Neonatal Transitions in Social Behavior and Their Implications for Autism

Overview

Journal Trends Cogn Sci

Date 2018 Apr 4

PMID 29609895

Citations 62

Authors

Sarah Shultz

Ami Klin

Warren Jones

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Within the context of early infant-caregiver interaction, we review a series of pivotal transitions that occur within the first 6 months of typical infancy, with emphasis on behavior and brain mechanisms involved in preferential orientation towards, and interaction with, other people. Our goal in reviewing these transitions is to better understand how they may lay a necessary and/or sufficient groundwork for subsequent phases of development, and also to understand how the breakdown thereof, when development is atypical and those transitions become derailed, may instead yield disability. We review these developmental processes in light of recent studies documenting disruptions to early-emerging brain and behavior mechanisms in infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, shedding light on the brain-behavior pathogenesis of autism.

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