Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 20, 2026
Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
Cortical responses before 6 months of life associate with later autism
S Lloyd-Fox1, A Blasi1, G Pasco2
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet St., WC1E 7HX, London, UK.
Insights
Infants who later develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show altered brain responses to social stimuli in early infancy. These early differences in brain activity correlate with later ASD symptomology.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Genetics
Background:
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heritable developmental disorder.
- Later-born siblings of children with ASD have an increased risk.
- Early developmental differences in infants at familial risk for ASD are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate early brain function in infants at familial risk for ASD.
- To examine neural responses to social and non-social stimuli in early infancy.
- To correlate early brain activity with later ASD symptomology.
Main Methods:
- Prospective longitudinal study of high-risk infants followed to 36 months.
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured brain responses.
- Stimuli included social videos, non-social images, human vocalizations, and non-vocal sounds.
Main Results:
- Infants who developed ASD showed reduced activation to visual social stimuli in frontal and temporal regions at 4-6 months.
- These infants also exhibited altered responses to vocal and non-vocal sounds.
- Early brain activation patterns correlated with parent-reported ASD symptomology at toddlerhood.
Conclusions:
- Early atypical social brain responses in infancy may predict later ASD.
- Findings suggest a need for further research into early processing in infants at risk for ASD.
- Understanding early neural differences can inform interventions for social communication difficulties.
Abstract:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common, highly heritable, developmental disorder and later-born siblings of diagnosed children are at higher risk of developing ASD than the general population. Although the emergence of behavioural symptoms of ASD in toddlerhood is well characterized, far less is known about development during the first months of life of infants at familial risk. In a prospective longitudinal study of infants at familial risk followed to 36 months, we measured functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain responses to social videos of people (i.e. peek-a-boo) compared to non-social images (vehicles) and human vocalizations compared to non-vocal sounds. At 4-6 months, infants who went on to develop ASD at 3 years (N = 5) evidenced-reduced activation to visual social stimuli relative to low-risk infants (N = 16) across inferior frontal (IFG) and posterior temporal (pSTS-TPJ) regions of the cortex. Furthermore, these infants also showed reduced activation to vocal sounds and enhanced activation to non-vocal sounds within left lateralized temporal (aMTG-STG/pSTS-TPJ) regions compared with low-risk infants and high-risk infants who did not develop ASD (N = 15). The degree of activation to both the visual and auditory stimuli correlated with parent-reported ASD symptomology in toddlerhood. These preliminary findings are consistent with later atypical social brain responses seen in children and adults with ASD, and highlight the need for further work interrogating atypical processing in early infancy and how it may relate to later social interaction and communication difficulties characteristic of ASD.
