TREAT Study
Characterizing Typical and Atypical Trajectories of Behavioral & Brain Development
The TREAT study aims to understand how young children's brains process different rewards, such as a video of their caregiver's face, bubbles in the room, and other videos. During this study, your child watches videos, does an activity that involves pressing a large button and completes a developmental assessment with a licensed clinical psychologist or trainee. The goal of this study is to use this information to individualize better early intervention treatments for children on the autism spectrum.
Research Overview
The TREAT study aims to understand how neurotypical and autistic children process social and nonsocial rewards using EEG/ERP analysis and behavioral tasks. Two EEG paradigms are studied including an adapted version of the "doors task" and a new experimental paradigm called "epeekaboo". EEG data is then processed to determine the elicited neural responses to both social and nonsocial rewarding images. The behavioral tasks include a novel iteration of the progressive ratio tasks that are developmentally appropriate for young children and a developmental assessment. 40 children aged 3-5 years have completed the TREAT study with 22% from the minority population and 78% white. Data is currently still being analyzed.
We are currently recruiting children aged 3-5 years old who have not received the autism diagnosis or have had concerns about a diagnosis in the past. We are currently aiming to recruit boys who meet these criteria.
Funded By
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant; DonationsAge Group
- Infants
- Preschooler
- Toddlers
Investigators
Caitlin Clements, Assistant Psychology Professor
Research Impact
Motivation and effort are aspects of learning that are keys to many early interventions for autistic children. With this information, we can learn to individualize early interventions for autistic children, enhancing the therapeutic outcomes. We will also use this information to provide insight into the social motivation hypothesis of autism which posits that autistic children are less motivated by social interactions as opposed to their neurotypical counterparts.