TY - JOUR
T1 - Links between looking and speaking in autism and first-degree relatives
T2 - Insights into the expression of genetic liability to autism
AU - Nayar, Kritika
AU - Gordon, Peter C.
AU - Martin, Gary E.
AU - Hogan, Abigail L.
AU - La Valle, Chelsea
AU - McKinney, Walker
AU - Lee, Michelle
AU - Norton, Elizabeth S.
AU - Losh, Molly
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01DC010191), the National Science Foundation (BCS-0820394) and P30 HD03110.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/10/10
Y1 - 2018/10/10
N2 - Background: Rapid automatized naming (RAN; naming of familiar items presented in an array) is a task that taps fundamental neurocognitive processes that are affected in a number of complex psychiatric conditions. Deficits in RAN have been repeatedly observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and also among first-degree relatives, suggesting that RAN may tap features that index genetic liability to ASD. This study used eye tracking to examine neurocognitive mechanisms related to RAN performance in ASD and first-degree relatives, and investigated links to broader language and clinical-behavioral features. Methods: Fifty-one individuals with ASD, biological parents of individuals with ASD (n = 133), and respective control groups (n = 45 ASD controls; 58 parent controls) completed RAN on an eye tracker. Variables included naming time, frequency of errors, and measures of eye movement during RAN (eye-voice span, number of fixations and refixations). Results: Both the ASD and parent-ASD groups showed slower naming times, more errors, and atypical eye-movement patterns (e.g., increased fixations and refixations), relative to controls, with differences persisting after accounting for spousal resemblance. RAN ability and associated eye movement patterns were correlated with increased social-communicative impairment and increased repetitive behaviors in ASD. Longer RAN times and greater refixations in the parent-ASD group were driven by the subgroup who showed clinical-behavioral features of the broad autism phenotype (BAP). Finally, parent-child dyad correlations revealed associations between naming time and refixations in parents with the BAP and increased repetitive behaviors in their child with ASD. Conclusions: Differences in RAN performance and associated eye movement patterns detected in ASD and in parents, and links to broader social-communicative abilities, clinical features, and parent-child associations, suggest that RAN-related abilities might constitute genetically meaningful neurocognitive markers that can help bridge connections between underlying biology and ASD symptomatology.
AB - Background: Rapid automatized naming (RAN; naming of familiar items presented in an array) is a task that taps fundamental neurocognitive processes that are affected in a number of complex psychiatric conditions. Deficits in RAN have been repeatedly observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and also among first-degree relatives, suggesting that RAN may tap features that index genetic liability to ASD. This study used eye tracking to examine neurocognitive mechanisms related to RAN performance in ASD and first-degree relatives, and investigated links to broader language and clinical-behavioral features. Methods: Fifty-one individuals with ASD, biological parents of individuals with ASD (n = 133), and respective control groups (n = 45 ASD controls; 58 parent controls) completed RAN on an eye tracker. Variables included naming time, frequency of errors, and measures of eye movement during RAN (eye-voice span, number of fixations and refixations). Results: Both the ASD and parent-ASD groups showed slower naming times, more errors, and atypical eye-movement patterns (e.g., increased fixations and refixations), relative to controls, with differences persisting after accounting for spousal resemblance. RAN ability and associated eye movement patterns were correlated with increased social-communicative impairment and increased repetitive behaviors in ASD. Longer RAN times and greater refixations in the parent-ASD group were driven by the subgroup who showed clinical-behavioral features of the broad autism phenotype (BAP). Finally, parent-child dyad correlations revealed associations between naming time and refixations in parents with the BAP and increased repetitive behaviors in their child with ASD. Conclusions: Differences in RAN performance and associated eye movement patterns detected in ASD and in parents, and links to broader social-communicative abilities, clinical features, and parent-child associations, suggest that RAN-related abilities might constitute genetically meaningful neurocognitive markers that can help bridge connections between underlying biology and ASD symptomatology.
KW - Autism spectrum disorder
KW - Broad autism phenotype
KW - Endophenotype
KW - Eye movement
KW - Eye-voice span
KW - Gaze
KW - Language
KW - Rapid automatized naming
KW - Restricted and repetitive behaviors
KW - Social communication
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U2 - 10.1186/s13229-018-0233-5
DO - 10.1186/s13229-018-0233-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 30338047
AN - SCOPUS:85054825068
VL - 9
JO - Molecular Autism
JF - Molecular Autism
SN - 2040-2392
IS - 1
M1 - 51
ER -