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Objective: To examine baseline neurocognitive functioning among adolescent athletes on the autism spectrum based on self-reported level of academic performance., Method: Participants in this cross-sectional, observational study were 6,441 adolescent athletes with a self-reported diagnosis of autism who completed pre-season neurocognitive testing using Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT); 4,742 reported a co-occurring learning disorder (LD), and 6,612 individuals without autism or LD were included as a control group. The majority (57%) self-reported Average Academic Performance, 39% Above Average, and 4% Below Average performance., Results: Athletes with self-reported autism (with or without LD; 12.2%) were 2.74x (95% CI: 2.17-2.82) more likely to fall below cutoffs for ImPACT Embedded Invalidity Indicators (EVIs), with a significant interaction between self-reported Diagnosis and Academic Performance; individuals with co-occurring autism and LD who reported Below Average Academic Performance had the greatest likelihood of scoring below cutoffs (22%), followed by ASD without LD (14.8%) and Controls (14.6%) with Below Average Academic Performance. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed main effects of Diagnosis and Academic Performance on neurocognitive performance, with interactions on all ImPACT Composite Scores except Processing Speed., Conclusion: Athletes with self-reported ASD are more likely to fall below ImPACT EVIs and score worse on ImPACT, with greater likelihood/worse performance related to level of academic functioning. Academic performance should be considered when interpreting neurocognitive testing data, to best index neuropsychological functioning associated with concussion in this population. The current findings highlight the importance of individual participant baseline neuropsychological testing for individuals on the autism spectrum., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The researchers designed a delayed intervention start randomized controlled trial to compare improvements in functional communication following augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions. The study compared outcomes from function-based applied behavior analytic (ABA) and eclectic non-ABA forms of classroom-based communication strategies (waitlist control) as well as from high- and low-tech forms of AAC. High-tech AAC consisted of tablet-based communication, and low-tech AAC used an exchange of picture cards. The community-based sample consisted of 29 autistic children with a co-occurring intellectual disability. Participants were randomized to groups (AAC, waitlist control), and each group received approximately 3 months of communication intervention. Multilevel modeling of learner outcomes indicated that the function-based approach produced greater improvements than the eclectic alternative, but significant differences were not observed between outcomes of high- and low-tech forms of function-based AAC. These results are consistent with earlier investigations and provide supporting evidence that both high- and low-tech forms of function-based intervention are effective for use with autistic children with accompanying intellectual disability. Additional discussion is provided regarding further research into how technology is applied and incorporated into behavior analytic programming., (© 2023 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (SEAB).)

Autism was formally recognized by the medical community in the first half of the twentieth century. Almost 100 years later, a small but growing literature has reported sex differences in the behavioral expression of autism. Recent research has also begun to explore the internal experiences of individuals with autism, including social and emotional insight. The current study examines sex differences in language-based markers of social and emotional insight in girls and boys with autism and non-autistic peers during semi-structured clinical interviews. Sixty-four participants aged 5 to 17 years were individually matched on chronological age and full-scale IQ to form four groups: autistic girls, autistic boys, non-autistic girls, and non-autistic boys. Transcribed interviews were scored using four scales that index aspects of social and emotional insight. Results revealed the main effects of diagnosis, such that youth with autism exhibited lower insight than non-autistic youth on scales indexing social cognition and object relations, emotional investment, and social causality. With regards to sex differences, across diagnoses, girls were rated higher than boys on the social cognition and object relations, emotional investment, and social causality scales. Examined within each diagnosis separately, clear sex differences emerged: both autistic and non-autistic girls demonstrated better social cognition and understanding of social causality than boys in their respective diagnostic groups. No within-diagnosis sex differences were found on the emotional insight scales, however. These results suggest that relatively enhanced social cognition and understanding of social causality in girls may be a population-level sex difference that is preserved in autism, despite the core social challenges that characterize this condition. The current findings reveal critical new information about insight into social and emotional thinking and relationships in autistic girls versus boys that have important implications for improving identification and designing effective interventions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Low-cost, wireless immersive virtual reality (VR) holds significant promise as a flexible and scalable intervention tool to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn and develop critical practical life skills, including interacting safely and effectively with police officers. Previous research suggests that VR is a motivating intervention platform, but many individuals with ASD also exhibit anxiety and sensory sensitivities which might make it difficult to tolerate VR experiences. Here, we describe the results of a relatively large-scale, National Institutes of Health-funded systematic examination of the safety, feasibility, and usability of an immersive VR training program in adolescents and adults with ASD, aged 12 and older. Sixty verbally fluent individuals with no personal or immediate family history of seizures or migraines participated in either one (n = 30) or three 45-min (n = 30) VR sessions using a lightweight wireless headset, and were monitored for side effects. Participants also reported on system usability, enjoyment, and willingness to engage in further VR sessions. Results confirm that immersive VR is safe, feasible, and highly usable for verbally fluent adolescents and adults with ASD. LAY SUMMARY: Immersive virtual reality (VR) holds promise as a means to provide social skills interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but it is unclear whether associated anxiety and sensory symptoms might limit feasibility. Here, we report data that indicate that immersive VR is both safe and feasible for use in verbally fluent adolescents and adults with ASD, for up to three 45-min sessions. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1418-1424. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, LLC.)

