Multimodal pathways to joint attention in infants with a familial history of autism.

Joint attention (JA) is an early-developing behavior that allows caregivers and infants to share focus on an object. Deficits in JA, as measured through face-following pathways, are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are observable as early as 12 months of age in infants later diagnosed with ASD. However, recent evidence suggests that JA may be achieved through hand-following pathways by children with and without ASD. Development of JA through multimodal pathways has yet to be studied in infants with an increased likelihood of developing ASD. The current study investigated how 6-, 9- and 12-month-old infants with (FH+) and without (FH-) a family history of ASD engaged in JA. Parent-infant dyads played at home while we recorded the interaction over Zoom and later offline coded for hand movements and gaze. FH+ and FH- infants spent similar amounts of time in JA with their parents, but the cues available before JA were different. Parents of FH+ infants did more work to establish JA and used more face-following than hand-following pathways compared to parents of FH- infants, likely reflecting differences in infant motor or social behavior. These results suggest that early motor differences between FH+ and FH- infants may cascade into differences in social coordination.

Still-face redux: Infant responses to a classic and modified still-face paradigm in proximal and distal care cultures.

Literature on infant emotion is dominated by research conducted in Western, industrialized societies where early socialization is characterized by face-to-face, vocal communication with caregivers. There is a dearth of knowledge of infant emotion in the context of social interaction outside of the visual and vocal modalities. In a three-population cross-cultural comparison, we used the still-face task to measure variation in behavior among infants from proximal care (practicing high levels of physical contact) communities in Bolivia and distal care (emphasizing vocal and visual interaction) communities in the U.S. and Fiji. In a modified version of the face-to-face still-face (FFSF), Study 1, infants in the U.S. and Fiji displayed the typical behavioral response to the still-face episode: increased negative affect and decreased social engagement, whereas infants in Bolivia showed no change. For tactile behavior, infants in Bolivia showed an increase in tactile self-stimulation from the interaction episode to the still-face episode, whereas U.S. infants showed no change. In Study 2, we created a novel body-to-body version of the still-face paradigm ("still-body") with infants in US and Bolivia, to mimic the near-constant physical contact Bolivian infants experience. The U.S. and Bolivian infant response was similar to Study 1: US infants showed decreased positive affect and increased negative affect and decreased social engagement from the interaction to the still-body episode and Bolivian infants showed no change. Notably, there were overall differences in infant behaviors between the two paradigms (FFSF and Still-Body). Infants in Bolivia and the U.S. showed increased positive facial affect during the FFSF paradigm in comparison with the Still-Body paradigm. Our results demonstrate the need for more globally representative developmental research and a broader approach to infant emotion and communication.

Expectations about dynamic visual objects facilitates early sensory processing of congruent sounds.

The perception of a moving object can lead to the expectation of its sound, yet little is known about how visual expectations influence auditory processing. We examined how visual perception of an object moving continuously across the visual field influences early auditory processing of a sound that occurred congruently or incongruently with the object's motion. In Experiment 1, electroencephalogram (EEG) activity was recorded from adults who passively viewed a ball that appeared either on the left or right boundary of a display and continuously traversed along the horizontal midline to make contact and elicit a bounce sound off the opposite boundary. Our main analysis focused on the auditory-evoked event-related potential. For audio-visual (AV) trials, a sound accompanied the visual input when the ball contacted the opposite boundary (AV-synchronous), or the sound occurred before contact (AV-asynchronous). We also included audio-only and visual-only trials. AV-synchronous sounds elicited an earlier and attenuated auditory response relative to AV-asynchronous or audio-only events. In Experiment 2, we examined the roles of expectancy and multisensory integration in influencing this response. In addition to the audio-only, AV-synchronous, and AV-asynchronous conditions, participants were shown a ball that became occluded prior to reaching the boundary of the display, but elicited an expected sound at the point of occluded collision. The auditory response during the AV-occluded condition resembled that of the AV-synchronous condition, suggesting that expectations induced by a moving object can influence early auditory processing. Broadly, the results suggest that dynamic visual stimuli can help generate expectations about the timing of sounds, which then facilitates the processing of auditory information that matches these expectations.

Anticipation to Social and Nonsocial Dynamic Cues in Preschool-Age Children.

