Persistent primary reflexes affect motor acts: Potential implications for autism spectrum disorder

Area of Science:

• Developmental Pediatrics
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Motor Control

Background:

• Typical motor development relies on inhibiting primitive reflexes for advanced actions like gestures.
• Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are associated with motor difficulties and limited gesture repertoires.
• Subclinical autistic traits exist on a continuum within the general population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the link between persistent hand/mouth primitive reflexes and motor repertoire in infants.
• To investigate the association between infant primitive reflexes and parental subclinical autistic traits.

Main Methods:

• Study sample: 12- to 17-month-old infants.
• Data collection: Assessed persistence of primitive reflexes, infant motor repertoire, and parental subclinical autistic traits.

Main Results:

• Persistence of primitive reflexes correlated negatively with motor repertoire, independent of infant age.
• Infants with more persistent reflexes had parents with higher levels of subclinical autistic traits.
• These findings highlight a potential connection between primitive reflex retention and neurodevelopmental trajectories.

Conclusions:

• Persistent primitive reflexes may disrupt the developmental path of motor skills.
• Evaluating primitive reflexes could serve as an early marker for atypical development.
• This research offers insights into the early detection of neurodevelopmental variations.