Autistic self-advocates, family members, and community organizations have called for greater emphasis on enhancing quality of life (QoL) for people with autism. Doing this is critical to understand how QoL unfolds across the life course and to clarify whether gender affects QoL, health, and functioning for people with autism. The purpose of this study was to curate and test a lifespan QoL measurement tool using freely available and well-constructed National Institutes of Health Parent-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). To develop the PROMIS Autism Battery-Lifespan (PAB-L), we identified PROMIS scales relevant for autism, reviewed each item, consulted with a panel of autism experts, and elicited feedback from autistic people and family members. This battery provides a comprehensive portrait of QoL for children ages 5-13 (through parent proxy), teens 14-17 (parent proxy and self-report), and adults 18-65 (self-report) with autism compared to the general population. Participants and parent informants (N = 912) recruited through a children's hospital and nationwide U.S. autism research registry completed the PAB-L online. Results indicate that compared to general population norms, people with autism of all ages (or their proxies) reported less desirable outcomes and lower QoL across all domains. Women and girls experienced greater challenges in some areas compared to men and boys with autism. The PAB-L appears to be a feasible and acceptable method for assessing patient-reported outcomes and QoL for autistic people across the life course. Autism Res 2020, 13: 970-987. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We developed a survey to measure the quality of life of children, teens, and adults with autism using free National Institutes of Health PROMIS questionnaires. People with autism and family members rated the PROMIS Autism Battery-Lifespan as useful and important. Some reported a good quality of life, while many reported that their lives were not going as well as they wanted. Women and girls reported more challenges in some areas of life than men and boys., (© 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Maternal pre-pregnancy weight has been related with young singletons' cognitive and behavioral development, but it is not clear if it has an effect on temperament. We used a twin cohort to evaluate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and infants' temperament. The mothers of 834 twins answered questions regarding their pre-pregnancy BMI and their 0- to 18-month-old children's temperament using the Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Three temperamental dimensions were examined: activity level, distress to limitation and duration of orienting. The relationship between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and each temperamental component was investigated by means of multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analysis. We found no clear evidence of an association of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI with twins' temperament. The development of temperament is influenced by a large number of factors, probably different from those influencing children's emotional and behavioral development.

The ability to selectively respond to one's own name is important for social and language development, and is disrupted in atypically developing populations (e.g., autism spectrum disorder). Research with typically developing samples using event-related potentials (ERPs) has demonstrated that the subject's own name (SON) is differentiated from other stimuli at both early sensory and later cognitive stages of auditory processing. While neural indices of response to name have been researched extensively in adults, no such studies have been conducted with typically developing preschool children or children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study investigated ERP response to name in a sample of typically developing (TD) preschoolers (n = 19; mean age = 4.3 years) as well as a small, exploratory comparison group of preschoolers with ASD (n = 13; mean age = 4.4 years). TD preschoolers exhibited significantly greater negativity to SON over frontal regions than to an unfamiliar nonsense name, consistent with the adult SON negativity component. This component was present whether the name was spoken by a parent or an unfamiliar adult, suggesting that it reflects SON-specific processing rather than broad self-relevant information processing. Comparing preschoolers with ASD to the TD children revealed a significant SON negativity component across both groups. The amplitude of the SON negativity response was significantly correlated with social variables in the ASD group, though these correlations did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. This study is the first to demonstrate the presence of the SON component in preschool children with and without ASD., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