The ability to learn from expectations is foundational to social and nonsocial learning in children. However, we know little about the brain basis of reward expectation in development. Here, 3- to 4-year-olds (N = 26) were shown a passive associative learning paradigm with dynamic stimuli. Anticipation for reward-related stimuli was measured via the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN). To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure an SPN in children younger than age 6. Our findings reveal distinct anticipatory neural signatures for social versus nonsocial stimuli, consistent with previous research in older children. This study suggests an SPN can be elicited in preschoolers and is larger for social than nonsocial stimuli.

Keeping the end in mind: Preliminary brain and behavioral evidence for broad attention to endpoints in pre-linguistic infants.

Infants must learn to carve events at their joints to best understand who is doing what to whom or whether an object or agent has reached its intended goal. Recent behavioral research demonstrates that infants do not see the world as a movie devoid of meaning, but rather as a series of sub-events that include agents moving in different manners along paths from sources to goals. This research uses behavioral and electrophysiological methods to investigate infants' (10-14 months) attention to disruptions within relatively unfamiliar human action that does not rely on goal-objects to signal attainment (i.e., Olympic figure skating). Infants' visual (Study 1, N = 48) and neurophysiological (Study 2, N = 21) responses to pauses at starting points, endpoints, and within-action locations were recorded. Both measures revealed differential responses to pauses at endpoints relative to pauses elsewhere in the action (i.e., starting point; within-action). Eye-tracking data indicated that infants' visual attention was greater for events containing pauses at endpoints relative to events with pauses at starting points or within-actions. ERP activity reflecting perceptual processes in early-latency windows (<200 ms) and memory updating processes in long-latency windows (700-1000 ms) showed differential activation to disruptions at the end of a figure-skating action compared to other locations. Mid-latency windows (250-750 ms), in contrast, showed enhanced activation at frontal regions across conditions, suggesting electrophysiological resources may have been recruited to encode disruptions within unfamiliar dynamic human action. Combined, results hint at broad sensitivity to endpoints as a mechanism that supports infants' proclivity for carving continuous and complex event streams into meaningful units. Findings have potential implications for language development as these units are mapped onto budding linguistic representations. We discuss empirical and methodological contributions for action perception and address potential merits and pitfalls of applying behavioral techniques in conjunction with brain-based measures to study infant development.

Developmental Trajectories of Infants With Multiplex Family Risk for Autism: A Baby Siblings Research Consortium Study.

Importance: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with different genetic etiologies. Prospective examination of familial-risk infants informs understanding of developmental trajectories preceding ASD diagnosis, potentially improving early detection. Objective: To compare outcomes and trajectories associated with varying familial risk for ASD across the first 3 years of life. Design, Setting, and Participants: This longitudinal, prospective cohort study used data from 11 sites in the Baby Siblings Research Consortium database. Data were collected between 2003 and 2015. Infants who were younger siblings of children with ASD were followed up for 3 years. Analyses were conducted in April 2018. Of the initial 1008 infants from the database, 573 were removed owing to missing necessary data, diagnostic discrepancies, or only having 1 older sibling. Exposures: Number of siblings with ASD. Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcomes included ASD symptoms, cognitive abilities, and adaptive skills. Diagnosis (ASD or no ASD) was given at 36-month outcome. The no-ASD group was classified as atypical (developmental delays and/or social-communication concerns) or typical for some analyses. Generalized linear mixed models examined developmental trajectories by ASD outcome and familial-risk group. Results: In the 435 analyzed participants (age range at outcome, 32-43 months; 246 male [57%]), 355 (82%) were from single-incidence families (1 sibling with ASD and ≥1 sibling without ASD) and 80 (18%) were from multiplex families (≥2 siblings with ASD). There were no significant group differences in major demographics. Children from multiplex families were more likely than those from single-incidence families to be classified as having ASD (29 of 80 [36%] vs 57 of 355 [16%]; 95% CI, 9%-31%; P < .001) and less likely as typical (26 of 80 [33%] vs 201 of 355 [57%]; 95% CI, -36% to -13%; P < .001), with similar rates of atypical classifications (25 of 80 [31%] vs 97 of 355 [27%]; 95% CI, -7% to 15%; P = .49). There were no differences in ASD symptoms between multiplex and single-incidence groups after controlling for ASD outcome (95% CI, -0.02 to 0.20; P = .18). During infancy, differences in cognitive and adaptive abilities were observed based on ASD outcome in the single-incidence group only. At 36 months, the multiplex/no-ASD group had lower cognitive abilities than the single-incidence/no-ASD group (95% CI, -11.89 to -2.20; P = .02), and the multiplex group had lower adaptive abilities than individuals in the single-incidence group after controlling for ASD outcome (95% CI, -9.01 to -1.48; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance: Infants with a multiplex family history of ASD should be monitored early and often and referred for early intervention at the first sign of concern. Direct examination of genetic contributions to neurodevelopmental phenotypes in infants with familial risk for ASD is needed.

