Autism Research最新文献

{"title":"Sex heterogeneity of dynamic brain activity and functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder","authors":"Huibin Lu,&nbsp;Qi Dong,&nbsp;Le Gao,&nbsp;Zaifa Xue,&nbsp;Xiaoxia Niu,&nbsp;Rongjuan Zhou,&nbsp;Xiaonan Guo","doi":"10.1002/aur.3227","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3227","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sex heterogeneity has been frequently reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been linked to static differences in brain function. However, given the complexity of ASD and diagnosis-by-sex interactions, dynamic characteristics of brain activity and functional connectivity may provide important information for distinguishing ASD phenotypes between females and males. The aim of this study was to explore sex heterogeneity of functional networks in the ASD brain from a dynamic perspective. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange database were analyzed in 128 ASD subjects (64 males/64 females) and 128 typically developing control (TC) subjects (64 males/64 females). A sliding-window approach was adopted for the estimation of dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) to characterize time-varying brain activity and functional connectivity respectively. We then examined the sex-related changes in ASD using two-way analysis of variance. Significant diagnosis-by-sex interaction effects were identified in the left anterior cingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/mPFC) and left precuneus in the dALFF analysis. Furthermore, there were significant diagnosis-by-sex interaction effects of dFC variance between the left ACC/mPFC and right ACC, left postcentral gyrus, left precuneus, right middle temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus, triangular part. These findings reveal the sex heterogeneity in brain activity and functional connectivity in ASD from a dynamic perspective, and provide new evidence for further exploring sex heterogeneity in ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1796-1809"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142147024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Autistic-relevant behavioral phenotypes of a mouse model of cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 deficiency disorder","authors":"Nicola Mottolese,&nbsp;Oceane Coiffard,&nbsp;Celeste Ferraguto,&nbsp;Athanasios Manolis,&nbsp;Elisabetta Ciani,&nbsp;Susanna Pietropaolo","doi":"10.1002/aur.3226","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3226","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) deficiency disorder (CDD) is a neurodevelopmental disease caused by mutations in the X-linked CDKL5 gene and characterized by early-onset epilepsy, intellectual disability, and autistic features. To date, the etiological mechanisms underlying CDD are largely unknown and no effective therapies are available. The <i>Cdkl5</i> knock-out (KO) mouse has been broadly employed in preclinical studies on CDD; <i>Cdkl5</i>-KO mice display neurobehavioral abnormalities recapitulating most CDD symptoms, including alterations in motor, sensory, cognitive, and social abilities. However, most available preclinical studies have been carried out on adult <i>Cdkl5</i>-KO mice, so little is known about the phenotypic characteristics of this model earlier during development. Furthermore, major autistic-relevant phenotypes, for example, social and communication deficits, have been poorly investigated and mostly in male mutants. Here, we assessed the autistic-relevant behavioral phenotypes of <i>Cdkl5</i>-KO mice during the first three post-natal weeks and in adulthood. Males and females were tested, the latter including both heterozygous and homozygous mutants. <i>Cdkl5</i> mutant pups showed qualitative and quantitative alterations in ultrasonic communication, detected first at 2 weeks of age and confirmed later in adulthood. Increased levels of anxiety-like behaviors were observed in mutants at 3 weeks and in adulthood, when stereotypies, reduced social interaction and memory deficits were also observed. These behavioral effects of the mutation were evident in both sexes, being more marked and varied in homozygous than heterozygous females. These findings provide novel evidence for the autistic-relevant behavioral profile of the <i>Cdkl5</i> mouse model, thus supporting its use in future preclinical studies investigating CDD pathology and autism spectrum disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1742-1759"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3226","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142134631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Telehealth coaching in Project ImPACT indirectly affects children's expressive language ability through parent intervention strategy use and child intentional communication: An RCT","authors":"Brooke Ingersoll,&nbsp;Kyle M. Frost,&nbsp;Diondra Straiton,&nbsp;Anamiguel Pomales Ramos,&nbsp;Karis Casagrande","doi":"10.1002/aur.3230","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3230","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parent-mediated, naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) are a promising approach for supporting social communication development in young autistic children. This study examined the effect of telehealth delivery of a parent-mediated NDBI, Project ImPACT, on children's expressive language ability using a randomized control trial with intent-to-treat analysis. Sixty-four young autistic children and their primary caregiver were matched on age and developmental quotient and randomly assigned to receive 6 months of therapist-assisted Project ImPACT (i.e., telehealth coaching), self-directed Project ImPACT, or an active control. Parent–child interactions were recorded at intake and immediately post-treatment, and the children's expressive language skills were assessed at intake and a 9-month follow-up using standardized measures. Although there was no total effect of treatment group assignment on child outcomes, a serial mediation analysis revealed that therapist-assisted ImPACT had an indirect effect on children's expressive language ability at follow-up through their parents' use of the intervention strategies and their intentional communication immediately post-treatment. Findings support Project ImPACT's program theory and highlight the importance of coaching in achieving positive outcomes when delivered via telehealth.