Affect and gaze responses during an Emotion-Evoking Task in infants at an increased likelihood for autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Background The majority of research examining emotional difficulties in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prior to age 2 relies on parent report. Methods We examined behavioral responses (affect and gaze) during emotionally salient tasks designed to elicit mildly positive and negative emotional states in infants. At 12 and 18 months, infants at an increased likelihood for an ASD diagnosis (IL; have an older sibling with ASD; n = 60) and low likelihood (LL; no family history of ASD; n = 21) completed the Emotion-Evoking (EE) Task and parents completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R). All children received an Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale—second Edition assessment for ASD symptomatology at 24 months. Results The main findings were (1) the IL group displayed higher rates of negative affect and spent less time looking at the task objects compared to the LL group, and (2) affect and gaze scores at 12 and 18 months, but not scores on the IBQ-R, predicted ASD symptoms at 24 months. Limitations The data were drawn from an IL sample and may not be generalizable to the general ASD population, and the children were not followed to determine a diagnosis of ASD. Conclusion These results suggest that behavioral responses can provide important information that complements parent reports of emotional regulation in IL infants as early as 12 months of age.

Behavioral and physiological differences during an emotion-evoking task in children at increased likelihood for autism spectrum disorder

“…The EE Task has been previously shown to produce the target emotional responses reliably, with Bubbles and Toy Play producing more positive affect, and Toy Removal and the Negative Tasks producing negative affect (Sacrey et al, 2021b). These results are also supported by the associations between physiological and behavioral measurements during the EE Task, suggesting that emotional responses were measurable and associated on both indices.…”

“…That is, they display higher rates of negative emotions, such as sadness and fear, and lower rates of positive emotions on parentreported questionnaires (Ben Shalom et al, 2006;Capps et al, 1993;Garon et al, 2016;Hirschler-Guttenberg et al, 2015;Putnam et al, 2006;Samson, 2013). Direct observations of ER in IL siblings show a similar pattern of findings; they display greater levels of displayed fear (Macari et al, 2018) and negative affect (Sacrey et al, 2021b) during emotion-eliciting tasks, and lower rates of positive affect during free play (Filliter et al, 2015) compared to neurotypical peers. An under-explored area of ER in IL siblings is physiological responses to EE tasks (e.g., toy removal following toy play; Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1991).…”

“…Positive and negative affect, as well as gaze, were measured using tasks adapted from the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB; Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1991), a comprehensive temperament assessment that includes episodes designed to elicit behavior related to differing dimensions of temperament, including smiling, reaching, crying, touching, or changes in facial expression. The EE Task (Sacrey et al, 2021b) was completed at 6, 12, and 18 months of age. All EE Task data were collected prior to the COVID pandemic.…”

“…We only assessed the on-task gaze behavior. The variable for percentage of time spent on the on-task object was calculated for each phase of the EE Task using the following formula (Sacrey et al, 2021b):…”

“…Much of the literature on ER in infants and toddlers has relied on parent reports (Mazefsky et al, 2013(Mazefsky et al, , 2021, which may limit our ability to investigate age-related changes due to a lack of standardization of contexts and responding based on social desirability (Achenbach, 2011;De Los Reyes et al, 2015). There are a growing number of published reports that include direct observation of children during tasks that evoke affective responses, with facial affect (Busuito et al, 2019;Buss et al, 2005;Ham & Tronick, 2009), gaze (Mireault et al, 2018;Sacrey et al, 2021b), and heart rate (Fox et al, 2000;Propper & Moore, 2006) serving as markers of ER. A review of physiological measurement during emotionally salient tasks in neurotypical children between 4 and 48 months of age found that resting heart rate decreases with age, heart rate increases during negatively valanced emotion-evoking (EE) tasks (when compared to heart rate at rest), and heart rate is associated with measures of facial affect and gaze (Sacrey et al, 2021a).…”