A pilot community-based randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the effects of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to a teaching sequence using a high-tech Speech Generating Device (SGD) to teach social communication behaviors. The two approaches were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the newer, more high-tech intervention using technology to improve social and communicative behavior of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. A total of 35 school-age children were randomized to either a high-tech (SGD device) or low-tech (PECS cards) form of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Study participants received 4 months of communication training delivered in their classrooms, and the primary outcome measures of the trial were several functional communication skills emphasized in the PECS teaching sequence. Results indicated that both high-tech and low-tech AAC approaches resulted in significant improvements in communication, and that these improvements did not differ significantly between the two approaches. These findings support the use of high-tech AAC, and highlight the need for evidence-based guidelines for its use as well as evaluation with individuals with a range impairments and disabilities. Autism Research 2018, 11: 1701-1711. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: This study compared the effectiveness of a free and open-source app for teaching social and communicative behavior to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to traditional picture card approaches. Thirty-five children with ASD were randomized to a picture card or app-based intervention and both treatment approaches resulted in significant improvements in social and communicative behavior. These data indicated that both "high-tech" and "low-tech" interventions were effective for improving behavior and that there was not a significant difference between the two approaches., (© 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is an archetypical genetic syndrome that is characterized by intellectual disability, well-defined facial features, upper limb anomalies and atypical growth, among numerous other signs and symptoms. It is caused by variants in any one of seven genes, all of which have a structural or regulatory function in the cohesin complex. Although recent advances in next-generation sequencing have improved molecular diagnostics, marked heterogeneity exists in clinical and molecular diagnostic approaches and care practices worldwide. Here, we outline a series of recommendations that document the consensus of a group of international experts on clinical diagnostic criteria, both for classic CdLS and non-classic CdLS phenotypes, molecular investigations, long-term management and care planning.

Individuals with ASD seem to construct categories via processes different to typically developing individuals. We examined whether individuals with ASD engage in structural alignment of exemplars when constructing categories. We taught children with ASD and typically developing children novel nouns for either single or multiple exemplars, and then examined their extensions of the learned nouns to objects that were either a perceptual or conceptual match to the original exemplar(s). Results indicated that, unlike typically developing participants, those with ASD gained no benefit from seeing multiple exemplars of the category and, thus, did not appear to engage in structural alignment in their formation of categories. However, they demonstrated superior performance compared to typically developing children when presented with a single exemplar.

Problem behaviors are of increasing public health concern. Twin studies have revealed substantial genetic and environmental influences on children's behavior, and examining birth-weight difference could allow the identification of the specific contribution of multiple non-shared prenatal environmental factors. The Twins and Multiple Births Association Heritability Study, a UK, volunteer-based study, recruited mothers of twins aged 18 months to 5 years; 960 twins (480 pairs) were included in the analysis. Twins' mothers answered questions relative to their pregnancy and their twins' characteristics, and completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1½-5. The association between the absolute birth-weight difference and each CBCL scale's score difference was analyzed by means of multiple linear regressions. Expected mean CBCL score differences were calculated. In monozygotic (MZ) twins, statistically and clinically significant associations were found between intrapair birth-weight difference and difference in total problems, internalizing problems, and emotional reactiveness. No significant results were observed neither in dizygotic (DZ) twins when analyzed as a separate group nor in MZ and DZ twins combined. The results of the present study suggest that with increasing the absolute birth-weight difference, the intrapair difference in total problems, internalizing behaviors and emotionality increases, with smaller twins being at major risk for later behavior problems. Moreover, these results suggest a causal association between birth weight and behavior development.

The Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) enables researchers to examine the quality of mother-infant interactions. In typical infants, a classic still-face effect (SFE) has been confirmed whereby infants demonstrate reduced positive affect (PA), reduced gaze (GA), and increased negative affect (NA). Recently, the SFP has been used to examine the effect of maternal depression upon infant behaviour. However, the nature and consistency of the behavioural responses of infants of depressed mothers during the SFP remains unclear. In the current meta-analysis, we examined whether or not infants of depressed mothers demonstrate the classic SFE, as well as whether or not these infants display the same levels of PA, NA, and GA as their counterparts with non-depressed mothers. Results revealed that infants of depressed mothers display the classic SFE like infants of their non-depressed counterparts. However, infants of depressed mothers also demonstrated significantly higher levels of PA during the still-face episode. One potential interpretation of this finding is that infants prior experience of similar, depressed interactions with their mothers, encourages them to amplify their positive attachment signals in order to engage maternal attention and response. Alternatively, or additionally, infants of depressed mothers could be using PA in order to regulate their own NA., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Previous event-related potential (ERP) research utilizing oddball stimulus paradigms suggests diminished processing of speech versus non-speech sounds in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, brain mechanisms underlying these speech processing abnormalities, and to what extent they are related to poor language abilities in this population remain unknown. In the current study, we utilized a novel paired repetition paradigm in order to investigate ERP responses associated with the detection and discrimination of speech and non-speech sounds in 4- to 6-year old children with ASD, compared with gender and verbal age matched controls. ERPs were recorded while children passively listened to pairs of stimuli that were either both speech sounds, both non-speech sounds, speech followed by non-speech, or non-speech followed by speech. Control participants exhibited N330 match/mismatch responses measured from temporal electrodes, reflecting speech versus non-speech detection, bilaterally, whereas children with ASD exhibited this effect only over temporal electrodes in the left hemisphere. Furthermore, while the control groups exhibited match/mismatch effects at approximately 600 ms (central N600, temporal P600) when a non-speech sound was followed by a speech sound, these effects were absent in the ASD group. These findings suggest that children with ASD fail to activate right hemisphere mechanisms, likely associated with social or emotional aspects of speech detection, when distinguishing non-speech from speech stimuli. Together, these results demonstrate the presence of atypical speech versus non-speech processing in children with ASD when compared with typically developing children matched on verbal age.

