New study could be key to understanding development of autism-related traits
Babies of socially-uncomfortable parents show same brain responses in social situations as infants with later autism
Researchers from Birkbeck’s ‘Babylab’, the University of Washington (Seattle), and Seattle Children’s Research Institute have revealed that, by 6 months old, babies whose parents feel uncomfortable in social situations are less interested in faces and other people. The findings may be helpful in discovering more about the underlying causes of autism, a neurodevelopmental condition, with symptoms including impairments in social interaction and communication.
The study, published today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, shows for the first time that 6- and 12-month-old infants who are developing normally and are considered to be at low risk of developing autism pay less attention to faces and display a reduced brain reaction to other people if their parents also report less comfort in social situations. Previous research has shown that levels of sociability are passed down genetically, and other studies have shown similar social attention patterns in infants of the same age with a family history of autism who later develop autism, and in older children and adults who have autism. The fact that the infants in this study also displayed reduced attention to faces and reduced brain reaction to social situations but are unlikely to develop autism shows that while reduced social attention may underlie and contribute to autism vulnerability, there are other key genetic or environmental factors which also need to be present for autism to develop.
Dr Emily Jones, from the Babylab, said: “This study provides the first evidence that infant social attention is related to parental sociability in a group at low risk of developing autism. Understanding infant social attention could be key to understanding the development of autism-related traits and could help us discover new genetic risk factors for low social interest in later life. We now need to understand how genetic risk for poor social attention interacts with the early environment and other genetic risk factors to produce autism in some children. This will help us provide more accurate early detection tools, and will help us to develop interventions that will enable infants at high risk of autism to develop with social and communication skills within the same range as their low-risk peers.”
Dr Sara Jane Webb, from the University of Washington, said “Measuring the social attention of infants has great potential to inform our understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that are related to good and poor social outcomes in children.”
Listen to Dr Emily Jones discussing the findings of this study:
Further information: