# Behavioral differences between infants at and not at elevated risk for autism during a contingency paradigm

## TL;DR

The study compares behaviors of infants at high and low risk for autism during a motor learning task, finding similar overall patterns but notable differences in some high-risk infants.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel contingency learning paradigm to compare infants at elevated versus lower risk for autism.

## Key findings

- Infants at high and low risk showed similar overall gaze and motor behaviors during the task.
- Four infants at high risk displayed qualitatively distinct visual-motor patterns.
- The findings highlight heterogeneity within the high-risk group for further investigation.

## Abstract

Motor impairments have been reported in infants at elevated likelihood of autism and those later diagnosed with autism. However, empirical studies comparing higher to lower likelihood infants are lacking, limiting our understanding of these motor impairments. This study aimed to determine and describe the behavioral differences between infants at higher (HLA) versus lower likelihood (LLA) of autism during a contingency learning paradigm.

Thirty full-term infants (6–9 months of age) at HLA and LLA (n = 15 per group) participated in a contingency learning paradigm. Movements of the infant’s right leg activated an infant-sized humanoid robot to reinforce production of right leg movements. Gaze behaviors, the number of times the infants activated the robot, and evidence supporting learning were examined and compared between groups.

Gaze and motor behavioral data suggest no discernable group differences in terms of overall looking duration, anticipatory gazes, and number of robot activations. However, four of the infants at HLA displayed visual motor patterns that were qualitatively different.

Results from our study suggest that infants at HLA and LLA are using similar behaviors to learn a contingency learning task, but heterogeneity within the HLA group is noted and requires further study.