Skip to main content
Log in

Alpha Asymmetry in Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An emerging focus of research on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) targets the identification of early-developing ASD endophenotypes using infant siblings of affected children. One potential neural endophenotype is resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry, a metric of hemispheric organization. Here, we examined the development of frontal EEG alpha asymmetry in ASD high-risk and low-risk infant populations. Our findings demonstrate that low and high-risk infants show different patterns of alpha asymmetry at 6 months of age and opposite growth trajectories in asymmetry over the following 12 months. These results support the candidacy of alpha asymmetry as an early neural ASD endophenotype.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. At the start of the project, we used the 64-channel Geodesic Sensor Nets at each testing session, but 2 years into the project, we changed to the 128-channel HydroCell Geodesic Sensor nets. In order to ensure that this equipment change did not influence our results, we assessed whether there were any differences in asymmetry scores between the two nets, but found no statistically significant difference (t(41) = 0.68, p = 0.500). We also determined that the type of net used was distributed equally across age and risk groups.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

  • Anokhin, A., Heath, A., & Meyers, E. (2006). Genetic and environmental influences on frontal EEG asymmetry: A twin study. Biological Psychology, 71, 289–295.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baio, J. (2012). Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders-Autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 14 sites, United States, 2008. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance Summaries, 61, 1–19.

  • Basar E. (1998). Brain Function and Oscillations. In Brain Oscillations: Principles and Approaches, Berlin: Springer.

  • Bryson, S., Zwaigenbaum, L., Brian, J., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., Rombough, V., et al. (2007). A prospective case series of high-risk infants who developed autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 12–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cassel, T. D., Messinger, D. S., Ibanez, L. V., Haltigan, J. D., Acosta, S. I., & Buchman, A. C. (2007). Early social and emotional communication in the infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders: An examination of the broad phenotype. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 37, 122–132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, I. A., O’Hara, R., Uijtdehaage, S. H., Mandelkern, M., & Leuchter, A. F. (1998). Assessing the accuracy of topographic EEG mapping for determining local brain function. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 107, 408–414.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, R. J. (1993). Parsing affective space: Perspectives from neuropsychology and psychophysiology. Neuropsychology, 7, 464–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elsabbagh, M., & Johnson, M. (2007). Infancy and autism: Progress, prospects, and challenges. Progress in Brain Research, 164, 355–383.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Csibra, G., Holmboe, K., Garwood, H., Tucker, L., et al. (2009a). Neural correlates of eye gaze processing in the infant broader autism phenotype. Biological Psychiatry, 65, 31–38.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Holmboe, K., Tucker, L., Csibra, G., Baron-Cohen, S., et al. (2009b). Visual orienting in the broader autism phenotype: Disengagement and facilitation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 637–642.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, N. A., Calkins, S. D., & Bell, M. A. (1994). Neural plasticity and development in the first two years of life: Evidence from cognitive and socioemotional domains of research. Developmental Psychopathology, 6, 677–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, N. A., Henderson, H. A., Rubin, K. H., Calkins, S. D., & Schmidt, L. A. (2001). Continuity and discontinuity of behavioral inhibition and exhuberance: Psychophysiological and behavioral influences across the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gamliel, I., Yirmiya, N., Jaffe, D. H., Manor, O., & Sigman, M. (2009). Developmental trajectories in siblings of children with autism: Cognition and language from 4 months to 7 years. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 1131–1144.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garon, N., Bryson, S. E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Smith, I. M., Brian, J., Roberts, W., et al. (2009). Temperament and its relationship to autistic symptoms in a high-risk infant sib cohort. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 59–78.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geschwind, D. (2008). Autism: Many genes, common pathways? Cell, 135, 391–395.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geschwind, D. (2009). Advances in Autism. Annual Review of Medicine, 60, 367–380.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman, I., & Gould, T. (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: Etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 636–645.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, M., Schulze, K., Rijsdijk, F., Kalidindi, S., McDonald, C., Bramon, E., et al. (2009). Are auditory P300 and duration MMN heritable and putative endophenotypes of psychotic bipolar disorder? A Maudsley bipolar twin and family study. Psycholocial Medicine, 39, 1277–1287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ibanez, L. V., Messinger, D. S., Newell, L., Lambert, B., & Sheskin, M. (2008). Visual disengagement in the infant siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism, 12, 473–485.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson, J. M., & Wozniak, R. H. (2007). Variation in the vocal-motor development in infant siblings of children with autism. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 37, 158–170.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K., & Neale, M. (2010). Endophenotype: A conceptual analysis. Molecular Psychiatry, 15, 789–797.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kogan, M., Blumberg, S., Schieve, L., Boyle, C., Perrin, J., Chandour, R., et al. (2009). Prevalence of parent-reported diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder among children in the US, 2007. Pediatrics, 124, 1395–1403.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B., DiLavore, P. C., et al. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule—Generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205–223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luyster, R., Wagner, J., Vogel-Farley, V., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Nelson, C. A. (2011). Neural correlates of familiar and unfamiliar face processing in infants at risk for autism spectrum disorders. Brain Topography, 24, 220–228.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Makeig, S., & Delorme, A. (2004). EEGLAB: An open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 134, 9–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, P. J., Bar-Haim, Y., & Fox, N. A. (2002). Development of the EEG from 5 months to 4 years of age. Clinical Neurophysiology, 113, 1199–1208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCleery, J. P., Akshoomoff, N., Dobkins, K. R., & Carver, L. J. (2009). Atypical face versus object processing and hemispheric asymmetries in 10-month-old infants at risk for autism. Biological Psychiatry, 66, 950–957.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Young, G.S., Carter, A., Messinger, D., Yirmiya, N., Zwaigenbaum, L., et al. (2011). Recurrence risk for autism spectrum disorders: A baby siblings research consortium study. Pediatrics, 128 (epub ahead of print). doi:10.1542/peds.2010-2825.

