Visual attention and fine motor coordination in infants at risk for autism

有自闭症风险的婴儿的视觉注意力和精细运动协调

基本信息

批准号：
8912651
负责人：
Anjana Narayan Bhat
金额：
$ 4.17万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2011
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2011-01-23 至 2014-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8912651
关键词：
Visual attention fine motor coordination

项目摘要

PROJECT SUMMARY Introduction: The rising incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) charges researchers with a sense of urgency to develop sensitive tools for early identification. Recent advances allow experts to identify ASD in the second year through an array of social communication and motor coordination deficits. This project attempts to extend this work into infancy. Aims: The broad objectives of this research are to develop novel tools for early identification of motor, social, and cognitive deficits of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) within the first six months of life. In this proposal, reaching, object exploration, and associative learning tasks are used as powerful contexts to identify impairments related to ASD and the broader autism phenotype (BAP) within the first six months of life. We will longitudinally compare two groups: 1) infant siblings of children with autism (AU Sibs), who are a cohort at high genetic risk to develop ASD and BAP impairments, and 2) typically developing, infant siblings of children with no family history of ASD (TD Sibs) at 3 and 6 months along with follow-up screening at 16 months. Methods: During reaching and object exploration, infants will be observed during single-rattle or multi-rattle conditions to probe their reaching, grasping, and visual attention/exploration patterns. In addition, during associative learning, infants will learn the relationship between their arm movements and the activation of a musical toy. We will code for learning, pattern of toy activation, and visual attention patterns. Fine-motor measures such as reaching and rhythmic arm movements will be quantified using a portable electromagnetic motion tracking system. Preliminary Findings: Our preliminary data suggest that AU Sibs tested at 3 and 6 months have reaching and grasping coordination deficits as well as excessive visual exploration during reaching and object exploration tasks. Moreover, AU Sibs show difficulty shifting visual attention during an associative learning task. Through this proposal, we build on our preliminary data and expand our database on fine-motor coordination and visual attention impairments of the AU Sibs population. Significance: This project will vastly add to our understanding of the early developmental processes that lead to the core deficits of ASD. In addition, if the aims are achieved it will identify reliable behavioral markers for early diagnosis of ASD. Specifically, the results of this study would implicate that early detection of ASD and the BAP is possible between 3 and 6 months of age through fine-motor and visual attention markers. It would also emphasize that infant siblings of children with autism are at risk for general sensori-motor delays and need sensori-motor interventions.

项目摘要简介：自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的发病率上升，指控研究人员有一种迫切意义，以开发敏感的工具以进行早期识别。最近的进步使专家可以通过一系列的社会交流和运动协调不足在第二年识别ASD。该项目试图将这项工作扩展到婴儿期。目的：这项研究的广泛目标是开发新的工具，以早期识别自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）（ASD）的运动，社会和认知缺陷（ASD）。在此提案中，到达，对象探索和关联学习任务被用作有力的背景，以识别与ASD和更广泛的自闭症表型（BAP）相关的障碍，并在生命的前六个月内确定。我们将纵向比较两组：1）自闭症儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹（AU SIBS），他们是患ASD和BAP损害的高遗传风险的队列，以及2）通常会在3个月和6个月的时间进行16个月的儿童患婴儿的婴儿兄弟姐妹。方法：在到达和物体探索过程中，将在单摩托或多摩托条件下观察到婴儿，以探测其触及，抓握和视觉注意/探索模式。此外，在协会学习期间，婴儿将学习他们的手臂运动与音乐玩具的激活之间的关系。我们将编码学习，玩具激活模式和视觉注意力模式。将使用便携式电磁运动跟踪系统来量化诸如到达和节奏臂运动之类的精细运动措施。初步发现：我们的初步数据表明，在3和6个月中测试的AU SIBS已达到和掌握协调不足以及到达和对象探索任务期间的过度视觉探索。此外，AU SIBS在关联学习任务中表现出难以移动视觉关注。通过此提案，我们以初步数据为基础，并扩展了有关Au SIBS人群的精细运动协调和视觉注意力障碍的数据库。意义：该项目将大大增加我们对导致ASD核心缺陷的早期发展过程的理解。此外，如果实现了目标，它将确定可靠的行为标记以早期诊断ASD。具体而言，这项研究的结果暗示，通过细运动和视觉注意标志物在3至6个月大的时间内可以早期检测ASD和BAP。这也将强调，自闭症儿童的婴儿兄弟姐妹面临一般感觉运动延迟的风险，需要感觉运动运动干预措施。