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Piatti A, Van der Paelt S, Warreyn P, Roeyers H. Neural correlates of response to joint attention in 2-to-5-year-olds in relation to ASD and social-communicative abilities: An fNIRS and behavioral study. Autism Res 2024; 17:1106-1125. [PMID: 38780020 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with life-long challenges with social cognition, and one of its earliest and most common manifestations is atypical joint attention, which is a pivotal skill in social-cognitive and linguistic development. Early interventions for ASD children often focus on training initiation of joint attention (IJA) and response to joint attention bids (RJA), which are important for social communication and cognition. Here, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy and behavioral measures to test typically developing (TD, n = 17) and ASD children (n = 18), to address the relationship between the neural correlates of RJA and social-communicative behavior. Group-level differences were present for RJA-specific activation over right temporal sites, where TD children showed higher levels of activation during RJA than ASD children, whereas the two groups did not differ in the control condition. Correlations between neural activation and behavioral traits suggest that, in ASD children, neural activation during RJA is related to the frequency of RJA behavior when the former is measured over left temporal sites, and to social affect symptoms when considered for right temporal sites. Possible implications of the evidenced correlations are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Piatti
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Sara Van der Paelt
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Petra Warreyn
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Herbert Roeyers
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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2
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Yoon CD, Xia Y, Terol AK, Meadan H, Lee JD. Correlation Between Gaze Behaviors and Social Communication Skills of Young Autistic Children: A Meta-Analysis of Eye-Tracking Studies. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06257-x. [PMID: 38400896 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06257-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
This meta-analysis examined correlations between eye-tracking measures of gaze behaviors manifested during dynamic salient social stimuli and behavioral assessment measures of social communication skills of young autistic children. We employed a multilevel model with random effects to perform three separate meta-analyses for correlation between social communication skills and (a) all gaze behaviors, (b) gaze duration, and (c) gaze transition. Subsequently, we performed meta-regression to assess the role of four moderators, including age, continuum of naturalness of stimuli, gaze metric, and area of interest, on correlation effect sizes that were heterogeneous at the population level. A total of 111 correlation coefficients from 17 studies for 1132 young autistic children or children with high-likelihood for autism (Mage range = 6-95 months) were included in this meta-analysis. The correlation effect sizes for all three meta-analyses were significant, supporting the relation between improved gaze behaviors and better social communication skills. In addition, age, gaze metric, and area of interest were significant moderators. This suggests the importance of identifying meaningful gaze behaviors related to social communication skills and the increasingly influential role of gaze behaviors in shaping social communication skills as young autistic children progress through the early childhood stage. The continuum of naturalness of stimuli, however, was revealed to trend towards having a significant moderating effect. Lastly, it is important to note the evidence of potential publication bias. Our findings are discussed in the context of early identification and intervention and unraveling the complex nature of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christy D Yoon
- Department of Special Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
| | - Yan Xia
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA
| | - Adriana Kaori Terol
- Department of Special Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA
| | - Hedda Meadan
- Department of Special Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA
| | - James D Lee
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, 6901 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98115, USA
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3
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Clements CC, Ascunce K, Nelson CA. In Context: A Developmental Model of Reward Processing, With Implications for Autism and Sensitive Periods. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2023; 62:1200-1216. [PMID: 36336205 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.07.861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Differences in reward processing have been associated with numerous psychiatric disorders, including autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Many attempts to understand reward processing characterize differences in clinical populations after disorder onset; however, divergence may begin much earlier. In fact, the typical developmental progression of reward processing in infancy and early childhood is poorly understood. We re-conceptualize classic infant developmental constructs such as preferential looking into a Six-Component Developmental Model of Reward Processing: an infant- and young child-focused framework to guide research and assessment of reward processing across development. METHOD The extant developmental literature including recent textbooks, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses was reviewed to build a conceptual framework. We describe experimental paradigms to assess each developmental component of reward processing longitudinally from infancy. A timeline of each component's emergence was estimated. RESULTS Six components of reward processing were identified-association, discrimination, preference/valuation, effort, anticipation, and response. Selected evidence suggests emergence between birth and 6 months. Application of this model to autism led to a reinterpretation of existing disparate results, and illuminated a path to study the developmental processes underlying a popular hypothesis of autism, the motivation hypothesis. Current evidence further suggests that a sensitive period may exist for the emergence of reward processing. CONCLUSION The proposed framework offers a useful reconceptualization of the extant literature. Future longitudinal work using the suggested experimental paradigms with high-risk populations could elucidate the developmental trajectory of the components and timing of potential sensitive period(s) for each component.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin C Clements
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts.