  • Redcay, E., & Courchesne, E. (2005). When is the brain enlarged in Autism? A meta-analysis of all brain size reports. Biological Psychiatry, 58, 1–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, S. J. (2009). What are infant siblings teaching us about autism in infancy? Autism Research, 2, 125–137.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C. (1972). Electrical activity ofthe brain. In N. S. Greenfield & R. A. Sternbach (Eds.), Handbook ofpsychophysiology (pp. 263–328). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, J., & Willett, J. (2003). Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, M., Holt, R., Chura, L., Caler, A., Suckling, J., Bullmore, E., et al. (2012). Atypical activation during the embedded figures task as a functional magnetic resonance imaging endophenotype of autism. Brain, 135, 3469–3480.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, J., Bismark, A., Towers, D., Coan, J., & Allen, J. B. (2010). Resting frontal EEG asymmetry as an endophenotype for depression risk: Sex-specific patterns of frontal brain asymmetry. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 502–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, S. K., Burnette, C., Mundy, P., Peyer, J., Vaughan, A., Sanders, C., et al. (2005). Resting cortical brain activity and social behavior in higher functioning children with Autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 211–222.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, S. K., & Davidson, R. J. (1997). Prefrontal brain asymmetry: A biological substrate of the behavioral approach and inhibition systems. Psychological Science, 8, 204–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (2010). The origins of social impairments in autism spectrum disorder: Studies of infants at risk. Neural Networks, 23, 1072–1076.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney, A.L., Gabard-Durnam, L., Vogel-Farley, V., Tager-Flusberg, H., and Nelson, C.A. (2012). Developmental Trajectories of Resting EEG Power: An Endophenotype of Autism Spectrum Disorder. PLoS ONE, 7, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039127.

  • Turetsky, B., Calkins, M., Light, G., Olincy, A., Radant, A., & Swerdlow, N. (2007). Neurophysiological endophenotypes of schizophrenia: the viability of selected candidate measures. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33, 69–94.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Viding, E., & Blakemore, S. J. (2007). Endophenotype approach to developmental psychopathology: Implications for autism research. Behavior Genetics, 37, 51–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yirmiya, N., Gamliel, I., Pilowsky, T., Feldman, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & Sigman, M. (2006). The development of siblings of children with autism at 4 and 14 months: Social engagement, communication, and cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 511–523.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S. E., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P. (2005). Behavioral manifestations of autism in the first year of life. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 23, 143–152.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zwaigenbaum, L., Thurm, A., Stone, W., Baranek, G., Bryson, S., Iverson, I., et al. (2007). Studying the emergence of autism spectrum disorders in high-risk infants: Methodological and practical issues. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 466–480.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by Grants from NIDCD R21 DC 08637 and Autism Speaks to HTF, from NIDCD RO1 DC 10290 and the Simon’s Foundation to CAN and HTF, and from the Sackler Scholar Programme in Psychobiology to AT.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles A. Nelson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gabard-Durnam, L., Tierney, A.L., Vogel-Farley, V. et al. Alpha Asymmetry in Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 473–480 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1926-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1926-4

Keywords

Navigation