TY - JOUR AU - Tanasache, Valentina Nicoleta PY - 2023/04/05 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Effects of Audio-Visual Stimuli in the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children Aged between 6 And 30 Months JF - New Trends in Psychology JA - NTP VL - 5 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://dj.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/NTP/article/view/2270 SP - 69-78 AB - <p>The earliest identifiable findings in autism indicate that the autistic brain develops differently<br>from the typical brain in the first year of life. Studies suggest that autism has an environmental<br>component that contributes to causation. Studies have shown an association between ASD and<br>increased childhood TV or smartphone screen exposure, suggesting childhood AV exposure as a<br>possible contributing cause of ASD. Infants are attracted to the salience of AV materials, but lack the<br>experience to recognize them as socially relevant stimuli. The research presents a developmental model<br>of autism in which exposure to screen-based AV in infants fosters non-social sensory processing<br>specialization in the brain. Through a process of neuroplasticity, the autistic infant develops skills that<br>are driven by AV viewing. This model explains atypical face and speech processing, as well as the<br>preference for AV synchrony over biological motion in ASD. Researchers studying autism causation<br>have largely ignored childhood AV exposure as a potential contributing factor. This study calls for<br>awareness of the association between early screen viewing and ASD.</p> ER -