Brain Network Active at Birth is Linked to Social Behavior Later in Life

Amazing stuff! As they say you can never be too young!

"Paying less attention to faces is one of the key markers of autism spectrum disorder. But while researchers have begun to uncover the brain network that supports processing of social stimuli such as faces, gaze, and speech, little is known about how and when it begins to develop.

In a new study, Yale researchers have now found that this network is already quite active at birth or shortly thereafter, a finding that provides insight into the brain processes that underlie social behaviors later in life. ...

“We found that connectivity within this network was already quite robust within a couple of weeks after birth,” ..."

From the abstract:

"Background

The right-lateralized social perception pathway, including the superior temporal sulcus, supports processing of dynamic, multimodal facial cues, while the right-lateralized ventral pathway, including the fusiform gyrus, is involved in processing static facial features. However, little is known about the early development of these pathways or their links to later social outcomes. In this study, we examined intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) in these pathways in neonates with and without familial history of autism. We also investigated whether neonatal iFC was associated with reduced attention to faces at 4 months, an early autism biomarker.

Methods

iFC was measured in 310 full-term, typically developing neonates from the dHCP (Developing Human Connectome Project) at 41 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) (SD = 1.7) and in 73 full-term Yale neonates with and without a family history of autism at 44 weeks PMA (SD = 1.3). Attention to faces was assessed at 4.1 months (SD = 0.3) via eye tracking in 37 Yale participants.

Results

All 4 pathways showed significant iFC (p < .001), with no sex differences (p > .159). Connectivity in the social pathway increased with age (p < .001). In Yale neonates, only iFC in the right social pathway was positively associated with attention to faces at 4 months (r37 = 0.456, p = .006). Greater attention to faces predicted fewer social concerns at 18 months (r33 = −0.358, p = .010).

Conclusions

The right-lateralized social perception pathway represents an area of interest for identifying early neural markers of social vulnerabilities associated with autism."

Brain Network Active at Birth is Linked to Social Behavior Later in Life < Yale School of Medicine

Functional Connectivity in the Social Perception Pathway at Birth Is Linked to Attention to Faces at Four Months (open access)

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the social perception and ventral face perception pathways in the brain. The social perception pathway extends from the motion-sensitive medial temporal/visual 5 (V5) area through the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), medial STS (mSTS), and anterior STS (aSTS). The ventral object/face processing pathway extends from the primary visual cortex (V1) through the lateral occipital complex (LOC) to the fusiform gyrus (FFG) area.