Paternal—but Not Maternal—Autistic Traits Predict Frontal EEG Alpha Asymmetry in Infants with Later Symptoms of Autism

Abstract

Previous research found that the parental autism phenotype is associated with child autism spectrum disorder (ASD), even if the pathway between autistic traits in parents and child ASD is still largely unknown. Several studies investigated frontal asymmetry in alpha oscillation (FAA) as an early marker for ASD. However, no study has examined the mediational effect of FAA between parental autistic traits and child ASD symptoms in the general population. We carried out a prospective study of 103 typically developing infants and measured FAA as a mediator between both maternal and paternal autistic traits and child ASD traits. We recorded infant baseline electroencephalogram (EEG) at 6 months of age. Child ASD symptoms were measured at age 24 months by the Child Behavior Checklist 1½–5 Pervasive Developmental Problems Scale, and parental autistic traits were scored by the Autism spectrum Quotient questionnaire. The mediation model showed that paternal vs. maternal autistic traits are associated with greater left FAA which, in turn, is associated with more child ASD traits with a significant indirect effect only in female infants vs. male infants. Our findings show a potential cascade of effects whereby paternal autistic traits drive EEG markers contributing to ASD risk.

Dysfunctions in Infants’ Statistical Learning are Related to Parental Autistic Traits

“…First of all, infants at risk to develop BAP by having a parent with sub-threshold high autistic traits share common alterations in low-level cognitive processes with infant siblings of ASD children (e.g. visual attention, Ronconi et al 2014 ; alpha-band brain oscillations, Riva et al 2019 ; visual SL, our study), suggesting that the BAP approach is crucial since infancy to evaluate the presence of endophenotypes related to ASD symptoms. Moreover, autistic traits can be evaluated in the general population giving the possibility to understand the functioning of the autistic phenotype with many more participants than in most studies with ASD children or infants at risk for ASD.…”

“…Autistic traits are continuously distributed in the general population, representing the so-called Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP), and are heritable, with heritability rates ranging from 36.0% to 87.0% (Robinson et al 2011 ; Ronald and Hoekstra 2011 ). It has been recently shown that autistic traits in parents are associated with both the clinical and subclinical behavioral autistic phenotype of offspring (De la Marche et al 2015 ; Gerdts and Bernier 2011 ; Jones et al 2017 ; Levin-Decanini et al 2013 ; Maxwell et al 2013 ; Riva et al 2019 ; Schwichtenberg et al 2010 ). For example, the incidence of high autistic traits in ASD parents ranges from 2.6% to 80.0% (see review by Rubenstein and Chawla 2018 ), and autistic traits in ASD parents are associated with the severity of ASD symptoms in children (e.g.…”

“…Gerdts and Bernier 2011 ; Levin-Decanini et al 2013 ; Maxwell et al 2013 ). Moreover, children of parents with high autistic traits are more likely to develop BAP phenotypical characteristics (Riva et al 2019 ; Rubenstein et al 2018 ). This suggests that autistic traits might be useful to further understand and describe both clinical and subclinical conditions (for more details see Ruzich et al 2016 ).…”

“…Moreover, higher levels of autistic traits in preschool-age children predict later delays in cognitive and language functioning (Möricke et al 2010 ). Finally, infants whose fathers have high autistic traits show atypical visual attention abilities (Jones et al 2017 ; Ronconi et al 2014 ) and alpha-band brain oscillations (Riva et al 2019 ), suggesting the presence of an association between parental autistic traits and the functioning of cognitive processes in their offspring.…”

Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Emotional and Behavioral Profiles of Preschool Italian Children with and without Familial Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

“…The study sample was recruited within an ongoing longitudinal project aiming at identifying early risk markers for NDD. Specifically, the longitudinal study included children from the general population [40,41] and children with a first-degree relative (i.e., a sibling) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD, DLD or Learning Disabilities [42,43].…”