Description du projet
Un EEG pour la détection précoce des TSA chez les nourrissons
Le diagnostic précoce des troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) est crucial pour une intervention efficace. Des études montrent que les nouveau-nés atteints de TSA ont manifestement des préférences différentes face à certains stimuli sociaux. Un indice de traitement du visage fondé sur un EEG pourrait servir de biomarqueur pour la prédiction, mais sa mesure nécessite que l’EEG du nourrisson soit enregistré dans un laboratoire. Le projet NeuroSoNew, financé par l’UE, entend concevoir un système d’EEG portable et sans fil pour réaliser facilement, rapidement et automatiquement des tests sur des nouveau-nés via une plateforme numérique programmable à très faible consommation et un dispositif portable adapté à ces patients. Cela favorisera le diagnostic facile et précoce des TSA, et contribuera aux études sur les fonctions perceptives et cognitives des nouveau-nés.
Objectif
Predispositions to preferentially orient towards cues associated with social partners, such as face-like stimuli or biological and animate motion, appear to guide human social behavior from the onset of life and are typically impaired in children with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD). An early detector of social predispositions and their impairment in newborns might provide a valuable biomarker for ASD, an indicator of utmost relevance since infants with ASD greatly benefit from early behavioral intervention. This proposal builds on a study performed within my ERC grant in which, by designing an innovative oscillatory visual presentation of face-like patterns and perceptually equivalent controls, we identified an EEG-based index of face processing, present in each newborn tested and obtainable with less than 2 minutes of newborn’s visual attention. However, recording newborn’s EEG is currently possible only in laboratory settings, as no fully portable EEG system adapted for newborns exists in the market. The goal of this proposal is to design a portable, wireless EEG-based device that allows easy, rapid and automatic testing of face processing in newborns in any context, including their homes. This device is ground-breaking because it will combine the efficacy of our innovative experimental paradigm tailored to newborn’s restricted visual attention with a portable, low-power, wireless EEG device based on dry electrodes and an automatic algorithm that will extract on-line the EEG-based index of face processing. Its realization will enable the development of an early, objective and easy-to-test EEG-based biomarker on newborns at risk, potentially opening the way to large-scale screening protocols. Given the flexibility of the paradigm with respect to the content of the visual stimulation, this method might be used for research purposes to explore the neural bases of other perceptual and cognitive functions in newborns.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitution d’accueil
38122 Trento
Italie