Sensory Activity in Preschoolers (SNAP)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sensory biomarkers of core and associated symptoms of autism in preschool autistic children
IRAS ID
318422
Contact name
Teresa Tavassoli
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Reading
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
In the DSM-5, sensory differences are now recognized as a core symptom of ASC. Sensory differences are common in ASC, with 70-90% of children with ASC being reported as hyper- or hyporesponsive. Touch plays an important role in perception, and in early social and communicative development. The neurobiology of touch is well-understood and is known to rely on different aspects of excitation-inhibition [E-I] balance. Clinically, there is evidence the tactile domain is affected in ASC prior to diagnosis of core symptoms, and there is recent evidence suggesting that tactile difficulties have a cascading effect on the core social symptoms in ASC, as well as on psychiatric comorbidities of ASD such as anxiety. Each level of investigation has received increased interest over the past years, but few studies have attempted to link biological mechanisms of touch to core and associated symptoms.
The primary aim of this multi-modal project is to measure differences in touch processing across physiological, perceptual, and clinical domains in preschool children with ASC to develop biologically-informed stratification. We will measure the physiological touch response using tactile repetition-suppression EEG as a measure of E/I; tactile perception (detection and discrimination thresholds; associated with E/I) using established psychophysics tasks; tactile reactivity through skin conductance and heart rate measurements, clinical measures of hyper- and hyporeactivity; and core and associate symptoms of autism severity and anxiety through standardized approaches.Iterative cluster-based approaches will be used to determine whether combined physiological and behavioural markers of touch allow for stratification of ASC based on a "tactile profile". Given the impact of sensory difficulties, clear mechanistic underpinnings, and potential impact on core social and associated symptoms of anxiety, our approach may lead to biologically-informed stratification based on E/I balance, of those with ASC with immediate impact on scalability, translation, and intervention.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/NW/0264
Date of REC Opinion
18 Dec 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion