Development Of Joint Attention Research Articles

Multimodal pathways to joint attention in infants with a familial history of autism

Joint attention (JA) is an early-developing behavior that allows caregivers and infants to share focus on an object. Deficits in JA, as measured through face-following pathways, are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are observable as early as 12 months of age in infants later diagnosed with ASD. However, recent evidence suggests that JA may be achieved through hand-following pathways by children with and without ASD. Development of JA through multimodal pathways has yet to be studied in infants with an increased likelihood of developing ASD. The current study investigated how 6-, 9- and 12-month-old infants with (FH+) and without (FH-) a family history of ASD engaged in JA. Parent-infant dyads played at home while we recorded the interaction over Zoom and later offline coded for hand movements and gaze. FH+ and FH- infants spent similar amounts of time in JA with their parents, but the cues available before JA were different. Parents of FH+ infants did more work to establish JA and used more face-following than hand-following pathways compared to parents of FH- infants, likely reflecting differences in infant motor or social behavior. These results suggest that early motor differences between FH+ and FH- infants may cascade into differences in social coordination.

Qualitative and Quantitative Measures of Joint Attention Development in the First Year of Life: A Scoping Review.

Joint attention (JA) is the purposeful coordination of an individual's focus of attention with that of another and begins to develop within the first year of life. Delayed, or atypically developing, JA is an early behavioral sign of many developmental disabilities and so assessing JA in infancy can improve our understanding of trajectories of typical and atypical development. This scoping review identified the most common methods for assessing JA in the first year of life. Methods of JA were divided into qualitative and quantitative categories. Out of an identified 13,898 articles, 106 were selected after a robust search of four databases. Frequent methods used were eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), behavioral coding and the Early Social Communication Scale (ECSC). These methods were used to assess JA in typically and atypically developing infants in the first year of life. This study provides a comprehensive review of the past and current state of measurement of JA in the literature, the strengths and limitations of the measures used, and the next steps to consider for researchers interested in investigating JA to strengthen this field going forwards.

Maternal postpartum depression impacts infants' joint attention differentially across cultures.

We assessed whether the negative association between maternal postpartum depression (PPD) and infants' development of joint attention (gaze following) generalizes from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) to Majority World contexts. The study was conducted in Bhutan (N = 105, M = 278 days, 52% males) but also draws from publicly available Swedish data (N = 113, M = 302 days, 49% males). We demonstrate that Bhutanese and Swedish infants' development follows the same trajectory. However, Bhutanese infants' gaze following were not related to maternal PPD, which the Swedish infants' were. The results support the notion that there are protecting factors built into the interdependent family model. Despite all the benefits of being raised in a modern welfare state, it seems like Swedish infants, to an extent, are more vulnerable to maternal mental health than Bhutanese infants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Rhythmic Gymnastics on Joint Attention and Emotional Problems of Autistic Children: A Preliminary Investigation.

The adaptive rhythmic gymnastics (ARG) course has been specially designed for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to discover the influence of the course on the joint attention and emotional problems of ASD children. This study adopted A-B-A cross-subject multibaseline design in a single case research design. The joint attention behaviour of two 6-year-old ASD children was examined. The experiment process was recorded and coded, and the results were analysed. The results illustrated the following: (1) ARG is effective in promoting the development of joint attention in ASD children, but it has a better effect on increasing responding joint attention, and (2) to a certain extent, ARG can boost the classroom participation of ASD children and improve their emotional problems.

Sharing Experiences in Infancy: From Primary Intersubjectivity to Shared Intentionality.