Previous studies have documented the 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms as genetic variants that are involved in serotonin availability and also associated with emotion regulation and facial emotion processing. In particular, neuroimaging and behavioral studies of healthy populations have produced evidence to suggest that carriers of the Short allele exhibit heightened neurophysiological and behavioral reactivity when processing aversive stimuli, particularly in brain regions involved in fear. However, an additional distinction has emerged in the field, which highlights particular types of fearful information, i.e., aversive information which involves a social component versus non-social aversive stimuli. Although processing of each of these stimulus types (social and non-social) is believed to involve a subcortical neural system which includes the amygdala, evidence also suggests that the amygdala itself may be particularly responsive to socially significant environmental information, potentially due to the critical relevance of social information for humans. Examining individual differences in neurotransmitter systems which operate within this subcortical network, and in particular the serotonin system, may be critically informative for furthering our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying responses to emotional and affective stimuli. In the present study we examine visual scanning patterns in response to both aversive and positive images of a social or non-social nature in relation to 5-HTTLPR genotypes, in 49 children aged 4-7 years. Results indicate that children with at least one Short 5-HTTLPR allele spent less time fixating the threat-related non-social stimuli, compared with participants with two copies of the Long allele. Interestingly, a separate set of analyses suggests that carriers of two copies of the short 5-HTTLPR allele also spent less time fixating both the negative and positive non-social stimuli. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that genetically mediated differences in serotonin availability mediate behavioral responses to different types of emotional stimuli in young children.

Background: Recent research has identified differences in relative attention to competing social versus non-social video stimuli in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Whether attentional allocation is influenced by the potential threat of stimuli has yet to be investigated. This is manipulated in the current study by the extent to which the stimuli are moving towards or moving past the viewer. Furthermore, little is known about whether such differences exist across other neurodevelopmental disorders. This study aims to determine if adolescents with ASD demonstrate differences in attentional allocation to competing pairs of social and non-social video stimuli, where the actor or object either moves towards or moves past the viewer, in comparison to individuals without ASD, and to determine if individuals with three genetic syndromes associated with differing social phenotypes demonstrate differences in attentional allocation to the same stimuli., Methods: In study 1, adolescents with ASD and control participants were presented with social and non-social video stimuli in two formats (moving towards or moving past the viewer) whilst their eye movements were recorded. This paradigm was then employed with groups of individuals with fragile X, Cornelia de Lange, and Rubinstein-Taybi syndromes who were matched with one another on chronological age, global adaptive behaviour, and verbal adaptive behaviour (study 2)., Results: Adolescents with ASD demonstrated reduced looking-time to social versus non-social videos only when stimuli were moving towards them. Individuals in the three genetic syndrome groups showed similar looking-time but differences in fixation latency for social stimuli moving towards them. Across both studies, we observed within- and between-group differences in attention to social stimuli that were moving towards versus moving past the viewer., Conclusions: Taken together, these results provide strong evidence to suggest differential visual attention to competing social versus non-social video stimuli in populations with clinically relevant, genetically mediated differences in socio-behavioural phenotypes.

Previous behavioural research on the development of self-other tactile processing and perception suggests that this system may develop in a somewhat protracted manner relative to other aspects of social development. Neuroimaging research has shown that somatosensory mechanisms are activated when adults observe another person or object being touched. In this study, we measured event-related potentials from 4- to 5-year-old children to investigate the development of the neural correlates of the observation of human and object touch. Participants were presented with video clips of an arm or a cylindrical object being touched. Touch versus non-touch effects were observed in the amplitudes of the LSW component (600-700 ms) measured from electrodes over somatosensory region. Additionally, human versus non-human stimulus effects were reflected in the amplitudes of the parietal-central N100 component, as well as in the latencies of the N170 component recorded from parietal-occipital electrodes in children, as in adults in a previous study using this same paradigm. These findings provide evidence that relatively mature tactile mirroring mechanisms are activated during the observation of touch in children, and further suggest the possibility that these mechanisms are not particularly slow in their development relative to other aspects of social cognition., (© 2015 The British Psychological Society.)