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 10","pages":"2177-2187"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3230","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142134632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and treatment of autism spectrum disorder in the United States, 2016–2022","authors":"Chenxi Li,&nbsp;Wen-Qiang He","doi":"10.1002/aur.3228","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3228","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study aims to assess the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its treatment. The study population was children aged 3–17 years with information on current ASD from National Survey of Children's Health, 2016–2022. Analysis of treatment was also conducted within the population of children with a current ASD diagnosis. A multivariate log-binomial regression model was used to assess the change of current ASD prevalence and ASD treatment by two study period (prior to COVID-19 pandemic: 2016–2019; during COVID-19 pandemic: 2020–22) and sociodemographic information. Compared to the current ASD at 2.5% in 2016, it increased to 3.6% in 2022. The treatment has decreased from 70.5% in 2016 to 61.6% in 2022 for any treatment and from 27.2% in 2016 to 20.4% in 2022 for medication treatment. Compared to children from 2016–2019, children from the following group were more likely to have ASD diagnosis during the pandemic (2020–2022), including those aged 3–5 years (aPR = 1.66, 95%CI 1.29–2.13), non-Hispanic white children, children from family with above national family income, and those with private insurance. However, medication treatment almost halved during the pandemic for non-Hispanic black children (aPR = 0.49, 95%CI 0.26–0.93) and children born overseas. In conclusion, higher prevalence of ASD might indicate a better awareness of ASD. The reduction in treatment correlates to the health service disruption caused by the pandemic, highlighting the needs of policy efforts to improve treatment for ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1916-1927"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3228","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142115496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transitive inference in a clinical childhood sample with a focus on autism spectrum disorder","authors":"Tina Kao,&nbsp;Charlotte Michaelcheck,&nbsp;Vincent P. Ferrera,&nbsp;Herbert S. Terrace,&nbsp;Greg Jensen","doi":"10.1002/aur.3225","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3225","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Transitive inference (TI) has a long history in the study of human development. There have, however, few pediatric studies that report clinical diagnoses have tested trial-and-error TI learning, in which participants infer item relations, rather than evaluate them explicitly from verbal descriptions. Children aged 8–10 underwent a battery of clinical assessments and received a range of diagnoses, potentially including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders (AD), specific learning disorders (SLD), and/or communication disorders (CD). Participants also performed a trial-and-error learning task that tested for TI. Response accuracy and reaction time were assessed using a statistical model that controlled for diagnostic comorbidity at the group level. Participants in all diagnostic categories showed evidence of TI. However, a model comparison analysis suggested that those diagnosed with ASD succeeded in a qualitatively different way, responding more slowly to each choice and improving faster across trials than their non-ASD counterparts. Additionally, TI performance was not associated with IQ. Overall, our data suggest that superficially similar performance levels between ASD and non-ASD participants may have resulted from a difference in the speed-accuracy tradeoff made by each group. Our work provides a preliminary profile of the impact of various clinical diagnoses on TI performance in young children. Of these, an ASD diagnosis resulted in the largest difference in task strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 11","pages":"2355-2369"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142121157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Acute effects of exercise on gaze fixation and affective response inhibition in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized cross-over study","authors":"Sebastian Ludyga,&nbsp;Fabienne Bruggisser,&nbsp;Rahel Leuenberger,&nbsp;Toru Ishihara,&nbsp;Keita Kamijo,&nbsp;Mark Brotzmann,&nbsp;Sarah Trescher,&nbsp;Markus Förster,&nbsp;Markus Gerber","doi":"10.1002/aur.3224","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3224","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in response inhibition, especially