Visual Orienting in the Early Broader Autism Phenotype: Disengagement and Facilitation

Autor/inn/en	Elsabbagh, Mayada; Volein, Agnes; Holmboe, Karla; Tucker, Leslie; Csibra, Gergely; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Bolton, Patrick; Charman, Tony; Baird, Gillian; Johnson, Mark H.
Titel	Visual Orienting in the Early Broader Autism Phenotype: Disengagement and Facilitation
Quelle	In: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50 (2009) 5, S.637-642 (6 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9630
DOI	10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02051.x
Schlagwörter	Autism; Infants; Siblings; Control Groups; Attention; Visual Perception; Comparative Analysis; Measurement; Reaction Time + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Autismus; Infant; Toddler; Toddlers; Kleinkind; Sibling; Geschwister; Aufmerksamkeit; Visuelle Wahrnehmung; Messverfahren; Reaktionsvermögen
Abstract	Background: Recent studies of infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism have allowed for a prospective approach to examine the emergence of symptoms and revealed behavioral differences in the broader autism phenotype within the early years. In the current study we focused on a set of functions associated with visual attention, previously reported to be atypical in autism. Method: We compared performance of a group of 9-10-month-old infant siblings of children with autism to a control group with no family history of autism on the "gap-overlap task", which measures the cost of disengaging from a central stimulus in order to fixate a peripheral one. Two measures were derived on the basis of infants' saccadic reaction times. The first is the "Disengagement" effect, which measures the efficiency of disengaging from a central stimulus to orient to a peripheral one. The second was a "Facilitation" effect, which arises when the infant is cued by a temporal gap preceding the onset of the peripheral stimulus, and would orient faster after its onset. Results and conclusion: Infant siblings of children with autism showed longer Disengagement latencies as well as less Facilitation relative to the control group. The findings are discussed in relation to how differences in visual attention may relate to characteristics observed in autism and the broader phenotype. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Blackwell Publishing. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8599; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: customerservices@blackwellpublishing.com; Web site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10