dc.contributor.author | Rabin, Alexa | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2011-02-06T23:34:23Z | |
dc.date.available | 2011-02-06T23:34:23Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007-04 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1803/4727 | |
dc.description.abstract | This study contributes to a growing body of work aimed at documenting and defining behavioral markers associated with early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its broader phenotype. A total of 19 infants (sib-ASD), who have a sibling diagnosed with ASD were seen at 6.5 months, and 23 infants were seen at 9 months. Sib-ASD infants were matched in age and gender with low-risk infants (sib-TD), who have a typically developing sibling. Infants were simultaneously presented two stimuli, a person’s face (the social stimulus) and a brightly colored toy (the nonsocial stimulus). We found there were no significant differences between at-risk infants and low-risk infants in their responsiveness to and disengagement from the stimuli. However, a significant group difference did appear in the 9 month infants’ time smiling. Sib-TD infants spent more time smiling at the nonsocial as compared to the social stimulus relative to the sib-ASD infants, who showed no preference in time smiling for one stimulus over the other. This unexpected finding contradicted our initial predictions that sib-TD infants would prefer the social stimulus and thus spend more time smiling at the experimenter’s face, while sib-ASD infants would prefer the nonsocial stimulus, and thus spend more time smiling at the toy. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Sciences | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | Vanderbilt University | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Autism -- Research | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Autism spectrum disorders | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Brothers and sisters of children with disabilities -- Health risk assessment | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Affect (Psychology) | en_US |
dc.title | Orientation and affect directed towards social and nonsocial targets in infant siblings of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.school | Vanderbilt University | en_US |
dc.description.department | Psychological Sciences | en_US |