| | | | - Charles A Nelson
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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4
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Wang H, Zhao X, Yu D. Nonlinear features of gaze behavior during joint attention in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2023; 16:1786-1798. [PMID: 37530201 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
Since children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might exhibit a variety of aberrant response to joint attention (RJA) behaviors, there is growing interest in identifying robust, reliable and valid eye-tracking metrics for determining differences in RJA behaviors between typically developing (TD) children and those with ASD. Previous eye-tracking studies have not been deeply investigated nonlinear features of gaze time-series during RJA. As a main motivation, this study aimed to extract three nonlinear features (i.e., complexity, long-range correlation, and local instability) of gaze time-series during RJA in children with ASD, which can be measured by fractal dimension (FD), Hurst exponent (H), and largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), respectively. To illustrate our idea, this study adopted a publicly accessible database, including eye-tracking data collected during RJA from 19 children with ASD (7.74 ± 2.73) and 30 TD children (8.02 ± 2.89), and conducted a battery of nonparametric analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), where gender was used as covariable. Findings showed that gaze time-series during RJA in autistic children may generally have greater FD but lower H than that in TD controls. This implies that children with ASD possess more complex and unpredictable gaze behaviors during RJA than TD children. Furthermore, nonlinear metrics outperformed traditional eye-tracking metrics in obtaining higher identification performance with an accuracy of 82% and an AUC value of 0.81, distinguishing the differences between successful and failed RJA trails, and predicting the severity of ASD symptoms. Findings might bring some new insights into the understanding of the impairments in RJA behaviors for children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongan Wang
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xin Zhao
- Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Dongchuan Yu
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- Henan Provincial Medical Key Lab of Child Developmental Behavior and Learning, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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5
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de Belen RA, Pincham H, Hodge A, Silove N, Sowmya A, Bednarz T, Eapen V. Eye-tracking correlates of response to joint attention in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. BMC Psychiatry 2023; 23:211. [PMID: 36991383 PMCID: PMC10061704 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-04585-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A number of differences in joint attention behaviour between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) individuals have previously been documented. METHOD We use eye-tracking technology to assess response to joint attention (RJA) behaviours in 77 children aged 31 to 73 months. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance to identify differences between groups. In addition, we analysed correlations between eye-tracking and clinical measures using Spearman's correlation. RESULTS The children diagnosed with ASD were less likely to follow gaze compared to TD children. Children with ASD were less accurate at gaze following when only eye gaze information was available, compared to when eye gaze with head movement was observed. Higher accuracy gaze-following profiles were associated with better early cognition and more adaptive behaviours in children with ASD. Less accurate gaze-following profiles were associated with more severe ASD symptomatology. CONCLUSION There are differences in RJA behaviours between ASD and TD preschool children. Several eye-tracking measures of RJA behaviours in preschool children were found to be associated with clinical measures for ASD diagnosis. This study also highlights the construct validity of using eye-tracking measures as potential biomarkers in the assessment and diagnosis of ASD in preschool children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Anthony de Belen
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Hannah Pincham
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Antoinette Hodge
- Children's Hospital Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Natalie Silove
- Children's Hospital Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Arcot Sowmya
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Tomasz Bednarz
- School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Valsamma Eapen
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry South West Sydney, Ingham Institute, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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6
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Putnam OC, Sasson N, Parish-Morris J, Harrop C. Effects of social complexity and gender on social and non-social attention in male and female autistic children: A comparison of four eye-tracking paradigms. Autism Res 2023; 16:315-326. [PMID: 36408851 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Eye tracking has long been used to characterize differences in social attention between autistic and non-autistic children, but recent work has shown that these patterns may vary widely according to the biological sex of the participants and the social complexity and gender-typicality of the eye tracking stimuli (e.g., barbies vs. transformers). To better understand effects of sex, social complexity, and object gender-typicality on social and non-social gaze behavior in autism, we compared the visual attention patterns of 67 autistic (ASD) and non-autistic (NA) males (M) and females (F) (ASD M = 21; ASD F = 18; NA M = 14; NA F = 14) across four eye tracking paradigms varying in social complexity and object gender-typicality. We found consistency across paradigms in terms of overall attention and attention to social stimuli, but attention to objects varied when paradigms considered gender in their stimulus design. Children attended more to gendered objects, particularly when the gender-typicality of the object matched their assigned sex. These results demonstrate that visual social attention in autism is affected by interactions between a child's biological sex, social scene complexity, and object gender-typicality and have broad implications for the design and interpretation of eye tracking studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orla C Putnam
