This past Tuesday, Greg Reynolds attended our Neuroscience Seminar to present on his research regarding the investigation of 9 month old infants and the ability to individualize and categorize faces. Categorization in this study is characterized by the ability to distinguish the faces of two different species. Subordination goes a step further to distinguish the characteristic differences in an individual species. Reynolds' investigation findings indicate that 9 month olds are capable of not only categorization, but subordination as well. This study additionally presents the fact that initial exposure actually improves the infants' performance on these facial processing tasks. Previous behavioral work shows improvement in categorization and recognition memory (Dixon et al. 2019).
The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a series of symptoms which can include challenges with social skills, as well as challenges with speech and nonverbal communications. Autism affects 1 in 59 children in the United States today. Signs of autism usually appear around the age of 2 or 3, however it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months (Autism speaks).
However, recent findings indicate that atypical face processing, a commonly documented symptom in those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, begins to appear in early development. Specifically, within the first year of life.
Results indicate that infants at increased risk of ASD (ASD can not be diagnosed until the age of about 2 or 3) display unique and aberrant patterns of neural responses to face and toy stimuli (Guy et al. 2018). The distinct neural patterns of face processing within the first months of life suggest potential and probable syndrome - specific pathways that lead to these ASD typical behavioral outcomes.
Although autism is not diagnosed until the age of about 3, we can begin seeing signs of symptoms through early infant facial processing. In Reynolds' research, we find that previous behavioral work can in fact lead to improvement in categorization and memorization. Given that unique facial processing is an early symptoms of infants at risk of ASD, we can potentially implement early behavioral work to help alleviate the intensity of this symptom of ASD.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
Guy, Maggie W, et al. “Neural Correlates of Face Processing in Etiologically-Distinct 12-Month-Old Infants at High-Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 29, 2018, pp. 61–71.
Neural correlates of individuation and categorization of other-species faces in infancy
Greg D. Reynolds
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