NCT06334588

Understanding the Mechanisms of Autism : an MRI and Social Cognition Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 160 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 3 Months – 28 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The main goal of this study is to investigate anatomo-functional brain abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorders using a multimodal brain imaging approach, as well as its links to social cognition difficulties measured using eye-tracking

Detailed description

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders whose first manifestations appear early in childhood. Even if ASDs present a wide heterogeneity in clinical manifestations, abnormalities in social behavior, characterized in particular by a lack of preference for social information, remain the core of difficulties characteristic of autism. Brain imaging investigations have revealed anatomo-functional abnormalities in autism, particularly in social brain regions. In parallel, eye-tracking studies have provided objective measures of social perception abnormalities in autism. These results illustrate the relevance of these research strategies in the context of ASD. Acquiring objective data on social behavior and linking them with brain imaging data opens up new avenues for research into the evolution of social skills during child development, and the brain changes underlying this process. In this context, the main hypothesis of this study is that the investigation of the neural bases of autism spectrum disorders, using an approach combining multimodal brain imaging and the investigation of social behavior using eye-tracking, would make it possible not only to better describe abnormalities, but also to identify individual patterns at brain and behavioral level. This could help to better characterize ASDs with and without genetic abnormalities, an area which to date has received very little investigation. In addition, the objective measurements obtained with this approach would also enable the proposal of biomarkers, which would contribute not only to better monitoring of the disorder's evolution, but also to the evaluation of the effectiveness of new therapeutic interventions

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	MRI	Anatomical and functional images will be acquired and review by an experienced neuro-radiologist
DEVICE	Eye-tracking	Eye movements and follow a person's gaze will be recorded during visualization of stimuli presented in the screen by analyzing images of the eye captured by an infrared camera
OTHER	Clinical Scales	CGI, E-CAR and ABC will be used for behavior and clinical evaluation
GENETIC	Research of genetic anomalies	For the diagnosis of autism, patients benefit from a a genetic assessment. This is carried out as part of their care

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-04-17
• Primary completion: 2029-04-01
• Completion: 2031-04-01
• First posted: 2024-03-28
• Last updated: 2025-12-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France