- Division of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Noah Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USA
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Clare Harrop
- Division of Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
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7
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Zhang J, Li Z, Wu Y, Ye AY, Chen L, Yang X, Wu Q, Wei L. RJAfinder: An automated tool for quantification of responding to joint attention behaviors in autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking data. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:915464. [PMID: 36466175 PMCID: PMC9714660 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.915464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 08/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Deficits in responding to joint attention (RJA) are early symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, no automated tools exist for identifying and quantifying RJA behaviors. A few eye tracking studies have investigated RJA in ASD children but have produced conflicting results. In addition, little is known about the trajectory of RJA development through developmental age. Here, a new video was designed including 12 clips of an actor pointing to or looking at an object. Eye tracking technology was used to monitor RJA in three groups: 143 ASD children assessed with the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) (4-7 years old), 113 age- and gender-matched typically developing children (TDC), and 43 typically developing adults (TDA) (19-32 years old). RJAfinder was developed in R and MATLAB to quantify RJA events from the eye tracking data. RJA events were compared among the three groups. Spearman correlation coefficients between total number of RJA events in ASD and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores were calculated. A logistic regression model was built using the average valid sampling rate and the total number of RJA events as two predictive variables to classify ASD and TDC groups. ASD children displayed statistically significantly less RJA events than the TDC and TDA groups with medium-to-large-sized effects. ASD and TDC children both displayed more RJA events in response to pointing stimuli than to looking stimuli. Our logistic regression model predicted ASD tendency with 0.76 accuracy in the testing set. RJA ability improved more slowly between the ages of 4-7 years old in the ASD group than in the TDC group. In ASD children, RJA ability showed negative correlation with SRS total T-score as well as the scores of five subdomains. Our study provides an automated tool for quantifying RJA and insights for the study of RJA in ASD children, which may help improve ASD screening, subtyping, and behavior interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zhang
- Pharmacy Department of Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Ziyi Li
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Yige Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Adam Yongxin Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Lei Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoxu Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Qixi Wu
- School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Liping Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Center for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
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8
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Nayar K, Shic F, Winston M, Losh M. A constellation of eye-tracking measures reveals social attention differences in ASD and the broad autism phenotype. Mol Autism 2022; 13:18. [PMID: 35509089 PMCID: PMC9069739 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-022-00490-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Social attention differences, expressed through gaze patterns, have been documented in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with subtle differences also reported among first-degree relatives, suggesting a shared genetic link. Findings have mostly been derived from standard eye-tracking methods (total fixation count or total fixation duration). Given the dynamics of visual attention, these standard methods may obscure subtle, yet core, differences in visual attention mechanisms, particularly those presenting sub-clinically. This study applied a constellation of eye-tracking analyses to gaze data from individuals with ASD and their parents. Methods This study included n = 156 participants across groups, including ASD (n = 24) and control (n = 32) groups, and parents of individuals with ASD (n = 61) and control parents (n = 39). A complex scene with social/non-social elements was displayed and gaze tracked via an eye tracker. Eleven analytic methods from the following categories were analyzed: (1) standard variables, (2) temporal dynamics (e.g., gaze over time), (3) fixation patterns (e.g., perseverative or regressive fixations), (4) first fixations, and (5) distribution patterns. MANOVAs, growth curve analyses, and Chi-squared tests were applied to examine group differences. Finally, group differences were examined on component scores derived from a principal component analysis (PCA) that reduced variables to distinct dimensions. Results No group differences emerged among standard, first fixation, and distribution pattern variables. Both the ASD and ASD parent groups demonstrated on average reduced social attention over time and atypical perseverative fixations. Lower social attention factor scores derived from PCA strongly differentiated the ASD and ASD parent groups from controls, with parent findings driven by the subset of parents demonstrating the broad autism phenotype. Limitations To generalize these findings, larger sample sizes, extended viewing contexts (e.g., dynamic stimuli), and even more eye-tracking analytical methods are needed. Conclusions Fixations over time and perseverative fixations differentiated ASD and the ASD parent groups from controls, with the PCA most robustly capturing social attention differences. Findings highlight their methodological utility in studies of the (broad) autism spectrum to capture nuanced visual attention differences that may relate to clinical symptoms in ASD, and reflect genetic liability in clinically unaffected relatives. This proof-of-concept study may inform future studies using eye tracking across populations where social attention is impacted. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13229-022-00490-w.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kritika Nayar
- Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Lab, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Frederick Shic
- Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Molly Winston
- Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Lab, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Molly Losh
- Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Lab, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
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9
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Motion or sociality? The cueing effect and temporal course of autistic traits on gaze-triggered attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:1167-1177. [PMID: 35437701 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02480-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Gaze-triggered attention changes have been found in individuals with high autistic traits in the nonclinical population. However, gaze cues used in previous studies imply not only sociality of gaze but also the motion of gaze. To exclude the influence of motion, we manipulated the cue sociality by setting dot cues with similar motion characteristics as gaze cues to explore the underlying reasons of gaze-triggered attention changes in individuals with high autistic traits. We used a cueing paradigm within a visual matching task and recorded individuals' eye movements. Both the RT and eye movement of probe interface showed the benefit from gaze of the low autistic trait group was larger than that from dot and was larger than that of the high autistic trait group. While the high autistic trait group show similar benefit between gaze and dot. Eye movement results showed the dynamic changes of validity effect in two groups. The interaction between autistic traits and cue sociality was not significant within the 500 ms of cue presentation, marginally significant within 500-1,000 ms after cue presentation, but significant after 1,000 ms of cue presentation. The results demonstrated that the changes of gaze-triggered attention in individuals with high autistic traits was mainly caused by the sociality of gaze in the relative late stage.
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10
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Development of a visual attention based decision support system for autism spectrum disorder screening. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 173:69-81. [PMID: 35007668 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2021] [Revised: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Visual attention of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been well documented in the literature for the past 20 years. In this study, we developed a Decision Support System (DSS) that uses machine learning (ML) techniques to identify young children with ASD from typically developing (TD) children. Study participants included 26 to 36 months old young children with ASD (n = 61) and TD children (n = 72). The results showed that the proposed DSS achieved up to 87.5% success rate in the early assessment of ASD in young children. Findings suggested that visual attention is a unique, promising biomarker for early assessment of ASD. Study results were discussed, and suggestions for future research were provided.
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11
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Jyoti V, Gupta S, Lahiri U. Understanding the Role of Objects in Joint Attention Task Framework for Children With Autism. IEEE Trans Cogn Dev Syst 2021. [DOI: 10.1109/tcds.2020.2983333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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12
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Liu Q, Wang Q, Li X, Gong X, Luo X, Yin T, Liu J, Yi L. Social synchronization during joint attention in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:2120-2130. [PMID: 34105871 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
We explored the social synchronization of gaze-shift behaviors when responding to joint attention in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Forty-one children aged 5 to 8 with ASD and 43 typically developing (TD) children watched a video to complete the response to joint attention (RJA) tasks, during which their gaze data were collected. The synchronization of gaze-shift behaviors between children and the female model in the video was measured with the cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA). Ultimately, we discovered that children with ASD had the ability to synchronize their gaze shifts with the female model in the video during RJA tasks. Compared to the TD children, they displayed lower levels of synchronization and longer latency in this synchronized behavior. These findings provide a new avenue to deepen our understanding of the impairments of social interaction in children with ASD. Notably, the analytic method can be further applied to explore the social synchronization of numerous other social interactive behaviors in ASD. LAY SUMMARY: This study explored how autistic children synchronized their gazed shifts with others' gaze cues during joint attention. We found that compared to typical children, autistic children synchronized their gazed shifts less and needed more time to follow others' gaze. These findings provide a new avenue to deepen our understanding of the impairments of social interaction in children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinyi Liu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Qiandong Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xue Li
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoyun Gong
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Xuerong Luo
- Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Mental Health Institute of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Tingni Yin
