Papageorgopoulou, Eirini (2025) Parent-infant interaction dynamics and links to brain function in infants at an elevated likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
Delays in social communication and interaction represent core features of Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD). Increasing evidence shows that behavioural social communication precursors of ASD begin around the first birthday, though brain function measures have identified neural social attention differences earlier. Developmental antecedents of ASD are thought to affect parent-infant interactions (PII), while early brain function differences are hypothesised to amplify through atypical interactions with the child’s caregiving environment, contributing to altered social development. To examine this, this thesis investigated PII trajectories and PII-brain function links in infants at an elevated and typical familial likelihood (EL and TL infants, respectively) for ASD participating in a prospective longitudinal study. Chapter 2 reviewed and outlined the methods employed to examine PII and its association with brain function, involving an observational coding scheme and electroencephalography. Chapter 3 was an observational study that sought to replicate previous findings investigating 8-14-month PII trajectories in EL and TL infants and their relation to 3-year ASD outcome prediction. Chapter 4 further investigated whether 8-14-month PII changes are associated with 3-year dimensional outcomes. Chapter 5 examined the relationship between infant neural social attention and specific PII qualities in EL and TL infants at 8 months. Chapter 6 employed a data-driven approach integrating PII and brain features of social attention and explored what patterns of relationships predicted 3-year clinical classification. This thesis provided novel evidence for early alterations in PII in EL infants with a later ASD diagnosis, it demonstrated PII’s predictive value in terms of ASD outcome and socio-cognitive development and revealed early brain-PII relationships differentially expressed in EL and TL infants, linked to clinical outcome. The findings inform our understanding of the developmental pathways of ASD and strengthen the evidence base to support the implementation of early pre-emptive interventions to optimise PII in infants with early ASD signs.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Feb 2025 16:15 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Sep 2025 23:18 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/55026 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00055026 |
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