We contrast two theses that make different assumptions about the developmental onset of human-unique sociality. The primary intersubjectivity thesis (PIT) argues that humans relate to each other in distinct ways from the beginning of life, as is shown by newborns' participation in face-to-face encounters or “primary intersubjectivity.” According to this thesis, humans' innate relational capacity is the seedbed from which all subsequent social-emotional and social-cognitive developments continuously emerge. The shared intentionality thesis (SIT) states that human-unique forms of interaction develop at 9–12 months of age, when infants put their heads together with others in acts of object-focused joint attention and simple collaborative activities. According to this thesis, human-unique cognition emerges rapidly with the advent of mind-reading capacities that evolved specifically for the purpose of coordination. In this paper, we first contrast the two theses and then sketch the outlines of an account that unifies their strengths. This unified account endorses the PIT's recognition of the fundamental importance of primary intersubjectivity. Any act of sharing experiences is founded on the communicative capacity that is already displayed by young infants in primary intersubjectivity. At the same time, we question the PIT's interpretation that dyadic encounters have the triadic structure of joint attention. Lastly, we draw on empirical work on the development of joint attention, imitation, and social referencing that serves as evidence that primary intersubjectivity continuously unfolds into the capacity for triadic joint attention.

Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy (RAAT). Criteria and Types of Experiments Using Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Robots. Review of the Research.

Supporting the development of a child with autism is a multi-profile therapeutic work on disturbed areas, especially understanding and linguistic expression used in social communication and development of social contacts. Previous studies show that it is possible to perform some therapy using a robot. This article is a synthesis review of the literature on research with the use of robots in the therapy of children with the diagnosis of early childhood autism. The review includes scientific journals from 2005–2021. Using descriptors: ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders), Social robots, and Robot-based interventions, an analysis of available research in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science was done. The results showed that a robot seems to be a great tool that encourages contact and involvement in joint activities. The review of the literature indicates the potential value of the use of robots in the therapy of people with autism as a facilitator in social contacts. Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy (RAAT) can encourage child to talk or do exercises. In the second aspect (prompting during a conversation), a robot encourages eye contact and suggests possible answers, e.g., during free conversation with a peer. In the third aspect (teaching, entertainment), the robot could play with autistic children in games supporting the development of joint attention. These types of games stimulate the development of motor skills and orientation in the body schema. In future work, a validation test would be desirable to check whether children with ASD are able to do the same with a real person by learning distrust and cheating the robot.

Parent Training and Therapy in Children with Autism.

With the introduction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th ed. (DSM-5) autism spectrum disorders (ASD) fall into the category of neurodevelopmental disorders. ASD is characterized by the inhibitory mechanisms responsible for social adaptation and emotional expression being underdeveloped, causing a child’s recognition and understanding of emotions to be impaired. Our study hypothesizes that early intervention using behavioral interventions such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and reflexive functions (RF) training on parents can improve the development of joint attention (JA), a cognitive precursor to the theory of mind (ToM) and mentalization processes. We considered a sample of 84 children aged between 20 and 30 months who had received a diagnosis of risk of autism spectrum disorder (level 1). The sample was divided into two groups of 42 subjects, in the first group we carried out a weekly behavioral parent training (PT) based only on ABA principles, while in the second group we carried out a weekly PT aimed at improving reflective functions and parental awareness according to a model inspired by the model based on emotional mirroring and mentalization of Fonagy. Our study shows that parents who are able to make sense of both their own mental state and that of their child can serve as a protective factor for the child’s development even in atypical developmental situations such as in ASD.

Social Robots for Joint Attention Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT With technological developments in the 21st century, robot applications have proven to be beneficial in providing some opportunities to help with teaching numerous skills such as joint attention and social skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, in the studies investigating the effects of robots on joint attention (JA) in children with ASD, contradictory results were reported. On this ground, this study aims to review the recent studies that were conducted with robot applications for the development of JA skills in children with ASD. Thirteen peer-reviewed articles were analysed to gain an understanding of the experimental effect of robot applications. According to the analysis, NAO drew attention as the most frequently used type of robot. It was observed that all JA studies with robots had been conducted in structured settings. Moreover, it was revealed that methodological limitations were making it difficult to draw a definite conclusion about the clinical benefits of robots. It is recommended that further studies should be conducted to increase the use validity of robots and that more studies comparing humans to robot partners, especially in JA interactions, should be conducted to enrich the literature on the subject.

