Areas of Research

Cognitive Development Lab

Hierarchical Visual Processing – Autism Spectrum Disorder and Autistic Traits

Our Lab

 

By employing sensitive techniques like eye-tracking and pupillometry, I aim to uncover underlying mechanisms of visual processing differences and contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between autistic traits and neurodivergent visual processing.

Gordon Vision Lab

Visual Evoked Potentials – Autism Spectrum Disorder

Our Lab
The heterogeneity of autism presents many challenges in understanding the disorder. My research employs objective measures to examine visual evoked potential (VEP) responses of children with idiopathic autism (iASD) and Phelan-Mcdermid syndrome (PMS) to a contrast-reversing checkerboard in both long (60-second) and short (2-second) duration conditions.

PUBLICATIONS

 

Brittenham, C., DiCriscio, A. S., Troiani, V., Hu, Y., & Wagner, J. B. (2025). Task-evoked pupil responses during free-viewing of hierarchical figures in relation to autistic traits in adults. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 9778.

Brittenham, C., Gordon, J., Zemon, V. M., & Siper, P. M. (2022). Objective frequency analysis of transient visual evoked potentials in autistic children. Autism Research, 15(3), 464-480.

Siper, P. M., Rowe, M. A., Guillory, S. B., Rouhandeh, A. A., George-Jones, J. L., Tavassoli, T., Lurie, S., Zweifach, J., Weissman, J., Foss-Feig, J., Halpern, D., Trelles, P., Mulhern, M.S., Brittenham, C., Gordon, J., Zemon,V., Buxbaum, J., Kolevzon, A. (2021). Visual evoked potential abnormalities in Phelan-McDermid syndrome. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Advance online publication.

 

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Brittenham, C. & Wagner, J. B. (2025). Less face engagement, more object focus, and greater pupil constriction associated with autistic traits in nonautistic preschoolers. In International Society for Autism Research Conference.

Soker-Elimaliah, S., Brittenham, C., & Wagner, J. B. (2025). Temperamental sensory features in the first years of life predict later autistic traits. In International Society for Autism Research Conference.

DeStefano, A., Brittenham, C., Soker-Elimaliah, S., Hayes, L., Wagner, J. B. (2025). Assessment of a novel PLR app in adults varying in autistic traits. In Eastern Psychological Association Conference.

Brittenham, C., Soker-Elimaliah, S., Scarano, S. R., & Wagner, J.B. The Pupillary Light Reflex in Infants Is Associated with Concurrent Markers of Social Communication. In International Congress of Infant Studies 2024 Conference.

Brittenham, C. & Wagner, J. B. Global Processing Takes More Time and Is Less Accurate in Individuals with High Levels of Autistic Traits. In International Society for Autism Research 2024 Conference.

Brittenham, C. & Wagner, J. B. Examining Visual Processing of Hierarchical Figures through Behavioral Measures and Pupillometry in Relation to Autistic Traits in Adults. In International Society for Autism Research 2023 Conference.

Brittenham, C. & Wagner, J. B. No Initial Left Gaze Bias to Faces in Children with High Levels of Autistic Traits. In Society for Research in Child Development 2023 Conference.

Brittenham, C., Soker-Elimaliah, S., Wagner, J. B., Diminished left gaze bias to faces in infants with elevated autism-related traits. In International Congress of Infant Studies 2022 Conference.

Brittenham, C., Wagner, J. B., Lack of Left Gaze Bias to Faces in Adults with High Levels of Autistic Traits. In International Society for Autism Research 2022 Conference.

Brittenham, C., Wagner, J. B., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Nelson, C. A. Exploring Face Inversion Effects and Attentional Biases in Infants at High Risk for ASD. In International Society for Autism Research 2021 Virtual Meeting. 

Nunez, V., Gordon, J., Brittenham, C., McNeil, R., Pertsovskaya, V., Yin, Y., & Shapley, R. (2019). Double-opponent cells in Parvocellular and Koniocellular pathways contribute to the perception of color in color patterns. Journal of Vision, 19(15), 7-7.

Nunez, V., Shapley, R., Schuette, P., Amir, A., Brittenham, C., Butt, A., Chan, N., Syed Ali, H., Pehme, P., Ridwan, C. S., Song, Y., Gordon, J. Evidence of Nonlinear Edge Mechanism in Cortical Responses to Color in the cVEP. Perception 2016 Meeting. 45, 213-213.