in socio-emotional contexts. A single aerobic exercise session has the potential to temporarily reduce such impairments as findings from neurotypical children support acute benefits of this exercise type for inhibitory control and emotion recognition. In children with ASD, we therefore aimed to investigate the effects of an aerobic exercise bout on response inhibition in an emotional Go/NoGo task and gaze fixation as possible mechanism underlying changes in performance. Using a cross-over design, 29 patients completed a 20-min aerobic exercise bout at moderate intensity on a cycling ergometer and a control condition in a randomized order. An emotional Go/NoGo task was administered before and after both experimental conditions. Eye-tracking was performed during the cognitive task to assess the duration of gaze fixation of eyes and mouth parts of faces expressing happy or sad emotions. The results support no beneficial effect of exercise on performance on the emotional Go/NoGo task. Instead, patients showed a greater decrease in accuracy on Go trials displaying happy faces in the exercise compared to the control condition. This change was associated with a more pronounced decrease in the fixation duration of the eyes for faces expressing either happy or sad emotions. In conclusion, while a single session of moderately intense aerobic exercise does not affect response inhibition, it temporarily aggravates ASD-specific deficits in the processing of and response to facial emotions.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1934-1943"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3224","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142115493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parent-mediated intervention in infants with an elevated likelihood for autism reduces dwell time during a gaze-following task","authors":"Rachael Bedford,&nbsp;Jonathan Green,&nbsp;Teodora Gliga,&nbsp;Emily H. Jones,&nbsp;Mayada Elsabbagh,&nbsp;Greg Pasco,&nbsp;Ming Wai Wan,&nbsp;Vicky Slonims,&nbsp;Tony Charman,&nbsp;Andrew Pickles,&nbsp;Mark H. Johnson,&nbsp;The BASIS Team","doi":"10.1002/aur.3223","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3223","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cognitive markers may in theory be more sensitive to the effects of intervention than overt behavioral measures. The current study tests the impact of the <i>Intervention with the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings—Video Interaction for Promoting Positive Parenting</i> (iBASIS-VIPP) on an eye-tracking measure of social attention: dwell time to the referred object in a gaze following task. The original two-site, two-arm, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) of this intervention to increase parental awareness, and responsiveness to their infant, was run with infants who have an elevated familial likelihood for autism (EL). Fifty-four EL infants (28 iBASIS-VIPP intervention, 26 no intervention) were enrolled, and the intervention took place between 9 months (baseline) and 15 months (endpoint), with gaze following behavior measured at 15 months. Secondary intention to treat (ITT) analysis showed that the intervention was associated with significantly reduced dwell time to the referent of another person's gaze (<i>β</i> = −0.32, SE = 0.14, <i>p</i> = 0.03) at 15-month treatment endpoint. Given the established link between gaze following and language, the results are considered in the context of a previously reported, non-significant and transient trend toward lower language scores at the treatment endpoint (Green et al. (2015) <i>The Lancet Psychiatry</i>, 2(2), 133–140). Future intervention trials should aim to include experimental cognitive measures, alongside behavioral measures, to investigate mechanisms associated with intervention effects.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 11","pages":"2346-2354"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3223","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142115495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Feasibility and acceptability of a caregiver-mediated early support program, delivered online, for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism: A feasibility randomized controlled trial","authors":"Shoba S. Meera,&nbsp;Malavi Srikar,&nbsp;Reny Raju,&nbsp;Divya Swaminathan,&nbsp;Rachel Elizabeth Johnson,&nbsp;Linda R. Watson,&nbsp;Deepa Bhat Nair,&nbsp;John Vijay Sagar Kommu,&nbsp;Jo Chopra-McGowan,&nbsp;Prathyusha P. Vasuki","doi":"10.1002/aur.3217","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3217","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Preliminary evidence indicates potential benefit of providing caregiver-mediated intervention, prior to diagnosis, for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism and related developmental delays including language delay (EL-A). However, delivering such interventions online and in low-resource settings like India has not been reported. