Developmental sequelae and neurophysiologic substrates of sensory seeking in infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder

Cara R. Damiano-Goodwin, Tiffany G. Woynaroski, David M. Simon, Lisa V. Ibañez, Michael Andrew Murias, Anne Kirby, Cassandra R. Newsom, Mark T. Wallace, Wendy L. Stone, Carissa J. Cascio*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

It has been proposed that early differences in sensory responsiveness arise from atypical neural function and produce cascading effects on development across domains. This longitudinal study prospectively followed infants at heightened risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) based on their status as younger siblings of children diagnosed with ASD (Sibs-ASD) and infants at relatively lower risk for ASD (siblings of typically developing children; Sibs-TD) to examine the developmental sequelae and possible neurophysiological substrates of a specific sensory response pattern: unusually intense interest in nonsocial sensory stimuli or “sensory seeking.” At 18 months, sensory seeking and social orienting were measured with the Sensory Processing Assessment, and a potential neural signature for sensory seeking (i.e., frontal alpha asymmetry) was measured via resting state electroencephalography. At 36 months, infants’ social symptomatology was assessed in a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation. Sibs-ASD showed elevated sensory seeking relative to Sibs-TD, and increased sensory seeking was concurrently associated with reduced social orienting across groups and resting frontal asymmetry in Sibs-ASD. Sensory seeking also predicted later social symptomatology. Findings suggest that sensory seeking may produce cascading effects on social development in infants at risk for ASD and that atypical frontal asymmetry may underlie this atypical pattern of sensory responsiveness.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)41-53
Number of pages13
JournalDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume29
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

Funding

The work described was supported by NIH U54 HD083211 (PI: Dykens), NICHD R01 HD057284 (PI: Stone), the Marino Autism Research Institute, the Wallace Foundation, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, and by CTSA award No. KL2TR000446 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or the National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to thank the laboratory of Dr. Grace Baranek for guidance in using the SPA and Warren Lambert for his statistical support. The authors declare no conflicting interests.

Keywords

  • Autism
  • EEG
  • Frontal asymmetry
  • Infant siblings
  • Longitudinal
  • Sensory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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