Realizing the Translational Promise of Psychophysiological Research in ASD

Excerpt

This special issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders focuses on the contributions of psychophysiological research to scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The past decade has brought considerable advances in the application of psychophysiology for examining mechanisms of function and dysfunction in ASD. These insights span the range of behaviors affected, including social communication, restricted and repetitive behaviors, sensory processing, and cognition. Psychophysiological methods hold promise to offer key insights into autism by elucidating the biological underpinnings of behavior, by informing clinical understanding through more nuanced characterization of the phenotype, and by guiding intervention via describing treatment targets, predicting response to intervention, and measuring outcomes. The current issue reflects the breadth and depth of these approaches to ASD by presenting, in a single volume, a range manuscripts employing electrophysiology, electromyography, cardiac measures, magnetoencephalography, and electrodermal response. The studies described in this special issue address scientific questions related to social perception, sensory attention, interpersonal responsivity, social ability, memory, language, and other areas, and the populations involved in this work range from infants to adults with ASD, typical development, and other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as tuberous sclerosis and ADHD. The adoption of and enthusiasm for these techniques by ASD researchers is evident in the overwhelming response to our call for papers. A competitive review process yielded 25 outstanding manuscripts, representing the state of the science in psychophysiological ASD research. We are grateful to the editorial staff at Springer for embracing this enthusiasm and kicking off 2015 with publication of this “super issue” that exceeds standard limits for special issues or sections. …