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Background: Children with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) show behavioral abnormalities in gaze and face processing, but recent studies have indicated that normal activation of face-specific brain areas in response to faces is possible in this group. It is not clear whether the brain activity related to gaze processing is also normal in children with PDD. Methods: Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured during two spatial attention tasks in which a centrally presented stimulus served as cue for the location of a forthcoming target. In one task faces were used as cues, and in the other arrows. Seventeen children with PDD and 18 age- and IQ-matched control children were tested. Results: Face stimuli elicited the same specific ERP activity in both groups. Also, both children with PDD and controls showed shorter reaction times as well as larger amplitudes and shorter latency times of several ERP peaks to congruently cued targets than to incongruently cued targets in both tasks. However, children with PDD showed abnormally small occipital ERPs in response to both face and arrow stimuli. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for the capability of normal processing of face and gaze change in children with PDD. The smaller occipital activity might be related to more general abnormalities in perception.

The saccadic eye movements, generated during a visual oddball task, were compared for 10 autistic children, 10 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 10 dyslexic children, and 10 typically developing children. Several abnormal patterns of saccades were found in the autistic group. (DB)

Introduction The broader autism phenotype (BAP) primarily comprises socio-communicative features that should be observable in the course of ordinary social interactions. The International Molecular Study of Autism Consortium (IMGSAC) developed [...], A 20 item observational measure of social functioning, the Impression of Interviewee rating scale, is one of three measures devised to assess the broader autism phenotype. The sample studied included families containing at least two individuals with autism spectrum disorder; observations were undertaken by the researcher who interviewed the subject. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a single factor was most appropriate (Cronbach's [alpha] of 0.78). There was a modest but significant retest correlation of 0.42. Correlations between live ratings and blind consensus ratings of vignettes were high (0.93). Correlations with the interview measures were moderate but statistically significant. In conclusion, the observational scale provides a promising start but further work is required before general use can be recommended. Keywords Broader autism phenotype * Observer rating * Test-retest * Factor analysis * Social functioning

Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) represents a set of chronic and severe neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood characterized by qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication skills, accompanied by repetitive and [...], We investigated the predictive power of morphological features in 224 autistic patients and 224 matched-pairs controls. To assess the relationship between the morphological features and autism, we used the receiver operator curves (ROC). In addition, we used recursive partitioning (RP) to determine a specific pattern of abnormalities that is characteristic for the difference between autistic children and typically developing controls. The present findings showed that morphological features are significantly increased in patients with autism. Using ROC and RP, some of the morphological measures also led to strong predictive accuracy. Facial asymmetry, multiple hair whorls and prominent forehead significantly differentiated patients with autism from controls. Future research on multivariable risk prediction models may benefit from the use of morphological features. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1554-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Keywords Autism * Common variant * Endophenotype * Morphology * Minor anomaly * Predictive value * ROC * Recursive partitioning