Previous studies have documented the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) as a genetic susceptibility variant that contributes to variability in outcomes related to affective psychopathology, with the short allele associated with negative affectivity and the long allele associated with positive affectivity. In a separate but related line of research, extensive evidence suggests that frontal electroencephalography (EEG) hemispheric asymmetry in the alpha band is also associated with risk for affective psychopathologies, with leftward asymmetry associated with approach-related behavior patterns and rightward frontal EEG asymmetry associated with withdrawn behavioral tendencies. We examined frontal EEG hemispheric asymmetries in relation to 5-HTTLPR genotyping in 70 children between 4 and 6 years of age. Analyses revealed that frontal EEG lateralization interacted with genotype such that children homozygous for the short allele exhibited rightward frontal EEG asymmetries, children who were homozygous for the long allele consistently exhibited a positive pattern of leftward asymmetry, and heterozygotes exhibited equivalent left and right frontal activity. These findings suggest that the 5-HTTLPR short allele may provide a degree of susceptibility for later affective psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood, through mediation of frontal brain activity that is associated with cognitive-behavioral withdrawal tendencies and negative affectivity.

Previous studies have documented both neuroplasticity-related BDNF Val(66)Met and emotion regulation-related 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms as genetic variants that contribute to the processing of emotions from faces. More specifically, research has shown the BDNF Met allele and the 5-HTTLPR Short allele to be associated with mechanisms of negative affectivity that relate to susceptibility for psychopathology. We examined visual scanning pathways in response to angry, happy, and neutral faces in relation to BDNF Val(66)Met and 5-HTTLPR genotyping in 49 children aged 4-7 years. Analyses revealed that variations in the visual processing of facial expressions of anger interacted with BDNF Val(66)Met genotype, such that children who carried at least one low neuroplasticity Met allele exhibited a vigilance-avoidance pattern of visual scanning compared to homozygotes for the high neuroplasticity Val allele. In a separate investigation of eye gaze towards the eye versus mouth regions of neutral faces, we observed that short allele 5-HTTLPR carriers exhibited reduced looking at the eye region compared with those with the higher serotonin uptake Long allele. Together, these findings suggest that genetic mechanisms early in life may influence the establishment of patterns of visual scanning of environmental stressors, which in conjunction with other factors such as negative life events, may lead to psychological difficulties and disorders in the later adolescent and adult years.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social functioning. We examined the spontaneous discrimination of happy and disgusted facial expressions, from neutral faces, in individuals with FXS (n  =  13, Mage  =  19.70) and ASD (n  =  15, Mage  =  11.00) matched on adaptive behavior and verbal abilities measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Eye gaze to the eyes and mouth of neutral faces was also measured. Results suggest individuals with FXS and ASD distinguish facial expressions spontaneously in the same way. Individuals with FXS looked significantly less at the eye region of neutral faces than individuals with ASD. These results provide insight into similarities and differences in face processing in two neurodevelopmental disorders noted for their similarities in social behavior.

Background: Existing literature suggests differences in face scanning in individuals with different socio-behavioural characteristics. Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) and Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) are two genetically defined neurodevelopmental disorders with unique profiles of social behaviour., Methods: Here, we examine eye gaze to the eye and mouth regions of neutrally expressive faces, as well as the spontaneous visual preference for happy and disgusted facial expressions compared to neutral faces, in individuals with CdLS versus RTS., Results: Results indicate that the amount of time spent looking at the eye and mouth regions of faces was similar in 15 individuals with CdLS and 17 individuals with RTS. Both participant groups also showed a similar pattern of spontaneous visual preference for emotions., Conclusions: These results provide insight into two rare, genetically defined neurodevelopmental disorders that have been reported to exhibit contrasting socio-behavioural characteristics and suggest that differences in social behaviour may not be sufficient to predict attention to the eye region of faces. These results also suggest that differences in the social behaviours of these two groups may be cognitively mediated rather than subcortically mediated.

