Early intervention and brain plasticity in autism.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is linked to early-onset impairments in neural systems.
• Face processing is a critical early-developing brain system.
• Typical face processing emerges in infancy and relies on both biological predisposition and experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate early brain dysfunction in face processing in children with autism.
• To examine the development of the face-specific event-related potential (ERP) component, N170, in individuals with autism.
• To explore the role of social attention and early experience in the development of neural face processing systems.

Main Methods:

• Utilized event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess brain responses to facial stimuli.
• Compared ERPs in 3-year-old children with autism to control groups for familiar versus unfamiliar faces.
• Analyzed the characteristics of the N170 component in older individuals with autism, comparing responses to faces and non-face objects.

Main Results:

• Children with autism at age 3 failed to exhibit differential ERPs to familiar (mother's) versus unfamiliar faces.
• This lack of differential ERPs suggests early brain dysfunction in face processing.
• Older individuals with autism showed atypical N170 components, with larger responses to furniture than faces and bilateral distribution, contrasting with typical right-hemisphere dominance.

Conclusions:

• Impaired face processing in autism originates early in development, potentially due to reduced attention to faces.
• Experience with faces during a sensitive period is crucial for developing specialized neural face processing.
• Early interventions aimed at enhancing social attention may normalize brain activity related to face processing in autism.