uwe Kruger
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
| | - Stepan Melnyk
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America
| | - S. Jill James
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America
| | - Juergen Hahn
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
- Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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34
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Melling R, Swinson J, Brett M. The AQ scores of school-age children referred to educational psychologists. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY IN PRACTICE 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/02667363.2017.1279128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Maggy Brett
- Independent Educational Psychologist, Banwell, UK
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35
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Bora E, Aydın A, Saraç T, Kadak MT, Köse S. Heterogeneity of subclinical autistic traits among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: Identifying the broader autism phenotype with a data-driven method. Autism Res 2016; 10:321-326. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2016] [Revised: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 06/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emre Bora
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health; Victoria Australia
- 6328 Sok no:38/2; Yali Mahallesi Izmir Turkey
| | - Aydan Aydın
- Marmara University, Faculty of Education, Department of Special Education; Istanbul Turkey
| | - Tuğba Saraç
- Disk Kız Teknik ve Meslek Lisesi; Istanbul Turkey
| | - Muhammed Tayyib Kadak
- Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Istanbul Turkey
| | - Sezen Köse
- Ege University, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; İzmir Turkey
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36
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Ruzich E, Allison C, Smith P, Ring H, Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S. The Autism-Spectrum Quotient in Siblings of People With Autism. Autism Res 2016; 10:289-297. [PMID: 27333365 PMCID: PMC5324635 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2015] [Accepted: 05/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
This study measures the distribution of autistic traits, using the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), in siblings of individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Total AQ scores, along with AQ subscales, were collected from child, adolescent and adult controls, siblings, and volunteers with ASC using one of the three age-appropriate versions of the instrument: the AQ (adult self-report), the AQ-adolescent and AQ-child (both parent-reports). We examined the effect of Group (case, sibling and control) and AQ version (adult, adolescent and adult) on total and subscale scores. In addition, we tested for sex differences in all groups and on all versions. We found that in male and female adults, AQ scores in siblings fell between cases and controls (cases > siblings > controls). In children and adolescents, female siblings also scored higher than control females (female cases > female siblings > female controls), but there was no difference between male siblings and controls (male cases > male siblings = male controls). An investigation of subscale scores revealed that male siblings only differed from controls on the "Communication" subscale (male cases > male siblings > male controls), while female siblings differed from controls on all subscales except "Imagination" (female cases > female siblings > female controls). This study confirms the broader autism phenotype in siblings, and reveals this is modulated by sex and AQ version. Autism Res 2017, 10: 289-297. © 2016 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Ruzich
- Cambridge Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Carrie Allison
- Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Paula Smith
- NIHR CLAHRC for the East of England, Cambridge, UK
| | - Howard Ring
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Peterborough, UK
| | - Bonnie Auyeung
- CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Peterborough, UK
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