Objective: To estimate the heritability of child behaviour problems and investigate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy overweight and child behaviour problems in a genetically sensitive design., Design: Observational cross-sectional study., Setting: The Twins and Multiple Births Association Heritability Study (TAMBAHS) is an online UK-wide volunteer-based study investigating the development of twins from birth until 5 years of age., Participants: A total of 443 (16% of the initial registered members) mothers answered questions on pre-pregnancy weight and their twins' internalising and externalising problems using the Child Behavior Checklist and correcting for important covariates including gestational age, twins' birth weight, age and sex, mother's educational level and smoking (before, during and after pregnancy)., Primary Outcomes: The heritability of behaviour problems and their association with maternal pre-pregnancy weight., Results: The genetic analysis suggested that genetic and common environmental factors account for most of the variation in externalising disorders (an ACE model was the most parsimonious with genetic factors (A) explaining 46% (95% CI 33% to 60%) of the variance, common environment (C) explaining 42% (95% CI 27% to 54%) and non-shared environmental factors (E) explaining 13% (95% CI 10% to 16%) of the variance. For internalising problems, a CE model was the most parsimonious model with the common environment explaining 51% (95% CI 44% to 58%) of the variance and non-shared environment explaining 49% (95% CI 42% to 56%) of the variance. Moreover, the regression analysis results suggested that children of overweight mothers showed a trend (OR=1.10, 95% CI 0.58% to 2.06) towards being more aggressive and exhibit externalising behaviours compared to children of normal weight mothers., Conclusions: Maternal pre-pregnancy weight may play a role in children's aggressive behaviour., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Cook et al. argue that mirror neurons originate from associative learning processes, without evolutionary influence from social-cognitive mechanisms. We disagree with this claim and present arguments based upon cross-species comparisons, EEG findings, and developmental neuroscience that the evolution of mirror neurons is most likely driven simultaneously and interactively by evolutionarily adaptive psychological mechanisms and lower-level biological mechanisms that support them.

Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have reported activation of primary and secondary somatosensory cortices when participants observe another person or object being touched. In this study, we used event-related potentials to examine the nature and time-course of the neural mechanisms associated with the observation of humans and non-human objects being touched. Participants were presented with short video clips of a human arm or a non-human cylindrical object being touched by an object, compared with an object moving in front of the arms or cylinders without touching them. Touch vs non-touch effects were observed in the amplitudes of the N100 and N250 components, as well as a late slow wave component (500-600 ms), measured from electrodes over primary somatosensory cortex. Human vs non-human stimulus effects were reflected in the latencies of the N100, P170 and N250 components recorded over somatosensory cortex, as well as the temporal-parietal visual-perceptual N170 and N250 components. These findings suggest that human and non-human touch observation are associated with somatosensory processing at both an early sensory-perceptual stage and a relatively late cognitive stage, both preceding and following the perceptual encoding of the humanness of stimuli that typically occurs in extrastriate visual areas.

Research suggests that a sub-set of children with autism experience notable difficulties and delays in motor skills development, and that a large percentage of children with autism experience deficits in motor resonance. These motor-related deficiencies, which evidence suggests are present from a very early age, are likely to negatively affect social-communicative and language development in this population. Here, we review evidence for delayed, impaired, and atypical motor development in infants and children with autism. We then carefully review and examine the current language and communication-based intervention research that is relevant to motor and motor resonance (i.e., neural "mirroring" mechanisms activated when we observe the actions of others) deficits in children with autism. Finally, we describe research needs and future directions and developments for early interventions aimed at addressing the speech/language and social-communication development difficulties in autism from a motor-related perspective.

There has been debate over whether disruptions in the mirror neuron system (MNS) play a key role in the core social deficits observed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). EEG mu suppression during the observation of biological actions is believed to reflect MNS functioning, but understanding of the developmental progression of the MNS and EEG mu rhythm in both typical and atypical development is lacking. To provide a more thorough and direct exploration of the development of mu suppression in individuals with ASD, a sample of 66 individuals with ASD and 51 typically developing individuals of 6-17 years old were pooled from four previously published studies employing similar EEG methodology. We found a significant correlation between age and mu suppression in response to the observation of actions, both for individuals with ASD and typical individuals. This relationship was not seen during the execution of actions. Additionally, the strength of the correlation during the observation of actions did not significantly differ between groups. The results provide evidence against the argument that mirror neuron dysfunction improves with age in individuals with ASD and suggest, instead, that a diagnosis-independent developmental change may be at the root of the correlation of age and mu suppression.