Culture, carrying, and communication: Beliefs and behavior associated with babywearing.

Ethnographic research suggests mother-infant physical contact predicts high levels of maternal responsiveness to infant cues, yet it is unclear whether this responsiveness is driven by the act of physical contact or by underlying beliefs about responsiveness. We examine beliefs and behavior associated with infant carrying (i.e., babywearing) among U.S. mothers and experimentally test the effect of mother-infant physical contact on maternal responsiveness. In Study 1 (N = 23 dyads), babywearing mothers were more likely to interact contingently in response to infant cues than non-babywearing mothers during an in-lab play session. In Study 2 (N = 492 mothers), babywearing predicted maternal beliefs emphasizing responsiveness to infant cues. In Study 3 (N = 20 dyads), we experimentally manipulated mother-infant physical contact in the lab using a within-subjects design and found that babywearing increased maternal tactile interaction, decreased maternal and infant object contact, and increased maternal responsiveness to infant vocalizations. Our results motivate further research examining how culturally-mediated infant carrying practices shape the infant's early social environment and subsequent development.

An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children.

We present a protocol designed to measure the neural correlates of reward in children. The protocol allows researchers to measure both reward anticipation and processing. Its purpose is to create a reward task that is appropriate for young children with and without autism while controlling reward properties between two conditions: social and nonsocial. The current protocol allows for comparisons of brain activity between social and nonsocial reward conditions while keeping the reward itself identical between conditions. Using this protocol, we found evidence that neurotypical children demonstrate enhanced anticipatory brain activity during the social condition. Furthermore, we found that neurotypical children anticipate social reward more robustly than children with autism diagnoses. As the task uses snacks as a reward, it is most appropriate for young children. However, the protocol may be adapted for use with adolescent or adult populations if snacks are replaced by monetary incentives. The protocol is designed to measure electrophysiological events (event-related potentials), but it may be customized for use with eye-tracking or fMRI.

Mother⁻Infant Physical Contact Predicts Responsive Feeding among U.S. Breastfeeding Mothers.

Responsive feeding-initiating feeding in response to early hunger cues-supports the physiology of lactation and the development of infant feeding abilities, yet there is a dearth of research examining what predicts responsive feeding. In non-Western proximal care cultures, there is an association between responsive feeding and mother⁻infant physical contact, but this has not been investigated within Western populations. In two studies, we tested whether mother⁻infant physical contact predicted feeding in response to early hunger cues versus feeding on a schedule or after signs of distress among U.S. breastfeeding mothers. With an online questionnaire in Study 1 (n = 626), physical contact with infants (via co-sleeping and babywearing) predicted increased likelihood of self-reported responsive feeding. Mothers who reported responsive feeding were more likely to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months, breastfeed more frequently throughout the day, and had a longer planned breastfeeding duration than mothers who reported feeding on a schedule or after signs of infant distress. In Study 2 (n = 96), a three-day feeding log showed that mother⁻infant physical contact predicted feeding in response to early hunger cues but mother⁻infant proximity (without physical contact) did not. In sum, our results demonstrate that physical contact with infants may shape breastfeeding behavior among U.S. mothers, highlighting a connection between social interaction and infant nutrition that warrants further investigation.

