Neural and behavioural indices of face processing in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A longitudinal study from infancy to mid-childhood

the BASIS TEAM; Elizabeth Shephard; Bosiljka Milosavljevic; Luke Mason; Mayada Elsabbagh; Charlotte Tye; Teodora Gliga; Emily JH Jones; Tony Charman; Mark H. Johnson; Simon Baron-Cohen; Rachael Bedford; Patrick Bolton; Susie Chandler; Janice Fernandes; Holly Garwood; Kristelle Hudry; Greg Pasco; Andrew Pickles; Leslie Tucker; Agnes Volein

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.008

Neural and behavioural indices of face processing in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A longitudinal study from infancy to mid-childhood

the BASIS TEAM
, Elizabeth Shephard
, Bosiljka Milosavljevic
, Luke Mason
, Mayada Elsabbagh
, Charlotte Tye
, Teodora Gliga
, Emily JH Jones
, Tony Charman
, Mark H. Johnson
, Simon Baron-Cohen
, Rachael Bedford
, Patrick Bolton
, Susie Chandler
, Janice Fernandes
, Holly Garwood
, Kristelle Hudry
, Greg Pasco
, Andrew Pickles
, Leslie Tucker

Agnes Volein

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

36 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Impaired face processing is proposed to play a key role in the early development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to be an endophenotypic trait which indexes genetic risk for the disorder. However, no published work has examined the development of face processing abilities from infancy into the school-age years and how they relate to ASD symptoms in individuals with or at high-risk for ASD. In this novel study we investigated neural and behavioural measures of face processing at age 7 months and again in mid-childhood (age 7 years) as well as social-communication and sensory symptoms in siblings at high (n = 42) and low (n = 35) familial risk for ASD. In mid-childhood, high-risk siblings showed atypical P1 and N170 event-related potential correlates of face processing and, for high-risk boys only, poorer face and object recognition ability compared to low-risk siblings. These neural and behavioural atypicalities were associated with each other and with higher social-communication and sensory symptoms in mid-childhood. Additionally, more atypical neural correlates of object (but not face) processing in infancy were associated with less right-lateralised (more atypical) N170 amplitudes and greater social-communication problems in mid-childhood. The implications for models of face processing in ASD are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	162-179
Number of pages	18
Journal	Cortex
Volume	127
Early online date	29 Feb 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.008
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors

Funding

We are very grateful for the important contributions BASIS families have made towards this study and to Declan Murphy and Eva Loth for collaboration with the EU-AIMS LEAP Team. The research was supported by the BASIS funding consortium led by Autistica ( www.basisnetwork.org ), Autism Speaks, a UK Medical Research Council Programme Grant ( G0701484 ) to M.H. Johnson, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The authors also received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement no. 115300 , the resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations companies' in-kind contributions, and from Autism Speaks and the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking ( JU ) under Grant Agreement 777394 . The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and Autism Speaks, Autistica, and the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative.

Funders	Funder number
Seventh Framework Programme
National Institute for Health Research
Innovative Medicines Initiative	115300
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations
King's College London
Autism Speaks	777394
Simons Foundation
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Development
EEG
Face processing
Infant siblings

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10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.008Licence: CC BY

Cite this

TEAM, T. BASIS., Shephard, E., Milosavljevic, B., Mason, L., Elsabbagh, M., Tye, C., Gliga, T., Jones, E. JH., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Hudry, K., Pasco, G., Pickles, A., ... Volein, A. (2020). Neural and behavioural indices of face processing in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A longitudinal study from infancy to mid-childhood. Cortex, 127, 162-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.008

TEAM, TBASIS, Shephard, E, Milosavljevic, B, Mason, L, Elsabbagh, M, Tye, C, Gliga, T, Jones, EJH, Charman, T, Johnson, MH, Baron-Cohen, S, Bedford, R, Bolton, P, Chandler, S, Fernandes, J, Garwood, H, Hudry, K, Pasco, G, Pickles, A, Tucker, L & Volein, A 2020, 'Neural and behavioural indices of face processing in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A longitudinal study from infancy to mid-childhood', Cortex, vol. 127, pp. 162-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.008

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abstract = "Impaired face processing is proposed to play a key role in the early development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to be an endophenotypic trait which indexes genetic risk for the disorder. However, no published work has examined the development of face processing abilities from infancy into the school-age years and how they relate to ASD symptoms in individuals with or at high-risk for ASD. In this novel study we investigated neural and behavioural measures of face processing at age 7 months and again in mid-childhood (age 7 years) as well as social-communication and sensory symptoms in siblings at high (n = 42) and low (n = 35) familial risk for ASD. In mid-childhood, high-risk siblings showed atypical P1 and N170 event-related potential correlates of face processing and, for high-risk boys only, poorer face and object recognition ability compared to low-risk siblings. These neural and behavioural atypicalities were associated with each other and with higher social-communication and sensory symptoms in mid-childhood. Additionally, more atypical neural correlates of object (but not face) processing in infancy were associated with less right-lateralised (more atypical) N170 amplitudes and greater social-communication problems in mid-childhood. The implications for models of face processing in ASD are discussed.",

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Neural and behavioural indices of face processing in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A longitudinal study from infancy to mid-childhood

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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