ArticleDevelopmental science2026
Distinct Temporal Stages of Infant Brain Processing Associate With Early Versus Later Autism Diagnosis.
Article in Developmental science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Distinct Temporal Stages of Infant Brain Processing Associate With Early Versus Later Autism Diagnosis.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Developmental Trajectories of Autistic Traits in Infants With Autism and/or ADHD Family History: Predictors and Mid-Childhood Outcomes.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The expression of autism traits sufficient to meet criteria for a diagnosis can occur early (by 3 years) or later (from mid-childhood onwards). It remains unknown whether variation in age of onset is due to clinical recognition or reflects distinct biological pathways. One way of addressing this question is by investigating biological differences very early in development associated with a later age of diagnosis. We use a prospective family history design to look at event-related potentials to faces, one of the most robust biomarkers in autism. A sample of 102 infants (aged 6-10 months, 54% female) with an older autistic sibling had an EEG recorded whilst viewing faces (faces vs. noise; gaze toward vs. away). Autism diagnostic assessments were conducted at 3 years and again in mid-childhood (aged 6-12 years), resulting in early diagnosed (at age 3; N = 22), later diagnosed (at mid-childhood; N = 21), and no autism in early or mid-childhood (N = 59) groups. We found that while early-stage visual processing (P100) does not associate with autism outcome, speed of structural face-versus-noise processing (N290) is slower in early-onset autism only, and semantic processing (P400) is altered in both early- and later-onset autism. Thus, temporal stages of face processing in infancy differentially associate with age of autism onset such that an earlier age of diagnosis is associated with earlier stage deviation within the event-related waveform. Early and later onset autism may represent different subtypes, challenging the view of one etiological pathway and that variation in diagnostic age is solely due to clinical ascertainment. SUMMARY: Temporal stages of face processing in infancy differentially associate with age of autism onset. N290 is slower in early-onset autism, indicating an earlier stage neural deviation. The later occurring P400 is altered in both early- and later-onset autism. Early and later-onset autism may represent distinct biological subtypes.
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Registered trials
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