Oscillatory rhythm of reward: anticipation and processing of rewards in children with and without autism.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition, and multiple theories have emerged concerning core social deficits. While the social motivation hypothesis proposes that deficits in the social reward system cause individuals with ASD to engage less in social interaction, the overly intense world hypothesis (sensory over-responsivity) proposes that individuals with ASD find stimuli to be too intense and may have hypersensitivity to social interaction, leading them to avoid these interactions. Methods: EEG was recorded during reward anticipation and reward processing. Reward anticipation was measured using alpha asymmetry, and post-feedback theta was utilized to measure reward processing. Additionally, we calculated post-feedback alpha suppression to measure attention and salience. Participants were 6- to 8-year-olds with (N = 20) and without (N = 23) ASD. Results: Children with ASD showed more left-dominant alpha suppression when anticipating rewards accompanied by nonsocial stimuli compared to social stimuli. During reward processing, children with ASD had less theta activity than typically developing (TD) children. Alpha activity after feedback showed the opposite pattern: children with ASD had greater alpha suppression than TD children. Significant correlations were observed between behavioral measures of autism severity and EEG activity in both the reward anticipation and reward processing time periods. Conclusions: The findings provide evidence that children with ASD have greater approach motivation prior to nonsocial (compared to social) stimuli. Results after feedback suggest that children with ASD evidence less robust activity thought to reflect evaluation and processing of rewards (e.g., theta) compared to TD children. However, children with ASD evidence greater alpha suppression after feedback compared to TD children. We hypothesize that post-feedback alpha suppression reflects general cognitive engagement-which suggests that children with ASD may experience feedback as overly intense. Taken together, these results suggest that aspects of both the social motivation hypothesis and the overly intense world hypothesis may be occurring simultaneously.

Non-ASD outcomes at 36 months in siblings at familial risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A baby siblings research consortium (BSRC) study.

We characterized developmental outcomes of a large sample of siblings at familial high-risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who themselves did not have ASD (n = 859), and low-risk controls with no family history of ASD (n = 473). We report outcomes at age 3 years using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and adaptive functioning on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Around 11% of high-risk siblings had mild-to-moderate levels of developmental delay, a rate higher than the low-risk controls. The groups did not differ in the proportion of toddlers with mild-to-moderate language delay. Thirty percent of high-risk siblings had elevated scores on the ADOS, double the rate seen in the low-risk controls. High-risk siblings also had higher parent reported levels of ASD symptoms on the ADI-R and lower adaptive functioning on the Vineland. Males were more likely to show higher levels of ASD symptoms and lower levels of developmental ability and adaptive behavior than females across most measures but not mild-to-moderate language delay. Lower maternal education was associated with lower developmental and adaptive behavior outcomes. These findings are evidence for early emerging characteristics related to the "broader autism phenotype" (BAP) previously described in older family members of individuals with ASD. There is a need for ongoing clinical monitoring of high-risk siblings who do not have an ASD by age 3 years, as well as continued follow-up into school age to determine their developmental and behavioral outcomes. Autism Res 2017, 10: 169-178. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neural Correlates of Attention to Human-Made Sounds: An ERP Study.

Previous neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have suggested that human made sounds are processed differently from non-human made sounds. Multiple groups have suggested that voices might be processed as "special," much like faces. Although previous literature has explored neural correlates of voice perception under varying task demands, few studies have examined electrophysiological correlates of attention while directly comparing human made and non-human made sounds. In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to compare attention to human versus non-human made sounds in an oddball paradigm. ERP components of interest were the P300, and fronto-temporal positivity to voices (FTVP), which has been reported in previous investigations of voice versus non-voice stimuli. We found that participants who heard human made sounds as "target" or infrequent stimuli had significantly larger FTPV amplitude, shorter FTPV latency, and larger P300 amplitude than those who heard non-human sounds as "target" stimuli. Our results are in concordance with previous findings that human-made and non-human made sounds are processed differently, and expand upon previous literature by demonstrating increased attention to human versus non-human made sounds, even when the non-human made sounds are ones that require immediate attention in daily life (e.g. a car horn). Heightened attention to human-made sounds is important theoretically and has potential for application in tests of social interest in populations with autism.

Cultural Variation in Triadic Infant-Caregiver Object Exploration.