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a novel manualized caregiver-mediated early support program, the “LiL' STEPS,” online in India, for EL-A infants. LiL' STEPS stands for Language development &amp; Intervention Lab's (LiL') Supporting Early social-communication and language by Promoting caregiver Sensitive responsiveness (STEPS). The program comprised 14 sessions with a focus on social-communication and language, conducted over 12-weeks using demonstration and video feedback. Families of 36 EL-A infants aged 9 to 15-months participated in this feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT). Families were randomized in a 2:1 ratio (<i>n</i> = 24 LiL' STEPS and <i>n</i> = 12 care as usual groups). Information on feasibility and acceptability was collated following a mixed methods approach from caregiver interviews, fidelity forms, session notes, and study register. Findings indicated the LiL' STEPS study trial as feasible and acceptable with recruitment rate of 4 per month, 100% willingness for randomization, 8.3% attrition, and 3.03% loss of blinding. Interventionist and caregiver fidelity was maintained above 80%. Despite challenges like interruptions during sessions, 100% families found the program acceptable and satisfactory, 86% said they would recommend the program to others, and 71% preferred online modality. Caregivers' perspectives on beneficial components and experience attending the program have been described. Accordingly, recommendations for future definitive RCTs have been presented.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1853-1866"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.3217","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142115494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating the utility of the AQ-10 in children and adolescents assessed in an outpatient ARFID clinic","authors":"Tanith Archibald,&nbsp;Emma Willmott,&nbsp;Cate Kelly,&nbsp;Louise Bradbury,&nbsp;Pippa Hugo,&nbsp;Rachel Bryant-Waugh","doi":"10.1002/aur.3220","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3220","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The high co-occurrence of autism and eating disorders is well established, including for those with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). It is therefore important to consider autism and identify possible autism when people present to eating disorder services to ascertain whether further assessment is indicated, to support clinical formulation and to make appropriate adaptations during interventions. This paper explores the utility of a validated autism screening measure, the AQ-10, in a population of children and adolescents who presented to an outpatient eating disorders clinic for an assessment of possible ARFID. Over 19 months, 335 young people were assessed and 246 families with children aged between 4 and 17 years completed one of three versions of the AQ-10 (Child, Adolescent, and Adult), as part of a battery of routinely administered pre-assessment questionnaires. Results indicated that 80.2% (<i>n</i> = 69) of those with an existing autism diagnosis scored above clinical threshold of ≥6 (M = 7.2, SD = 1.9), 43.9% (<i>n</i> = 43) of those queried to be autistic scored above clinical threshold (M = 5.2, SD = 2.5), and 6.5% (<i>n</i> = 4) of non-autistic individuals scored above clinical threshold (M = 2.8, SD = 1.8). Additionally, the AQ-10 satisfactorily discriminated between those with a known autism diagnosis and those who are not autistic across all age groups and sex. We conclude that the AQ-10, alongside a comprehensive clinical assessment and clinical judgment, is a useful screening tool that can support clinicians to identify appropriate onward referrals for autism assessments, aid clinical formulation, and consider appropriate adaptations and reasonable adjustments during ARFID interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1867-1875"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142074617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced pitch discrimination in autistic children with unexpected bilingualism","authors":"Charlotte Dumont,&nbsp;Marie Belenger,&nbsp;Inge-Marie Eigsti,&nbsp;Mikhail Kissine","doi":"10.1002/aur.3221","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.3221","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Some autistic children acquire foreign languages from exposure to screens. Such unexpected bilingualism (UB) is therefore not driven by social interaction, rather, language acquisition appears to rely on less socially mediated learning and other cognitive processes. We hypothesize that UB children may rely on other cues, such as acoustic cues, of the linguistic input. Previous research indicates enhanced pitch processing in some autistic children, often associated with language delays and difficulties in forming stable phonological categories due to sensitivity to subtle linguistic variations. We propose that repetitive screen-based input simplifies linguistic complexity, allowing focus on individual cues. This study hypothesizes that autistic UB children exhibit superior pitch discrimination compared with both autistic and non-autistic peers. From a sample of 46 autistic French-speaking children aged 9 to 16, 12 were considered as UB. These children, along with 45 non-autistic children, participated in a two-alternative forced-choice pitch discrimination task. They listened to pairs of pure tones, 50% of which differed by 3% (easy), 2% (medium), or 1% (hard). A stringent comparison of performance revealed that only the autistic UB group performed above chance for tone pairs that differed, across all conditions. This group demonstrated superior pitch discrimination relative to autistic and non-autistic peers. This study establishes the phenomenon of UB in autism and provides evidence for enhanced pitch discrimination in this group. Acute perception of auditory information, combined with repeated language content, may facilitate UB children's focus on phonetic features, and help acquire a language with no communicative support or motivation.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"17 9","pages":"1844-1852"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142074616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}