In this study, we used behavioral assessments and structural magnetic resonance imaging to investigate early brain structures and associations with later language skills. High-risk infants who were later diagnosed with ASD (n = 86) were compared with high-risk infants who showed signs of early language delay (n = 41) as well as with high- and low-risk infants who did not have ASD or language delay (n = 255 and 143, respectively).
Results indicated that diminished language skills were evident at 12 months in infants with ASD and infants with early language delay. At 24 months of age, only the infants with ASD displayed atypical receptive-expressive language profiles. Associations between 12-month subcortical volumes and 24-month language skills were moderated by group status, indicating disordinal brain-behavior associations among infants with ASD and infants with language delay.
These results suggest that there are different brain mechanisms influencing language development in infants with ASD and infants with language delay, and that the two groups likely experience unique sets of genetic and environmental risk factors.
在这项研究中,我们使用行为评估和结构磁共振成像来调查早期大脑结构以及与后期语言技能的关联.将后来被诊断为ASD的高危婴儿(n=86)与表现出早期语言延迟迹象的高危婴儿(n=41)以及没有ASD或语言延迟的高危和低危婴儿(分别为255和143)进行比较。
结果表明,ASD婴儿和早期语言延迟婴儿在12个月时语言技能明显下降。在24个月大的时候,只有患有ASD的婴儿表现出非典型的接受表达性语言特点.12个月的皮质下体积和24个月的语言技能之间的关联由小组状态调节,表明ASD婴儿和语言延迟婴儿之间的大脑行为关联。
这些结果表明,影响ASD婴儿和语言延迟婴儿语言发育的大脑机制不同,这两个群体可能经历了独特的遗传和环境风险因素。