Two studies examined the extent to which the type of triadic interaction pervasive in Western populations (i.e., shared visual attention and ostensive pedagogical cues) was representative of infant-caregiver object exploration in a non-Western indigenous community. Caregivers in the United States and Vanuatu interacted with infants and a novel object for 3 min. In Study 1 (N = 116, Mage  = 29.05), Ni-Van caregivers used more physical triadic engagement and U.S. caregivers used more visual triadic engagement. In Study 2 (N = 80, Mage  = 29.91), U.S. caregivers were more likely than Ni-Van caregivers to transmit an action and to use visual cues while interacting with their child. These studies demonstrate that the Western model of early social learning is not universal.

Breast Milk Protects Against Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Infants at High Risk for Autism During Early Development.

OBJECTIVES: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often report gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction in their children. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether infants at high risk for developing ASD (ie, siblings of children diagnosed as having ASD) show greater prevalence of GI problems and whether this prevalence is associated with diet and age at weaning from breast milk. METHODS: Using questionnaires, diet history and GI problems were tracked prospectively and retrospectively in 57 high-risk infants and for comparison in 114 low-risk infants (infants from families without ASD history). RESULTS: In low-risk infants, prevalence of GI symptoms, in aggregate, did not vary with diet or age of weaning. By contrast, high-risk infants with GI symptoms were weaned earlier than those without symptoms (P < 0.04), and high-risk infants showed greater prevalence of GI symptoms, in aggregate, on a no breast milk diet than on an exclusive breast milk diet (P < 0.017). Constipation, in particular, was more prevalent in high-risk infants compared with low-risk infants (P = 0.01), especially on a no breast milk diet (P = 0.002). High-risk infants who completed weaning earlier than 6 months showed greater prevalence of constipation (P = 0.001) and abdominal distress (P = 0.004) than those fully weaned after 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: The greater prevalence of GI symptoms in high-risk infants suggests that GI dysfunction during early infant development may be a part of the ASD endophenotype. Late weaning and exclusive breast milk were associated with protection against GI symptoms in high-risk infants.

Effect of familiarity on reward anticipation in children with and without autism spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Previous research on the reward system in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) suggests that children with ASD anticipate and process social rewards differently than typically developing (TD) children--but has focused on the reward value of unfamiliar face stimuli. Children with ASD process faces differently than their TD peers. Previous research has focused on face processing of unfamiliar faces, but less is known about how children with ASD process familiar faces. The current study investigated how children with ASD anticipate rewards accompanied by familiar versus unfamiliar faces. METHODS: The stimulus preceding negativity (SPN) of the event-related potential (ERP) was utilized to measure reward anticipation. Participants were 6- to 10-year-olds with (N = 14) and without (N = 14) ASD. Children were presented with rewards accompanied by incidental face or non-face stimuli that were either familiar (caregivers) or unfamiliar. All non-face stimuli were composed of scrambled face elements in the shape of arrows, controlling for visual properties. RESULTS: No significant differences between familiar versus unfamiliar faces were found for either group. When collapsing across familiarity, TD children showed larger reward anticipation to face versus non-face stimuli, whereas children with ASD did not show differential responses to these stimulus types. Magnitude of reward anticipation to faces was significantly correlated with behavioral measures of social impairment in the ASD group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings do not provide evidence for differential reward anticipation for familiar versus unfamiliar face stimuli in children with or without ASD. These findings replicate previous work suggesting that TD children anticipate rewards accompanied by social stimuli more than rewards accompanied by non-social stimuli. The results do not support the idea that familiarity normalizes reward anticipation in children with ASD. Our findings also suggest that magnitude of reward anticipation to faces is correlated with levels of social impairment for children with ASD.

Early head growth in infants at risk of autism: a baby siblings research consortium study.

OBJECTIVE: Although early brain overgrowth is frequently reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the relationship between ASD and head circumference (HC) is less clear, with inconsistent findings from longitudinal studies that include community controls. Our aim was to examine whether head growth in the first 3 years differed between children with ASD from a high-risk (HR) sample of infant siblings of children with ASD (by definition, multiplex), HR siblings not diagnosed with ASD, and low-risk (LR) controls. METHOD: Participants included 442 HR and 253 LR infants from 12 sites of the international Baby Siblings Research Consortium. Longitudinal HC data were obtained prospectively, supplemented by growth records. Random effects nonlinear growth models were used to compare HC in HR infants and LR infants. Additional comparisons were conducted with the HR group stratified by diagnostic status at age 3: ASD (n = 77), developmental delay (DD; n = 32), and typical development (TD; n = 333). Nonlinear growth models were also developed for height to assess general overgrowth associated with ASD. RESULTS: There was no overall difference in head circumference growth over the first 3 years between HR and LR infants, although secondary analyses suggested possible increased total growth in HR infants, reflected by the model asymptote. Analyses stratifying the HR group by 3-year outcomes did not detect differences in head growth or height between HR infants who developed ASD and those who did not, nor between infants with ASD and LR controls. CONCLUSION: Head growth was uninformative as an ASD risk marker within this HR cohort.

