| 1. |
- Bolte, Sven, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges and Inequalities of Opportunities in European Psychiatry Research The Example of Psychodiagnostic Tool Availability in Research on Early Autism Identification
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Journal of Psychological Assessment. - : Hogrefe Publishing Group. - 1015-5759 .- 2151-2426. ; 34:4, s. 270-277
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Europe is diverse in terms of economy, cultures, socio-demography, and languages. A crucial aspect of psychiatric research is the availability of standardized screening, diagnostic, and characterization instruments. We fine-mapped the accessibility of 14 clinical scales and cognitive tests for the assessment of early childhood Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; e.g., ADOS, ADI-R, SCQ, SRS, CHAT, MESL) within 21 European countries. These tools are essential for internationally competitive early ASD detection research. We identified a considerable variation not only in the availability, but also psychometric standardization, and formal distribution of the instruments between the countries, privileging English speaking, high-income, and highly populated European countries. Absence of country-specific standardization was a problem across many countries, independent of income and size. Findings demonstrate, on a concrete level, the challenges in creating equal early ASD identification research opportunities in Europe, and the need for increased funding for instrument development and validation. We discuss the reasons, implications, and consequences of this inequity and ways of reducing it.
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| 2. |
- Kushnerenko, Elena, et al.
(författare)
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Brain responses to audiovisual speech mismatch in infants are associated with individual differences in looking behaviour
- 2013
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neuroscience. - : Wiley. - 0953-816X .- 1460-9568.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research on audiovisual speech integration has reported high levels of individual variability, especially among young infants. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that this variability results from individual differences in the maturation of audiovisual speech processing during infancy. A developmental shift in selective attention to audiovisual speech has been demonstrated between 6 and 9 months with an increase in the time spent looking to articulating mouths as compared to eyes (Lewkowicz & Hansen-Tift. (2012) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 1431-1436; Tomalski et al. (2012) Eur. J. Dev. Psychol., 1-14). In the present study we tested whether these changes in behavioural maturational level are associated with differences in brain responses to audiovisual speech across this age range. We measured high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to videos of audiovisually matching and mismatched syllables /ba/ and /ga/, and subsequently examined visual scanning of the same stimuli with eye-tracking. There were no clear age-specific changes in ERPs, but the amplitude of audiovisual mismatch response (AVMMR) to the combination of visual /ba/ and auditory /ga/ was strongly negatively associated with looking time to the mouth in the same condition. These results have significant implications for our understanding of individual differences in neural signatures of audiovisual speech processing in infants, suggesting that they are not strictly related to chronological age but instead associated with the maturation of looking behaviour, and develop at individual rates in the second half of the first year of life.
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| 3. |
- López Pérez, David, et al.
(författare)
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Visual Search Performance Does Not Relate to Autistic Traits in the General Population
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 49:6, s. 2624-2631
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is commonly conceived as the extreme end of a continuum. Research suggests that autistic individuals outperform typically developing controls in visual search. Thus, enhanced visual search may represent an adaptive trait associated with ASD. Here, using a large general population sample (N = 608, aged 9–14 years), we tested if higher levels of autistic traits are associated with enhanced visual search. Visual search was evaluated using both manual responses and eye movements, and autistic traits were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale. Contrary to our hypothesis, no significant relation between autistic traits and visual search were observed. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Tomalski, Przemyslaw, et al.
(författare)
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Socioeconomic status and functional brain development - associations in early infancy
- 2013
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Ingår i: Developmental Science. - : Wiley. - 1363-755X .- 1467-7687. ; 16, s. 676-687
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Socioeconomic status (SES) impacts on both structural and functional brain development in childhood, but how early its effects can be demonstrated is unknown. In this study we measured resting baseline EEG activity in the gamma frequency range in awake 6-9-month-olds from areas of East London with high socioeconomic deprivation. Between-subjects comparisons of infants from low- and high-income families revealed significantly lower frontal gamma power in infants from low-income homes homes. Similar power differences were found when comparing infants according to maternal occupation, with lower occupational status groups yielding lower power. Infant sleep, maternal education, length of gestation, and birth weight, as well as smoke exposure and bilingualism, did not explain these differences. Our results show that the effects of socioeconomic disparities on brain activity can already be detected in early infancy, potentially pointing to very early for language and attention difficulties. This is the first study to reveal region-selective differences in functional brain development associated with early infancy in low-income families.
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