title: The Relationship Between Early Neural Responses to Emotional Faces at Age 3 and Later Autism and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents with Autism.
abstract: Both autism spectrum (ASD) and anxiety disorders are associated with atypical neural and attentional responses to emotional faces, differing in affective face processing from typically developing peers. Within a longitudinal study of children with ASD (23 male, 3 female), we hypothesized that early ERPs to emotional faces would predict concurrent and later ASD and anxiety symptoms. Greater response amplitude to fearful faces corresponded to greater social communication difficulties at age 3, and less improvement by age 14. Faster ERPs to neutral faces predicted greater ASD symptom improvement over time, lower ASD severity in adolescence, and lower anxiety in adolescence. Early individual differences in processing of emotional stimuli likely reflect a unique predictive contribution from social brain circuitry early in life.
authors.affiliation: Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA, 98145, USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neuhaus
authors.affiliation: Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Emily J H
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA, 98145, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sterling
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Estes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Munson
authors.affiliation: Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.affiliation: Center on Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA, 98145, USA. sjwebb@uw.edu.|Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. sjwebb@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Webb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods
keywords: Anxiety; Autism; ERP; Face processing; Internalizing