Reward anticipation and processing of social versus nonsocial stimuli in children with and without autism spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: How children respond to social and nonsocial rewards has important implications for both typical and atypical social-cognitive development. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to process rewards differently than typically developing (TD) individuals. However, there is little direct evidence to support this claim. METHODS: Two event-related potentials were measured. The stimulus preceding negativity (SPN) was utilized to measure reward anticipation, and the feedback related negativity (FRN) was utilized to measure reward processing. Participants were 6- to 8-year-olds with (N = 20) and without (N = 23) ASD. Children were presented with rewards accompanied by incidental face or nonface stimuli. Nonface stimuli were composed of scrambled face elements in the shape of arrows, controlling for low-level visual properties. RESULTS: Children with ASD showed smaller responses while anticipating and processing rewards accompanied by social stimuli than TD children. Anticipation and processing of rewards accompanied by nonsocial stimuli was intact in children with ASD. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to measure both reward anticipation and processing in ASD while controlling for reward properties. The findings provide evidence that children with autism have reward anticipation and processing deficits for social stimuli only. Our results suggest that while typically developing children find social stimuli more salient than nonsocial stimuli, children with ASD may have the opposite preference.

Follow the liar: the effects of adult lies on children's honesty.

Recent research shows that most adults admit they lie to children. We also know that children learn through modeling and imitation. To date there are no published studies that examine whether lying to children has an effect on children's honesty. We aimed to bridge the gap in this literature by examining the effects of adults' lies on elementary and preschool-aged children's behavior using a modified temptation resistance paradigm, in which children are tempted to peek at a toy they have been told not to look at, and later given a chance to either admit peeking, or try to conceal their transgression by lying. Prior to being tested, half of the children were told a lie and half were not. We then measured both cheating (peeking) and lie-telling behaviors. We hypothesized that lying to a child would increase the likelihood that they would both peek at the toy and lie about having done so. Results showed that school-age children were more likely to peek if they had been lied to, and were also more likely to lie about peeking. In contrast with the school-age children, there was no difference in peeking or lying for preschoolers who were and were not lied to. These results have important implications for parenting and educational settings.

Reward sensitivity to faces versus objects in children: an ERP study.

How children respond to social and nonsocial rewards has important implications for understanding social cognitive development. Adults find faces intrinsically rewarding. However, little is known about how children respond to face vs nonface rewards. We utilized event-related potentials (the stimulus-preceding negativity, SPN) to measure differences in reward anticipation during a guessing game in 6- to 8-year-olds. Children were presented with reward indicators accompanied by incidental face or nonface stimuli. Nonface stimuli were comprised of scrambled faces in the shape of arrows, controlling for low-level properties of the two conditions. Children showed an increased SPN when the reward stimuli were accompanied by faces, relative to nonface stimuli. This suggests that children find a face stimulus more rewarding than a nonface stimulus. The results have important implications for processing social vs nonsocial rewards in typically developing children, and allow testing of populations with deficits in social reward processing, such as autism spectrum disorder.

Young children selectively seek help when solving problems.

There is strong evidence that children show selectivity in their reliance on others as sources of information, but the findings to date have largely been limited to contexts that involve factual information. The current experiments were designed to determine whether children might also show selectivity in their choice of sources within a problem-solving context. Children in two age groups (20-24 months and 30-36 months, total N=60) were presented with a series of conceptually difficult problem-solving tasks and were given an opportunity to interact with adult experimenters who were depicted as either good helpers or bad helpers. Participants in both age groups preferred to seek help from the good helpers. The findings suggest that even young children evaluate others with reference to their potential to provide help and use this information to guide their behavioral choices.