Visual search performance in infants associates with later ASD diagnosis

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Enhanced visual search (VS) is noted in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
• The developmental emergence and specificity of early VS abilities in ASD remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the emergence of VS abilities in infants at high and low risk for ASD.
• Examine the link between early VS and later ASD diagnosis.
• Determine the specificity of superior VS to ASD, excluding ADHD and anxiety symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study following infants at high and low familial risk for ASD.
• Assessed VS performance at 9, 15 months, and 2 years.
• Clinical ASD diagnosis and dimensional symptom measures (ASD, ADHD, anxiety) at 3 years.

Main Results:

• Infants later diagnosed with ASD (HR-ASD) showed superior VS at 9 and 15 months, but not at 2 years.
• Higher attention at 9 months did not account for VS performance.
• Superior VS selectively predicted ASD diagnosis at 3 years, not ADHD or anxiety symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Atypical visual perception, indicated by superior VS, is present early in development in individuals who later receive an ASD diagnosis.
• These findings suggest a selective association between early perceptual atypicalities and core ASD symptoms.
• The results support a potential causal link between perceptual and social features in ASD.