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Li Yi
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences & Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.,IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Peking University, Beijing, China
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13
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Seernani D, Ioannou C, Damania K, Hill H, Foulsham T, Smyrnis N, Biscaldi M, Klein C. Social and non-social gaze cueing in autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a comorbid group. Biol Psychol 2021; 162:108096. [PMID: 33891995 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Recent trends in literature, along with the changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), make it imperative to study Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) together, in order to better understand potential aetiological commonalities between these highly comorbid disorders. The present study examines social cueing, a highly studied construct in ASD, and intra-subject variability (ISV), a potential endophenotype of ADHD, in four groups of typically developing (TD), ADHD, ASD- (ASD without ADHD), ASD+ (ASD with ADHD) participants (N = 85) aged 10-13 years. Results showed that social cueing is intact in the 'pure' ASD group when task expectations are clear. The ADHD group showed faster saccadic reaction times, no increased ISV and a pattern of viewing comparable to the TD group. However, the ASD + group showed a differences in processing style and ISV. A secondary analysis gives evidence of non-additive effects of the ASD and ADHD factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Seernani
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - C Ioannou
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - H Hill
- Institute of Sports and Sports Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
| | - T Foulsham
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, UK
| | - N Smyrnis
- 2nd Psychiatry Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital "ATTIKON", Athens, Greece
| | - M Biscaldi
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - C Klein
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Germany; 2nd Psychiatry Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, University General Hospital "ATTIKON", Athens, Greece; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Germany.
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Bill G, Whyte E, Griffin JW, Scherf KS. Measuring sensitivity to eye gaze cues in naturalistic scenes: Presenting the eye gaze FoCuS database. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 2020; 29:1-9. [PMID: 32662167 PMCID: PMC7723179 DOI: 10.1002/mpr.1833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2019] [Revised: 03/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The ability to process information about eye gaze and its use for nonverbal communication is foundational to human social interactions. We developed and validated a database of stimuli that are optimized to investigate the perception and referential understanding of shifts in eye gaze. METHODS The 245 Gaze Perception stimuli are digital photographs that test the ability to estimate and interpret eye gaze trajectory. The 82 Gaze Following stimuli are digital videos that measure the ability to follow and interpret eye gaze shifts online. Both stimuli were designed for a 4-alternative forced choice paradigm (4AFC) in which the participant identifies the gazed-at object. RESULTS Each stimulus was validated by independent raters and only included if the endorsement of the correct item was ≥75%. Finally, we provided timestamps for 19 40-second video segments from adolescent-oriented entertainment movies that are matched on several factors. These segments involve social interactions with eye gaze shifts and can be used to measure visual social attention. CONCLUSIONS This database will be an excellent resource for researchers interested in studying the developmental, behavioral, and/or neural mechanisms supporting the perception and interpretation of eye gaze cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gordon Bill
- Pennsylvania State UniversityState CollegePennsylvaniaUSA
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15
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Eye-Tracking in Infants and Young Children at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of Visual Stimuli in Experimental Paradigms. J Autism Dev Disord 2020; 51:2578-2599. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04731-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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16
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Cilia F, Aubry A, Le Driant B, Bourdin B, Vandromme L. Visual Exploration of Dynamic or Static Joint Attention Bids in Children With Autism Syndrome Disorder. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2187. [PMID: 31649576 PMCID: PMC6794558 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Eye-tracking studies have revealed a specific visual exploration style characterizing individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of stimulus type (static vs. dynamic) on visual exploration in children with ASD. Twenty-eight children with ASD, 28 children matched for developmental communication age, and 28 children matched for chronological age watched a video and a series of photos involving the same joint attention scene. For each stimulus, areas of interest (AOI) were determined based on Voronoi diagrams, which were defined around participants' fixation densities, defined by the mean shift algorithm. To analyze the eye-tracking data on visual exploration, we used a method for creating AOI a posteriori, based on participants' actual fixations. The results showed the value of both kinds of stimuli. The photos allowed for the identification of more precise AOI and showed similarities in exploration between ASD and typical children. On the other hand, video revealed that, among ASD children only, there are few differences in the way they look at the target depending on the deictic cue used. This raises questions regarding their understanding of a joint attention bid recorded on a video. Finally, whatever the stimulus, pointing seems to be the most important element for children looking at the target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Cilia
