# Mechanistic Transitions that Shape Typical and Atypical Social Visual Engagement

> **NIH NIH P50** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $331,380

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY 
The present application builds on recent research in our laboratory showing that social visual engagement—the 
way in which infants visually explore, engage, and ultimately learn from and adapt to their surrounding world— 
is (1) tightly coupled to genetic variation, with concordance in identical toddler twins equal to 0.91; (2) highly 
phylogenetically conserved, with infant rhesus monkeys exhibiting patterns of early eye-looking that are strikingly 
homologous to human infants; and (3) pathognomonically impaired in infants later diagnosed with ASD, with 
differences observed from at least month 2 onwards in initial and replication cohorts. The present application will 
build on these findings to study pivotal transitions in early infancy that set the stage for future attainment of social- 
communicative milestones. We will investigate early infant transitions from reflex-like to volitional social adaptive 
action in the first 2 months post-partum (Aim 1); the emergence of reciprocal and contingent infant social 
interaction (Aim 2); and the cascading consequences of very early infant social engagement—or the disruption 
thereof in ASD—on later, long-term social-communicative outcomes (Aim 3). Finally, we will connect these 
measures to concomitant changes in developing structural and functional brain networks (in Projects III and V), 
to the emergence of spoken communication (in Project II), and to response to early social interaction therapy (in 
Project IV). A cohort of 250 infants will be enrolled, consisting of infant siblings of children with autism who are 
at High Risk for developing ASD (HR-ASD, N=150) as well as infant siblings at Low Risk of developmental delays, 
with Typical Development expected by virtue of having no familial history of ASD (LR-TDx, N=100). Data will be 
collected longitudinally and prospectively, beginning in the first week after birth. This project directly addresses 
several of the aspirational goals for autism set forth by the NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, 
with emphasis on understanding the unfolding developmental trajectories, underlying mechanisms, and 
biological signatures of ASD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10227970
- **Project number:** 5P50MH100029-10
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Warren Jones
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $331,380
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-09-04 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10227970

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10227970, Mechanistic Transitions that Shape Typical and Atypical Social Visual Engagement (5P50MH100029-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10227970. Licensed CC0.

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