TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
AU - Piccardi, Elena Serena
AU - Begum Ali, Jannath
AU - Jones, Emily J.H.
AU - Mason, Luke
AU - Charman, Tony
AU - Johnson, Mark H.
AU - Gliga, Teodora
AU - BASIS/STAARS Team
AU - Agyapong, Mary
AU - Bazelmans, Tessel
AU - Dafner, Leila
AU - Ersoy, Mutluhan
AU - Goodwin, Amy
AU - Haartsen, Rianne
AU - Hendry, Alexandra
AU - Holman, Rebecca
AU - Kalwarowsky, Sarah
AU - Kolesnik, Anna
AU - Lloyd-Fox, Sarah
AU - Pasco, Greg
AU - Pickles, Andrew
AU - Pirazzoli, Laura
AU - Taylor, Chloë
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by awards from the Medical Research Council (MR/K021389/1; MHJ, TC), MQ (MQ14PP_83, MHJ, EJHJ, TC). Further, this work was also supported by the EU-AIMS and AIMS-2-TRIALS programmes funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Undertaking Grant Nos. 115300 (MHJ, TC) and No. 777394 (MHJ, EJHJ and TC; European Union’s FP7 and Horizon 2020, respectively). This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, with in-kind contributions from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) companies and funding from Autism Speaks, Autistica and SFARI. Teodora Gliga was funded by a Wellcome Trust grant (217469/Z/19/Z).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Backgrounds: Atypicalities in tactile processing are reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but it remains unknown if they precede and associate with the traits of these disorders emerging in childhood. We investigated behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD compared to infants at typical likelihood of the disorders. Further, we assessed the specificity of associations between infant markers and later ASD or ADHD traits. Methods: Ninety-one 10-month-old infants participated in the study (n = 44 infants at elevated likelihood of ASD; n = 20 infants at elevated likelihood of ADHD; n = 9 infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and ADHD; n = 18 infants at typical likelihood of the disorders). Behavioural and EEG responses to pairs of tactile stimuli were experimentally recorded and concurrent parental reports of tactile responsiveness were collected. ASD and ADHD traits were measured at 24 months through standardized assessment (ADOS-2) and parental report (ECBQ), respectively. Results: There was no effect of infants’ likelihood status on behavioural markers of tactile sensory processing. Conversely, increased ASD likelihood associated with reduced neural repetition suppression to tactile input. Reduced neural repetition suppression at 10 months significantly predicted ASD (but not ADHD) traits at 24 months across the entire sample. Elevated tactile sensory seeking at 10 months moderated the relationship between early reduced neural repetition suppression and later ASD traits. Conclusions: Reduced tactile neural repetition suppression is an early marker of later ASD traits in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD or ADHD, suggesting that a common pathway to later ASD traits exists despite different familial backgrounds. Elevated tactile sensory seeking may act as a protective factor, mitigating the relationship between early tactile neural repetition suppression and later ASD traits.
AB - Backgrounds: Atypicalities in tactile processing are reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but it remains unknown if they precede and associate with the traits of these disorders emerging in childhood. We investigated behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD compared to infants at typical likelihood of the disorders. Further, we assessed the specificity of associations between infant markers and later ASD or ADHD traits. Methods: Ninety-one 10-month-old infants participated in the study (n = 44 infants at elevated likelihood of ASD; n = 20 infants at elevated likelihood of ADHD; n = 9 infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and ADHD; n = 18 infants at typical likelihood of the disorders). Behavioural and EEG responses to pairs of tactile stimuli were experimentally recorded and concurrent parental reports of tactile responsiveness were collected. ASD and ADHD traits were measured at 24 months through standardized assessment (ADOS-2) and parental report (ECBQ), respectively. Results: There was no effect of infants’ likelihood status on behavioural markers of tactile sensory processing. Conversely, increased ASD likelihood associated with reduced neural repetition suppression to tactile input. Reduced neural repetition suppression at 10 months significantly predicted ASD (but not ADHD) traits at 24 months across the entire sample. Elevated tactile sensory seeking at 10 months moderated the relationship between early reduced neural repetition suppression and later ASD traits. Conclusions: Reduced tactile neural repetition suppression is an early marker of later ASD traits in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD or ADHD, suggesting that a common pathway to later ASD traits exists despite different familial backgrounds. Elevated tactile sensory seeking may act as a protective factor, mitigating the relationship between early tactile neural repetition suppression and later ASD traits.
KW - Alpha amplitude desynchronization
KW - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
KW - Autism spectrum disorder
KW - EEG
KW - Infant sibling design
KW - Repetition suppression
KW - Tactile sensory processing
KW - Tactile sensory seeking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098561052&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s11689-020-09334-1
DO - 10.1186/s11689-020-09334-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85098561052
SN - 1866-1947
VL - 13
JO - Journal Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
JF - Journal Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
IS - 1
M1 - 1
ER -