Αλληλοσυντονισμός της προσοχής και γλωσσική ανάπτυξη σε νήπια με σύνδρομο Down

Many studies demonstrate that in typically developing (TD) children joint attention constitutes a prerequisite for language development. However, data on the development of joint attention and its relation to language development in Down syndrome (DS) are contradictory. The present study aims to examine joint attention in toddlers with DS as well as its association with language comprehension and production. Participants were 10 toddlers with DS (mean chronological age: 58 months) and 10 TD toddlers matched for language comprehension (mean chronological age: 32 months). Language Comprehension and language production were assessed using the Müllen Scales of Early Learning, expressive vocabulary was assessed using the Language Development Survey, and the communicative behaviors were assessed through observation of interactions with the mother in a semi-structured condition with toys. According to the findings, toddlers with DS exhibit significantly morejoint attention behaviors compared to TD toddlers. Moreover, it was shown that in toddlers with DS language production was significantly negatively correlated with initiating request gestures. Conclusively, it seems that in toddlers with DS the transition from pre-linguistic to linguistic period follows a similar developmental path as in TD toddlers, although a severe delay is observed.

فعالية برنامج قائم على التدخل السلوکي المکثف (IBI) في تنمية الانتباه المشترک لدى عينة من الأطفال ذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد Effectiveness of a Program Based on the Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) for the Development of Joint Attention Among a sample of Children with Disorder Spectrum Autism

هدفــت الدراســـة إلى التعرف على فعالية برنامج قائم على التدخل السلوکي المکثف (IBI) في تنمية الانتباه المشترک لدى عينة من الأطفال ذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد، واعتمد المنهج شبه التجريبي في الدراسة، تکونت عينة الدراسة من (10) أطفال ذکور ذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد، تراوحت أعمارهم الزمنية ما بين (3: 6) سنوات، وتراوحت نسبة ذکائهم بين (85: 90)، وبدرجة شدة تحت المتوسط لاضطراب طيف التوحد، وقسمت عينة الدراسة إلى مجموعتين إحداهما تجريبية (5) أطفال والأخرى ضابطة (5) أطفال، وتمثلت أدوات الدراسة في مقياس تقدير الانتباه المشترک لذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد بمرحلة ما قبل المدرسة (إعداد الباحث)، والبرنامج القائم على التدخل السلوکي المکثف (إعداد الباحث)، کما تمثلت الأساليب الإحصائية المستخدمة باختبار مان ويتني (Mann-Whitney U)، واختبار الإشارة المرتب (Wilcoxon signed-rank)، وقد أظهرت نتائج الدراسة وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائيا عند مستوى دلالة (0.01) بين متوسطات رتب درجات الأطفال بالمجموعتين التجريبية والضابطة في القياس البعدي لمقياس الانتباه المشترک باستثناء بعدى الاستجابة للانتباه المشترک، والتقليد، فهما دالان عند مستوى دلالة (0.05)، وقد کانت الفروق للأبعاد الدالة إحصائيا لصالح المجموعة التجريبية، کما أظهرت النتائج وجود فروق دالة إحصائيا عند مستوى دلالة (0.05) بين رتب درجات الأطفال بالمجموعة التجريبية قبل وبعد تطبيق البرنامج وأظهرت أيضا نتائج الدراسة عدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائيا بين درجات الأطفال بالمجموعة التجريبية في القياسين البعدي والتتبعي، وأشارت النتائج أيضا لوجود تأثير دال للبرنامج القائم على التدخل السلوکي المکثف في تحسين الانتباه المشترک لدى أطفال المجموعة التجريبية ذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد. The study aimed to identify the effectiveness of an intensive behavioral intervention (IBI) program in developing joint attention in a sample of children with autism spectrum disorder, and the Quasi-experimental approach was adopted in the study, and the study sample consisted of (10) children with autism spectrum disorder, Their chronological ages ranged between (3: 6) years, and their IQ ranged between (85: 90), with a slight degree of severity of symptoms of the disorder, and the study sample was divided into two groups, one of them experimental (5) children and the other controlling (5) children, and the study tools were represented in The Early Childhood Joint Attention Estimation Scale (Researcher's Preparation), the Program Based on Intensive Behavioral Intervention (Researcher Preparation), and the non-parametric statistical methods used were (Mann-Whitney U) test and (The Wilcoxon signed-rank). The results of the study showed that there are statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the mean scores of the scores of children in the two experimental and control groups in the post measurement of the joint attention scale except for the two dimensions of joint attention response and imitation, as they are two indications at a significance level (0.05). The statistically function in favor of the experimental group, and the results showed that there are statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.05) between the ranks of the scores of children in the experimental group before and after the implementation of the program. The effectiveness of the training program in developing joint attention skills in children with autism spectrum disorder. The results of the study also showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the scores of children in the experimental group in the post and Iterative measurements, which shows the effectiveness of the training program in developing joint attention skills in children with autism spectrum disorder

