Sex differences in social brain neural responses in autism: temporal profiles of configural face-processing within data-driven time windows.

Face-processing timing differences may underlie visual social attention differences between autistic and non-autistic people, and males and females. This study investigates the timing of the effects of neurotype and sex on face-processing, and their dependence on age. We analysed EEG data during upright and inverted photographs of faces from 492 participants from the Longitudinal European Autism Project (141 neurotypical males, 76 neurotypical females, 202 autistic males, 73 autistic females; age 6-30 years).

Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM): a study protocol.

Introduction: Early childhood development forms the foundations for functioning later in life. Thus, accurate monitoring of developmental trajectories is critical. However, such monitoring often relies on time-intensive assessments which necessitate administration by skilled professionals.

The importance of decomposing periodic and aperiodic EEG signals for assessment of brain function in a global context.

Measures of early neuro-cognitive development that are suitable for use in low-resource settings are needed to enable studies of the effects of early adversity on the developing brain in a global context. These measures should have high acquisition rates and good face and construct validity. Here, we investigated the feasibility of a naturalistic electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm in a low-resource context during childhood.

Mapping the link between socio-economic factors, autistic traits and mental health across different settings.

Autistic individuals are more likely than non-autistic individuals to experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, and this includes externalising and internalising symptoms. We know very little about how different environments and family conditions impact these symptoms for autistic individuals. Improving our understanding of these relationships is important so that we can identify individuals who may be in greater need of support.

Unique dynamic profiles of social attention in autistic females.

Background: Social attention affords learning opportunities across development and may contribute to individual differences in developmental trajectories, such as between male and female individuals, and in neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism.

Methods: Using eye-tracking, we measured social attention in a large cohort of autistic (n = 123) and nonautistic females (n = 107), and autistic (n = 330) and nonautistic males (n = 204), aged 6-30 years. Using mixed Growth Curve Analysis, we modelled sex and diagnostic effects on the temporal dynamics of proportional looking time to three types of social stimuli (lean-static, naturalistic-static, and naturalistic-dynamic) and examined the link between individual differences and dimensional social and nonsocial autistic traits in autistic females and males.

Reliability of an automated gaze-controlled paradigm for capturing neural responses during visual and face processing in toddlerhood.

Electroencephalography (EEG) has substantial potential value for examining individual differences during early development. Current challenges in developmental EEG research include high dropout rates and low trial numbers, which may in part be due to passive stimulus presentation. Comparability is challenged by idiosyncratic processing pipelines.

Temporal Profiles of Social Attention Are Different Across Development in Autistic and Neurotypical People.

Background: Sociocommunicative difficulties, including abnormalities in eye contact, are core diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many studies have used eye tracking to measure reduced attention to faces in autistic people; however, most of this work has not taken advantage of eye-tracking temporal resolution to examine temporal profiles of attention.

Methods: We used growth curve analysis to model attention to static social scenes as a function of time in a large (N = 650) sample of autistic participants and neurotypical participants across a wide age range (6-30 years).

The Developmental Origins of Gaze-Following in Human Infants.

During the first year of life, infants develop the capacity to follow the gaze of others. This behavior allows sharing attention and facilitates language acquisition and cognitive development. This article reviews studies that investigated gaze-following before 12 months of age in typically developing infants and discusses current theoretical perspectives on early GF.

The Cardiovascular Effects of a Meal: J-T and T -T Assessment and Further Insights Into the Physiological Effects.

Meal intake leads to a significant and prolonged increase in cardiac output to supply the splanchnic vasculature. A meal is associated with sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system, and food ingestion is correlated with an increase in heart rate, an increase in cardiac stroke volume, and QTc interval shortening for up to 7 hours. Given the complexity of the system, one or several of many mechanisms could explain this observation.

An Investigation of Attention to Faces and Eyes: Looking Time Is Task-Dependent in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A defective attention to faces and eyes characterizes autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, the role of contingent information - such as the task instructions - remains still unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the face-orienting response and the subsequent attentive selection in the presence of varying task instructions in individuals with atypical and typical development. Twenty young adults with ASD and 24 young adults with typical development participated in our eye-tracking study.

How Infants' Arousal Influences Their Visual Search.

The influence of arousal on visual attention was examined in 6.5-month-old infants (N = 42) in the context of a visual search task. Phasic increases in arousal were induced with brief sounds and measured with pupil dilation.

The Thorn in the Dyad: A Vision on Parent-Child Relationship in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Parents and children form a family: their characteristics balance personal and family well-being with healthy levels of stress. Research on parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrated that higher levels of parental stress are associated with communication impairment, a core symptom of ASD. The aim of this article is to discuss the connection between non-verbal communication impairment and parental psychological distress, in families with children with ASD.

Serological screening for Celiac Disease in 382 pre-schoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Recent investigations suggest a possible common genetic background between Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Celiac Disease (CD). However, studies regarding this association are scarce and often limited by the small sample sizes and/or large heterogeneity among ASD groups in terms of demographic and clinical features. The present study aims to investigate the overall CD prevalence (biopsy proven-CD patients plus screening detected tTG and EMA positive cases) in a large population of pre-schoolers with ASD referred to a tertiary care University Hospital.

Gastrointestinal symptoms and behavioral problems in preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequently reported in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and an impact of GI comorbidity on ASD behavioral problems has been hypothesized.

Aims: To explore the type and the prevalence of GI symptoms in ASD patients and typical development (TD) controls, and to investigate their possible association with behavioral problems.

Methods: A total of 230 preschoolers were included in this study.