Social referencing was investigated in 18-month-old siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; "high-risk infants"). Infants were exposed to novel toys, which were emotionally tagged via adults' facial and vocal signals. Infants' information seeking (initiation of joint attention with an adult) and their approach/withdrawal behavior toward the toys before versus after the adults' emotional signals was measured. Compared to both typically developing infants and high-risk infants without ASD, infants later diagnosed with ASD engaged in slower information seeking, suggesting that this aspect of referencing may be an early indicator of ASD. High-risk infants, both those who were and those who were not later diagnosed with ASD, exhibited impairments in regulating their behavior based on the adults' emotional signals, suggesting that this aspect of social referencing may reflect an endophenotype for ASD.

Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies implicate both frontal and temporoparietal cortices when humans reason about the mental states of others. Here, we report an event-related potentials study of the time course of one such "theory of mind" ability: visual perspective taking. The findings suggest that posterior cortex, perhaps the temporoparietal cortex, calculates and represents the perspective of self versus other, and then, later, the right frontal cortex resolves conflict between perspectives during response selection.

Background: Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social-emotional, social-communicative, and language skills. Behavioral and neuroimaging studies have found that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) evidence abnormalities in semantic processing, with particular difficulties in verbal comprehension. However, it is not known whether these semantic deficits are confined to the verbal domain or represent a more general problem with semantic processing. The focus of the current study was to investigate verbal and meaningful nonverbal semantic processing in high-functioning children with autism (mean age = 5.8 years) using event-related potentials (ERPs)., Method: ERPs were recorded while children attended to semantically matching and mismatching picture-word and picture-environmental sound pairs., Results: ERPs of typically developing children exhibited evidence of semantic incongruency detection in both the word and environmental sound conditions, as indexed by elicitation of an N400 effect. In contrast, children with ASD showed an N400 effect in the environmental sound condition but not in the word condition., Conclusions: These results provide evidence for a deficiency in the automatic activation of semantic representations in children with ASD, and suggest that this deficit is somewhat more selective to, or more severe in, the verbal than the nonverbal domain.

Background: Previous studies have documented atypicalities in face/object processing in children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To investigate whether such atypicalities may reflect a genetically mediated risk factor present early in development, we measured face/object processing in 10-month-old high-risk infants who carry some of the genes associated with ASD because they have an older sibling diagnosed with the disorder., Methods: We employed event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure cortical responses to pictures of faces and objects, the objects being toys. Latencies and amplitudes of four ERP components (P100, N290, P400, and Nc) were compared between 20 high-risk infants and 20 low-risk control subjects (infants with no family history of ASD)., Results: Responses to faces versus objects differed between high- and low-risk infants for the latencies of the N290 and P400. Differences were driven by faster responses to faces than objects in low-risk, but not high-risk, infants (P400) and, conversely, faster responses to objects than faces in high-risk, but not low-risk, infants (N290). Object responses were also faster in high-risk than low-risk infants (both N290 and P400). Left versus right hemisphere responses also differed between high- and low-risk infants for the amplitudes of the P100, N290, and P400; collapsed across faces/objects, low-risk, but not high-risk, infants exhibited hemisphere asymmetries., Conclusions: Genetic risk for ASD is associated with atypical face versus object processing and an atypical lack of hemispheric asymmetry early in life. These atypicalities might contribute to development of the disorder.

To investigate effects of visual experience versus preprogrammed mechanisms on visual development, we used multiple regression analysis to determine the extent to which a variety of variables (that differ in the extent to which they are tied to visual experience) predict luminance and chromatic (red/green) contrast sensitivity (CS), which are mediated by the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) subcortical pathways, respectively. Our variables included gestational length (GL), birth weight (BW), gender, postnatal age (PNA), and birth order (BO). Two-month-olds (n = 60) and 6-month-olds (n = 122) were tested. Results revealed that (1) at 2 months, infants with longer GL have higher luminance CS; (2) at both ages, CS significantly increases over a approximately 21-day range of PNA, but this effect is stronger in 2- than 6-month-olds and stronger for chromatic than luminance CS; (3) at 2 months, boys have higher luminance CS than girls; and (4) at 2 months, firstborn infants have higher CS, while at 6 months, non-firstborn infants have higher CS. The results for PNA/GL are consistent with the possibility that P pathway development is more influenced by variables tied to visual experience (PNA), while M pathway development is more influenced by variables unrelated to visual experience (GL). Other variables, including prenatal environment, are also discussed.

A variety of neuroimaging tools are now available for use in studying neurodevelopment. In this article, we focus our attention on one such tool--the event-related potential (ERP). We begin by providing an overview of what ERPs are, their physiological basis, how they are recorded, and some constraints on their use. We then provide an abbreviated glossary of ERP components, that is, what processes are reflected in ERPs. We conclude by summarizing two areas of atypical development that have benefited from this method: children experiencing early psychosocial neglect, and children diagnosed with autism. We conclude by offering recommendations for future research.

