Heart rate-defined sustained attention in infants at risk for autism.

These preliminary findings provide initial evidence that HRDSA may offer a sensitive, affordable, and portable biological measure of attention that may enhance understanding of atypical attention in high-risk infants. Using this method, we also provide initial evidence that atypical patterns of heart activity previously reported in children and adults with autism may emerge in the first year of life, warranting further study of how HRDSA may specifically inform attention profiles in ASD.