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. 2021 Dec;51(12):4621-4631.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-04894-0. Epub 2021 Feb 13.

Dysfunctions in Infants' Statistical Learning are Related to Parental Autistic Traits

Bettoni Roberta  1   2 , Valentina Riva  3 , Chiara Cantiani  3 , Elena Maria Riboldi  3 , Massimo Molteni  3 , Viola Macchi Cassia  4   5 , Hermann Bulf  4   5
Affiliations

Dysfunctions in Infants' Statistical Learning are Related to Parental Autistic Traits

Bettoni Roberta et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Statistical learning refers to the ability to extract the statistical relations embedded in a sequence, and it plays a crucial role in the development of communicative and social skills that are impacted in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here, we investigated the relationship between infants' SL ability and autistic traits in their parents. Using a visual habituation task, we tested infant offspring of adults (non-diagnosed) who show high (HAT infants) versus low (LAT infants) autistic traits. Results demonstrated that LAT infants learned the statistical structure embedded in a visual sequence, while HAT infants failed. Moreover, infants' SL ability was related to autistic traits in their parents, further suggesting that early dysfunctions in SL might contribute to variabilities in ASD symptoms.

Keywords: Autistic traits; Early marker; Infants; Visual statistical learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
Schematic representation of the visual SL task
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Mean total looking time (+ SE) to the first three and last three habituation trials. b Mean total looking time (+ SE) to familiar and novel test trials in the LAT and HAT group of infants. * p < .05
Fig.3
Fig.3
Correlation plot of the relationship between the parental AQ scores and infant’s discrimination score in SL task for both groups LAT and HAT
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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