Joint attention and vocabulary development in toddlers with Down syndrome and their peers with typical development: The role of maternal interactive style

PurposeJoint attention is considered a prerequisite for language development. Although language is one of the most impaired domains in Down syndrome (DS), few studies have examined the relationship between caregiver behavior during episodes of joint attention and vocabulary development in these children. Consequently, our primary aim was to analyze the behaviors of caregivers of children with DS and of children with typical development (TD) in the early stages of vocabulary development. A second objective was to examine the kind of words that caregivers use to refer to the object that is the focus of attention. We also consider the concurrent relationship between joint attention and vocabulary development in both groups of children. MethodWe studied 28 children with DS and 28 children with TD, individually matched on mental age and gender, and their respective caregivers. The mean mental age for children with DS and children with TD was around 12 months. The mean chronological age of caregivers of children with DS and children with TD was around 35 years. Each child and his or her caregiver were video-recorded during a free-play session involving different objects. ResultsAlthough the total time engaged in joint attention was greater among caregivers of children with DS, caregivers of both groups of children were more likely to direct than follow their child’s attentional focus. The caregivers of children with DS used a greater number of appropriate terms to refer to the object of attention. We found no significant correlation in either group of children between vocabulary development and joint attention behaviors. ConclusionsThe results may be due to the fact that the children studied are still very young in developmental terms and have yet to develop all the skills required for joint attention. At this early stage, directing the child’s attention would promote the development of joint attention. A possible explanation for the lack of a correlation between vocabulary development and joint attention is that children may use an associative mechanism in the early stages of lexical learning, and hence the learning of new words is a slow process.

JOINT ATTENTION AND THE MENTAL MODEL OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT

Relevance. The article discusses the relationship between the development of joint (shared) attention of a child with an adult, and the social and cognitive development of the child. Based on previous studies of typically developing children that demonstrate their participation and responsiveness to fundamental social characteristics, it is significant to identify manifestations of atypical joint attention when a child does not register which object (event) or which aspects of this object (event) are the focus of an interlocutor’s attention. The question of which aspects of joint attention are related to the normative development of the child makes this relevant for comparing groups with different forms of atypical development. For the study, the main indicator of understanding the intentions of the other in the direction of view was used, as one of the aspects of joint attention. Objective. To compare the development of social cognition and joint attention among typically developing children and children with various forms of atypical development in order to identify the correlation between the theory of mind and cognitive lesion. Methods. In a sample of preschool children with typical development and of those with mental retardation, hearing impairment, speech impairment, or visual impairment (N = 90), the following methods were used to evaluate the children’s understanding of the intentions, desires, and interests of others by their behavioral manifestations: “Test for Erroneous Opinion”, “Sally-Ann”; the “What does Charlie want?” task, and others. The task was also used to assess the child’s ability to use the direction of a character’s gaze in a picture to determine the person’s intentions. Results. We identified the “primary psychological” characteristics of the atypical development of the child, which prioritize violations of social communication. Several variations of the violation of joint attention were singled out by determining a person’s intentions by the direction of their gaze. It was shown that determining intentions by the direction of gaze is associated with the normative age formation of the child. Symptoms of deficiency in this skill vary depending on the specifics of the child’s atypical development. Conclusions. Secondary deviations in the development of social cognition are specific to a particular primary defect. The limited inflow of information in the event of a violation of the analyzer creates unusual conditions in the children’s accumulation of the experience of social interaction that is necessary to form a mental model.

The temporal dynamics of infants' joint attention: Effects of others' gaze cues and manual actions

Infants' development of joint attention shows significant advances between 9 and 12 months of age, but we still need to learn much more about how infants coordinate their attention with others during this process. The objective of this study was to use eye tracking to systematically investigate how 8- and 12-month-old infants as well as adults dynamically select their focus of attention while observing a social partner demonstrate infant-directed actions. Participants were presented with 16 videos of actors performing simple infant-directed actions from a first-person perspective. Looking times to faces as well as hands-and-objects were calculated for participants at each age, and developmental differences were observed, although all three groups looked more at hands-and-objects than at faces. In order to assess whether visual attention was coordinated with the actors' behaviors, we compared participants looking at faces and objects in response to gaze direction as well as infant-directed actions vs. object-directed actions. By presenting video stimuli that involved continuously changing actions, we were able to document that the likelihood of joint attention changes in both real and developmental time. Overall, adults and 12-month-old infants' visual attention was modulated by gaze cues as well as actions, whereas this was only partially true for 8-month-old infants. Our results reveal that joint attention is not a monolithic process nor does it develop all at once.

Brief Report: Analysis of the Relationship Between Turn Taking and Joint Attention for Toddlers with Autism.

The relationship between turn taking (i.e., back-and-forth preverbal communicative exchanges) and joint attention has not been studied in interactions between children with autism and caregivers. In joint attention, a form of preverbal social communication, young children socially share attention with a partner about objects, a competency that is difficult for toddlers with autism. Video data of interactions between caregivers and 61 toddlers with autism who received joint attention-focused intervention were analyzed to determine associations between turn taking and joint attention. Results indicate a positive relationship between the two forms of social communication. Further study is needed to determine the extent to which turn taking may play a foundational role in supporting joint attention development for toddlers with autism.

Longitudinal development of conversational exchanges in children with hearing loss

Conversations between adults and children have been shown to be an important factor affecting the development of cognition, academic performance, and language use in children. Conversational exchange frequency between parents and children has been shown to increase with age. It has also been demonstrated that degraded sensory input, such as with hearing loss, can result in reduced language, speech, and communication skills in children. This study examines the longitudinal development of conversational exchanges between children with hearing loss and their parents. Thirty-nine families contributed 370 daylong recordings constituting 4337 h of audio collected from a body-worn audio recorder. Automatic speech processing techniques were used to identify and tally conversational exchanges. The main longitudinal effect of age on conversation exchange rate is confirmed, but the effect is weaker and may have a different developmental trajectory for families of children with a hearing loss. This result may be influenced by differences in the development of joint attention between children who are typically developing and those with hearing loss.

Contribution of Developmental Psychology to the Study of Social Interactions: Some Factors in Play, Joint Attention and Joint Action and Implications for Robotics.

Children exchange information through multiple modalities, including verbal communication, gestures and social gaze and they gradually learn to plan their behavior and coordinate successfully with their partners. The development of joint attention and joint action, especially in the context of social play, provides rich opportunities for describing the characteristics of interactions that can lead to shared outcomes. In the present work, we argue that human–robot interactions (HRI) can benefit from these developmental studies, through influencing the human’s perception and interpretation of the robot’s behavior. We thus endeavor to describe some components that could be implemented in the robot to strengthen the feeling of dealing with a social agent, and therefore improve the success of collaborative tasks. Focusing in particular on motor precision, coordination, and anticipatory planning, we discuss the question of complexity in HRI. In the context of joint activities, we highlight the necessity of (1) considering multiple speech acts involving multimodal communication (both verbal and non-verbal signals), and (2) analyzing separately the forms and functions of communication. Finally, we examine some challenges related to robot competencies, such as the issue of language and symbol grounding, which might be tackled by bringing together expertise of researchers in developmental psychology and robotics.