- EA7273 Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognition, Psychisme et Organisations, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
| | - Alexandre Aubry
- EA7489, Laboratoire Lorrain de Psychologie et de Neurosciences de la Dynamique des Comportements (2LPN), Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l'Éducation, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
| | - Barbara Le Driant
- EA7273 Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognition, Psychisme et Organisations, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
| | - Beatrice Bourdin
- EA7273 Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognition, Psychisme et Organisations, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
| | - Luc Vandromme
- EA 7516, Chirurgie et Extrémité Céphalique, Caractérisation Morphologique et Fonctionnelle, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
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17
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Howard PL, Zhang L, Benson V. What Can Eye Movements Tell Us about Subtle Cognitive Processing Differences in Autism? Vision (Basel) 2019; 3:E22. [PMID: 31735823 PMCID: PMC6802779 DOI: 10.3390/vision3020022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is neurodevelopmental condition principally characterised by impairments in social interaction and communication, and repetitive behaviours and interests. This article reviews the eye movement studies designed to investigate the underlying sampling or processing differences that might account for the principal characteristics of autism. Following a brief summary of a previous review chapter by one of the authors of the current paper, a detailed review of eye movement studies investigating various aspects of processing in autism over the last decade will be presented. The literature will be organised into sections covering different cognitive components, including language and social communication and interaction studies. The aim of the review will be to show how eye movement studies provide a very useful on-line processing measure, allowing us to account for observed differences in behavioural data (accuracy and reaction times). The subtle processing differences that eye movement data reveal in both language and social processing have the potential to impact in the everyday communication domain in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippa L Howard
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth BH12 5BB, UK
| | - Li Zhang
- Academy of Psychology and Behaviour, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300074, China
| | - Valerie Benson
- School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK
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18
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Franchini M, Armstrong VL, Schaer M, Smith IM. Initiation of joint attention and related visual attention processes in infants with autism spectrum disorder: Literature review. Child Neuropsychol 2018; 25:287-317. [PMID: 30041581 DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2018.1490706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a group of neurodevelopmental disabilities that can be difficult to identify before the age of 2 or 3 years, the age when the full range of behavioral symptoms has emerged in most cases. Initiation of joint attention is an important developmental function in which impairments are already observable before the second birthday and can predict children's ASD symptomatology. In the first part of this review, we summarize results pertaining to retrospective studies of initiation of joint attention in children with ASD and prospective studies of infants at high risk for ASD during the first 2 years, when this behavior is becoming more complex in terms of frequency, quality, and variety. We will also discuss the implications of impairments in dyadic engagement, a precursor of joint attention behavior, for the early development of joint attention. Finally, the early development of initiation of joint attention has been related to specific visual attention mechanisms such as social orienting and visual disengagement. In the second part of this review, we provide an overview of the relationship between those visual attention mechanisms and subsequent social-communication impairments. Clinical and research implications of these findings for both early detection and early intervention will be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Franchini
- a Autism Research Centre , IWK Health Centre , Halifax , NS , Canada.,b Department of Pediatrics , Dalhousie University , Halifax , NS , Canada
| | - Vickie L Armstrong
- a Autism Research Centre , IWK Health Centre , Halifax , NS , Canada.,b Department of Pediatrics , Dalhousie University , Halifax , NS , Canada
| | - Marie Schaer
- c Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland
| | - Isabel M Smith
- a Autism Research Centre , IWK Health Centre , Halifax , NS , Canada.,b Department of Pediatrics , Dalhousie University , Halifax , NS , Canada.,d Department of Psychology & Neuroscience , Dalhousie University , Halifax , NS , Canada
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19
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Grzyb BJ, Cangelosi A, Cattani A, Floccia C. Decreased attention to object size information in scale errors performers. Infant Behav Dev 2017; 47:72-82. [PMID: 28347908 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2016] [Revised: 02/03/2017] [Accepted: 03/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Young children sometimes make serious attempts to perform impossible actions on miniature objects as if they were full-size objects. The existing explanations of these curious action errors assume (but never explicitly tested) children's decreased attention to object size information. This study investigated the attention to object size information in scale errors performers. Two groups of children aged 18-25 months (N=52) and 48-60 months (N=23) were tested in two consecutive tasks: an action task that replicated the original scale errors elicitation situation, and a looking task that involved watching on a computer screen actions performed with adequate to inadequate size object. Our key finding - that children performing scale errors in the action task subsequently pay less attention to size changes than non-scale errors performers in the looking task - suggests that the origins of scale errors in childhood operate already at the perceptual level, and not at the action level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beata J Grzyb
- Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom; Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Angelo Cangelosi
- Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
| | - Allegra Cattani
- Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
| | - Caroline Floccia
- Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
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20
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Disentangling the initiation from the response in joint attention: an eye-tracking study in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Transl Psychiatry 2016; 6:e808. [PMID: 27187230 PMCID: PMC5070062 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2016.75] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2015] [Revised: 03/02/2016] [Accepted: 03/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Joint attention (JA), whose deficit is an early risk marker for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), has two dimensions: (1) responding to JA and (2) initiating JA. Eye-tracking technology has largely been used to investigate responding JA, but rarely to study initiating JA especially in young children with ASD. The aim of this study was to describe the differences in the visual patterns of toddlers with ASD and those with typical development (TD) during both responding JA and initiating JA tasks. Eye-tracking technology was used to monitor the gaze of 17 children with ASD and 15 age-matched children with TD during the presentation of short video sequences involving one responding JA and two initiating JA tasks (initiating JA-1 and initiating JA-2). Gaze accuracy, transitions and fixations were analyzed. No differences were found in the responding JA task between children with ASD and those with TD, whereas, in the initiating JA tasks, different patterns of fixation and transitions were shown between the groups. These results suggest that children with ASD and those with TD show different visual patterns when they are expected to initiate joint attention but not when they respond to joint attention. We hypothesized that differences in transitions and fixations are linked to ASD impairments in visual disengagement from face, in global scanning of the scene and in the ability to anticipate object's action.
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21
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Imafuku M, Kawai M, Niwa F, Shinya Y, Inagawa M, Myowa‐Yamakoshi M. Preference for Dynamic Human Images and Gaze‐Following Abilities in Preterm Infants at 6 and 12 Months of Age: An Eye‐Tracking Study. INFANCY 2016; 22:223-239. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2015] [Revised: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Masahiro Imafuku
- Graduate School of Education Kyoto University
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
| | - Masahiko Kawai
- Department of Pediatrics Graduate School of Medicine Kyoto University
| | - Fusako Niwa
- Department of Pediatrics Graduate School of Medicine Kyoto University
| | - Yuta Shinya
- Graduate School of Education Kyoto University
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
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22
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Hepach R, Vaish A, Tomasello M. Novel paradigms to measure variability of behavior in early childhood: posture, gaze, and pupil dilation. Front Psychol 2015; 6:858. [PMID: 26217246 PMCID: PMC4496555 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2015] [Accepted: 06/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
A central challenge of investigating the underlying mechanisms of and the individual differences in young children's behavior is the measurement of the internal physiological mechanism and the involved expressive emotions. Here, we illustrate two paradigms that assess concurrent indicators of both children's social perception as well as their emotional expression. In one set of studies, children view situations while their eye movements are mapped onto a live scene. In these studies, children's internal arousal is measured via changes in their pupil dilation by using eye tracking technology. In another set of studies, we measured children's emotional expression via changes in their upper-body posture by using depth sensor imaging technology. Together, these paradigms can provide new insights into the internal mechanism and outward emotional expression involved in young children's behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzig, Germany
| | - Amrisha Vaish
- Department of Psychology, University of VirginiaCharlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzig, Germany
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23
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Kurzhals K. Eye Tracking for Personal Visual Analytics. IEEE COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND APPLICATIONS 2015; 35:64-72. [PMID: 25974928 DOI: 10.1109/mcg.2015.47] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
In many research fields, eye tracking has become an established method to analyze the distribution of visual attention in various scenarios. With the trend toward increasingly affordable and easy-to-use consumer hardware, we expect mobile eye tracking to become ubiquitous, recording massive amounts of gaze data on a regular basis in everyday personal situations. To make use of this data, new approaches for personal visual analytics will be necessary to make the data accessible for non-expert users for self-reflection and re-experiencing interesting events. We discuss how eye tracking fits in the context of personal visual analytics, the challenges that arise with its application to everyday situations, and the research perspectives of personal eye tracking. Therefore, the extraction and representation of areas of interest (AOIs) in the recorded data is a crucial part of data processing. We present a new technique to represent these AOIs from multiple videos: the AOI cloud. In our example, we apply this technique to examine the personal encounters of a user with other persons. The technique provides an accessible user interface that is also applicable to touch devices and therefore suitable for an integration into the everyday life of a user.