Research has shown that inverting faces significantly disrupts the processing of configural information, leading to a face inversion effect. We recently used a contextual priming technique to show that the presence or absence of the face inversion effect can be determined via the top-down activation of face versus non-face processing systems [Ge, L., Wang, Z., McCleery, J., & Lee, K. (2006). Activation of face expertise and the inversion effect. Psychological Science, 17(1), 12-16]. In the current study, we replicate these findings using the same technique but under different conditions. We then extend these findings through the application of a neural network model of face and Chinese character expertise systems. Results provide support for the hypothesis that a specialized face expertise system develops through extensive training of the visual system with upright faces, and that top-down mechanisms are capable of influencing when this face expertise system is engaged.

Background: A wealth of data has documented impairments in face processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Recently, the suggestion has been made that these impairments may arise from abnormal development of a subcortical system involved in face processing that originates in the magnocellular pathway of the primate visual system., Methods: To test this developmental hypothesis, we obtained visual perceptual data from 6-month-old infants who were at risk for ASD because they had an older sibling diagnosed with the disorder ("high-risk infants"). To measure sensitivity of the magnocellular (M) pathway and, for comparison, of the parvocellular (P) visual pathway, we employed visual stimuli designed to selectively stimulate the two. Sensitivity data from high-risk infants (n = 13) were compared with data from matched control infants (i.e., "low-risk" infants with no family history of ASD, n = 26)., Results: On the P pathway stimulus, high-risk infants exhibited sensitivities that were identical to those of control infants. By contrast, on the M pathway stimulus, high-risk infants exhibited sensitivities nearly twofold greater than those of control infants., Conclusions: Given that ASD and its symptoms are known to run in families, these preliminary results suggest that ASD may be associated with abnormal M pathway function early in infancy, which may aid in early diagnosis of the disorder.

Unlabelled: While much attention has been given to documenting the language skills of verbal children with autism, the basic speech sound development patterns of severely language-impaired children with autism are unknown. Previous research has shown that certain consonants are generally produced earlier in development than other consonants, both in typically developing children and in children with language-learning impairments. While several large studies indicate that children with autism who have strong verbal skills have intact phonological development, there is some evidence that children with autism who are more severely language impaired may have abnormal phonological production. This study documents the speech sound development of non-verbal and minimally verbal children with autism. Prompts were administered for each individual speech sound while spontaneous and imitated sounds were recorded and scored. Results indicate that children with autism show the same general speech sound production patterns as typically developing and language-learning impaired children., Learning Outcomes: Individuals who read this manuscript will obtain information regarding: (1) normal phonological development, (2) a comparison of speech sound production of a group of 14 children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder with the production of a group of 10 typically developing children, and (3) comparisons of imitated and spontaneous sound production of the children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

We used a contextual priming paradigm to examine top-down influences on the face-inversion effect. Adult participants were primed with either faces or Chinese characters and then tested on ambiguous figures that could be perceived as either faces or Chinese characters, dependent on the priming condition. The ambiguous figures differed from one another in their configural information, which is crucial for processing faces but not Chinese characters. The inversion effect was observed in the face-priming condition, but not in the character-priming condition. The present results provide the first direct evidence that top-down activation of the face-processing expertise system plays a crucial role in the face-inversion effect.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are largely characterized by deficits in imitation, pragmatic language, theory of mind, and empathy. Previous research has suggested that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may explain the pathology observed in ASD. Because EEG oscillations in the mu frequency (8-13 Hz) over sensorimotor cortex are thought to reflect mirror neuron activity, one method for testing the integrity of this system is to measure mu responsiveness to actual and observed movement. It has been established that mu power is reduced (mu suppression) in typically developing individuals both when they perform actions and when they observe others performing actions, reflecting an observation/execution system which may play a critical role in the ability to understand and imitate others' behaviors. This study investigated whether individuals with ASD show a dysfunction in this system, given their behavioral impairments in understanding and responding appropriately to others' behaviors. Mu wave suppression was measured in ten high-functioning individuals with ASD and ten age- and gender-matched control subjects while watching videos of (1) a moving hand, (2) a bouncing ball, and (3) visual noise, or (4) moving their own hand. Control subjects showed significant mu suppression to both self and observed hand movement. The ASD group showed significant mu suppression to self-performed hand movements but not to observed hand movements. These results support the hypothesis of a dysfunctional mirror neuron system in high-functioning individuals with ASD.