Use of Latest Robots for Autism Spectrum Disorder

One of the prominent applications of robots is in assistive therapy using humanoids. Robots are now playing a vital role in our lives as assistants, therapist, companions and much more. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects the communication skills and social cues of a person considerably. Recently efforts have been made in the development of communicational, behavioral, motor movements, joint attention and physical behavior of the children suffering from ASD using the humanoid robots. The therapies based on interactive interventions using robots for ASD have proved to be a favorable tool for improving the behavior of children with ASD. There are different ways to identify and improve the behavior in ASD child e.g. psychologists’ sessions, computer vision based bio markers like joint attention measurement and gait analysis, and robot assisted therapies using Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI). In particular the area of robotics is helping a lot in the treatment of ASD as the robot acts as a mediator as well as measures the response of an autistic child.

Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Frequency, Quality, and Variety of Joint Attention Behaviors.

Initiation of joint attention is a critical developmental function related to further social communicative development in infancy. Joint attention appears to be impaired very early in life for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), well before a formal diagnosis is established. To observe the early development of joint attention, we prospectively followed infant siblings at high risk for ASD (HR) and low-risk (LR) infants. Initiations of joint attention behaviors were coded with respect to frequency, quality, and variety from videos taken during the administration of the Autism Observation Schedule for Infants. Participants were further stratified based on the presence of ASD (n = 17) or language delay (n = 19) at 3years of age. Our results revealed that initiations of joint attention are impaired from 12months of age in both children with ASD and those with language delay, especially for use of gestures (i.e., showing and pointing). At 18months, fewer initiations of joint attention in all three dimensions distinguished infants with ASD, compared to infants with language delay and HR and LR infants without a diagnosis. Beyond the definition of initiation of joint attention as an early sign for ASD, clinical implications of these results concern the importance of intervening on frequency, quality, and variety of joint attention as early as possible in infants at heightened risk for ASD.

The role of cellular phone usage by parents in the increase in ASD occurrence: A hypothetical framework

Over the last few decades there has been a significant worldwide increase in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the causes of which are unknown. The biggest environmental change over this decade has been the massive introduction of cellphones. Eye contact is fundamental for infants' development, and parent-infant eye contact is impaired when parents are pre occupied by cellphones. We speculate that children with a pre-existing vulnerability to autism may be adversely affected by this pattern of parental behavior.As a first step toward exploring our hypothesis, we wished to document the extent of cellular phone usage by parents during their child's diagnostic developmental assessment. We speculated that, if under these stressful circumstances of awaiting their child's crucial assessment the parent is not fully engaged with his/her child, then in real daily activities this phenomenon is likely much more pronounced.Of 111 developmental sessions, 73 parents (66%) engaged their phone during the assessment, between 1 and 20 times. Of 62 observations in the waiting room, 52 (83.9%) parents used their phone, 1–19 times. Nine parents (17.3%) used their phone for 10–50% of the time and 16 (30.8%) for more than 50% of the time in the waiting room. In our analysis, the rate of language/motor delays was twice more common among children of cell phone users than among non users (p = 0.04) as an initial support of our hypothesis.Parents' focus and full attention toward their cellphones can adversely affect the development of joint attention in infants and may contribute to the development of autistic features among a vulnerable subgroup of infants. While more research is needed to prove causation, it would be reasonable to advise parents to decrease to minimum the usage of cellphones when interacting with their young children.

Young adolescents with autism show abnormal joint attention network: A gaze contingent fMRI study.

Behavioral research has revealed deficits in the development of joint attention (JA) as one of the earliest signs of autism. While the neural basis of JA has been studied predominantly in adults, we recently demonstrated a protracted development of the brain networks supporting JA in typically developing children and adolescents. The present eye-tracking/fMRI study now extends these findings to adolescents with autism. Our results show that in adolescents with autism JA is subserved by abnormal activation patterns in brain areas related to social cognition abnormalities which are at the core of ASD including the STS and TPJ, despite behavioral maturation with no behavioral differences. Furthermore, in the autism group we observed increased neural activity in a network of social and emotional processing areas during interactions with their mother. Moreover, data indicated that less severely affected individuals with autism showed higher frontal activation associated with self-initiated interactions. Taken together, this study provides first-time data of JA in children/adolescents with autism incorporating the interactive character of JA, its reciprocity and motivational aspects. The observed functional differences in adolescents ASD suggest that persistent developmental differences in the neural processes underlying JA contribute to social interaction difficulties in ASD.