Neural correlates of response to joint attention in 2-to-5-year-olds in relation to ASD and social-communicative abilities: An fNIRS and behavioral study

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with life-long challenges with social cognition, and one of its earliest and most common manifestations is atypical joint attention, which is a pivotal skill in social-cognitive and linguistic development. Early interventions for ASD children often focus on training initiation of joint attention (IJA) and response to joint attention bids (RJA), which are important for social communication and cognition. Here, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy and behavioral measures to test typically developing (TD, n = 17) and ASD children (n = 18), to address the relationship between the neural correlates of RJA and social-communicative behavior. Group-level differences were present for RJA-specific activation over right temporal sites, where TD children showed higher levels of activation during RJA than ASD children, whereas the two groups did not differ in the control condition. Correlations between neural activation and behavioral traits suggest that, in ASD children, neural activation during RJA is related to the frequency of RJA behavior when the former is measured over left temporal sites, and to social affect symptoms when considered for right temporal sites. Possible implications of the evidenced correlations are discussed.