# Infant sensory gating and a developmental cascade to autistic traits and anxiety

## TL;DR

Early sensory processing issues in infants may lead to long-term effects like autism traits and anxiety.

## Contribution

A model is proposed for a developmental cascade linking sensory gating to psychiatric outcomes.

## Key findings

- Impaired sensory gating in infants is linked to sensory over-responsivity and psychiatric challenges.
- Differences in sensory responsivity serve as an intermediate phenotype for future research and intervention.
- A sensitive period in neonatal development plays a key role in this cascade.

## Abstract

Disruptions to the infant sensory environment can have lasting effects on neural response properties and behavior in both humans and animals. Recent work has begun to highlight an additional factor in infant sensory experience: differences in inhibitory signaling and sensory gating. Converging work from human and animal studies has begun to implicate a developmental cascade by which impaired sensory gating during a sensitive period of neonatal neurodevelopment promotes a phenotype of sensory over-responsivity, autistic traits, anxiety, and other psychiatric challenges. In this Review, I propose a model for this developmental cascade and highlight how differences in infant sensory responsivity represent an important intermediate phenotype for research, screening, and supportive intervention.