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Winkler-Schwartz A, Garfinkle J, Shevell MI. Autism spectrum disorder in a term birth neonatal intensive care unit population. Pediatr Neurol 2014; 51:776-80. [PMID: 25303867 DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2014.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2014] [Revised: 07/03/2014] [Accepted: 07/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Nonspecific perinatal risk factors have been revealed to be associated with the development of autism spectrum disorder. However, term at-risk infants, as a distinct population, are underrepresented in the literature. This study examines the incidence and neonatal risk factors for autism spectrum disorder in term neonatal intensive care unit survivors. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis from a single university-practice database of neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and followed by a single pediatric neurologist. Term infants (≥ 37 weeks), born between 1991 and 2011, with at least 2 years (or 1 year if found to be neurologically normal) of follow-up were included. Principle outcomes were autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, and epilepsy. RESULTS One hundred eighty infants were included from a database of 564 neonates. Twelve (6.6%) developed autism spectrum disorder, 53 (29.4%) cerebral palsy, 77 (42.7%) global developmental delay, and 47 (26.1%) epilepsy. Seventy-one (39.4%) developed no adverse outcomes. Nine patients with autism spectrum disorder (75%) were diagnosed with at least one other adverse outcome. No neonatal or perinatal variables were evident to be significantly associated with later autism spectrum disorder. CONCLUSIONS In term neonatal intensive care unit survivors, autism spectrum disorder occurs at a greater frequency than in the general population and often develops alongside comorbid conditions. This highlights the importance of screening term neonatal intensive care unit survivors for autism spectrum disorder, particularly when comorbidities are present.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jarred Garfinkle
- Department of Neurology/Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Division of Pediatric Neurology, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Michael I Shevell
- Department of Neurology/Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Division of Pediatric Neurology, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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25
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Light J, McNaughton D. From Basic to Applied Research to Improve Outcomes for Individuals Who Require Augmentative and Alternative Communication:
Potential Contributions of Eye Tracking Research Methods. Augment Altern Commun 2014; 30:99-105. [DOI: 10.3109/07434618.2014.906498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Falck-Ytter T, Bölte S, Gredebäck G. Eye tracking in early autism research. J Neurodev Disord 2013; 5:28. [PMID: 24069955 PMCID: PMC3849191 DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-5-28] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2013] [Accepted: 09/13/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Eye tracking has the potential to characterize autism at a unique intermediate level, with links 'down' to underlying neurocognitive networks, as well as 'up' to everyday function and dysfunction. Because it is non-invasive and does not require advanced motor responses or language, eye tracking is particularly important for the study of young children and infants. In this article, we review eye tracking studies of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children at risk for ASD. Reduced looking time at people and faces, as well as problems with disengagement of attention, appear to be among the earliest signs of ASD, emerging during the first year of life. In toddlers with ASD, altered looking patterns across facial parts such as the eyes and mouth have been found, together with limited orienting to biological motion. We provide a detailed discussion of these and other key findings and highlight methodological opportunities and challenges for eye tracking research of young children with ASD. We conclude that eye tracking can reveal important features of the complex picture of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terje Falck-Ytter
- Department of Women’s & Children’s Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institute (KIND), Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Unit, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center, Gävlegatan 22, Stockholm, SE-11330, Sweden
- Uppsala Child & Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sven Bölte
- Department of Women’s & Children’s Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institute (KIND), Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Unit, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center, Gävlegatan 22, Stockholm, SE-11330, Sweden
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Gustaf Gredebäck
- Uppsala Child & Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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It ain't what you do (it's the way that you do it). Behav Brain Sci 2013; 36:347-8. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x12002488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
AbstractKnowledge of the complexity of human communication comes from three main sources – (i) studies of the linguistics and neuropsychology of dysfunction after brain injury; (ii) studies of the development of social communication in infancy, and its dysfunction in developmental psychopathologies; and (iii) the evolutionary history of human communicative interaction. Together, these suggest the need for a broad, integrated theory of communication of which language forms a small but critical component.
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