Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Apr:8:131-43.
doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2013.09.006. Epub 2013 Oct 17.

Neural measures of social attention across the first years of life: characterizing typical development and markers of autism risk

Rhiannon J Luyster  1 , Christine Powell  2 , Helen Tager-Flusberg  3 , Charles A Nelson  4
Affiliations

Neural measures of social attention across the first years of life: characterizing typical development and markers of autism risk

Rhiannon J Luyster et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

Few studies employing event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine infant perception/cognition have systematically characterized age-related changes over the first few years of life. Establishing a 'normative' template of development is important in its own right, and doing so may also better highlight points of divergence for high-risk populations of infants, such as those at elevated genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present investigation explores the developmental progression of the P1, N290, P400 and Nc components for a large sample of young children between 6 and 36 months of age, addressing age-related changes in amplitude, sensitivity to familiar and unfamiliar stimuli and hemispheric lateralization. Two samples of infants are included: those at low- and high-risk for ASD. The four components of interest show differential patterns of change over time and hemispheric lateralization; however, infants at low- and high-risk for ASD do not show significant differences in patterns of neural response to faces. These results will provide a useful point of reference for future developmental cognitive neuroscience research targeting both typical development and vulnerable populations.

Keywords: ASD; Autism; ERP; Event-related potentials; Infancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Electrode groupings for 64- and 128-channel Geodesic Sensor Nets.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
P1/N290/P400 (top) and Nc (bottom) at 6 months. Stimulus duration was 500 ms. For simplicity, all posterior components are shown in a single waveform. However, in analyses, the P1 and N290/P400 were drawn from slightly different electrode groupings.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
P1/N290/P400 (top) and Nc (bottom) at 12 months. Stimulus duration was 500 ms. For simplicity, all posterior components are shown in a single waveform. However, in analyses, the P1 and N290/P400 were drawn from slightly different electrode groupings.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
P1/N290/P400 (top) and Nc (bottom) at 24 months. Stimulus duration was 500 ms. For simplicity, all posterior components are shown in a single waveform. However, in analyses, the P1 and N290/P400 were drawn from slightly different electrode groupings.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean amplitude of the P1 by study group.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Mean amplitude of the N290 by study group.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Mean amplitude of the N290, by study group and condition.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Mean amplitude of the P400 by study group.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Mean amplitude of the Nc by study group.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Mean amplitude for the Nc, by study group and condition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Burden M.J., Westerlund A.J., Armony-Sivan R., Nelson C., Jacobson S.W., Lozoff B., Angelilli M.L. An event-related potential study of attention and recognition memory in infants with iron-deficiency anemia. Pediatrics. 2007;120(2):e336–e345. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carver L.J., Dawson G., Panagiotides H., Meltzoff A.N., McPartland J., Gray J., Munson J. Age-related differences in neural correlates of face recognition during the toddler and preschool years. Developmental Psychobiology. 2003;42(2):148–159. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Csibra G., Kushnerenko E., Grossmann T. Electrophysiological methods in studying infant cognitive development. In: Nelson C.A., Luciana M., editors. Handbook of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. second ed. MIT Press; Cambridge, MA: 2008. pp. 247–262.
    1. Dawson G., Carver L., Meltzoff A.N., Panagiotides H., McPartland J., Webb S.J. Neural correlates of face and object recognition in young children with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, and typical development. Child Development. 2002;73(3):700–717. - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Haan M., Nelson C.A. Recognition of the mother's face by six-month-old infants: a neurobehavioral study. Child Development. 1997;68(2):187–210. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms