Limited Attentional Bias for Faces in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Context Toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit poor face recognition and atypical scanning patterns in response to faces. It is not clear if face-processing deficits are also expressed on an attentional level. Typical individuals require more effort to shift their attention from faces compared with other objects. This increased disengagement cost is thought to reflect deeper processing of these socially relevant stimuli. Objective To examine if attention disengagement from faces is atypical in the early stages of ASD. Design Attention disengagement was tested in a variation of the cued attention task in which participants were required to move their visual attention from face or non-face central fixation stimuli and make a reactive saccade to a peripheral target. The design involved diagnosis as a between-group factor and central fixation stimuli type as a within-group factor. Setting Participants were taken from a cohort of patients at a university-based specialized clinic or from a pool of subjects participating in a prospective study of social cognition in ASD. Participants Toddlers with ASD (mean age, 32 months [n=42]) were compared with toddlers with nonautistic developmental delays (mean age, 29 months [n=31]) and with typically developing toddlers (mean age, 29 months [n=46]). Main Outcome Measure Saccadic reaction time. Results Developmentally delayed and typically developing toddlers had more difficulties disengaging visual attention from faces than toddlers with ASD. This effect was not present in response to nonfacial stimuli. These results suggest that toddlers with ASD are not captivated by faces to the same extent as toddlers without ASD and that this effect is not driven by a generalized impairment in disengagement of attention. Conclusion The results suggest that face-processing difficulties in toddlers with ASD involve disruption of an attentional mechanism that typically supports deeper processing of these highly socially relevant stimuli.

Face Discrimination Skills in Prader-Willi Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…As the FGT-D was designed to be a task to measure face processing abilities in low-functioning populations, these results indicate that the FGT-D may be more sensitive overall to differences in developmental disability populations than the BFRT. In ASD, these findings are consistent with the majority of findings in the related literature reporting face processing deficits in this population (e.g., Chawarska, Volkmar, & Klin, 2010;Corbett et al, 2009;Klin et al, 1999).…”

“…First, the small sample size may have led to spurious findings and increased the chance of both Type I and II errors. However, the sample sizes in the other PWS and ASD studies on face processing are relatively small and in some cases smaller than the current study (Best et al, 2010;Chawarska et al, 2010;Halit et al, 2008;Tager-Flusberg et al, 1998;Whittington & Holland, 2011). Next, the BFRT and the FGT-D do not measure face processing methods (i.e., feature vs. a configural strategy).…”

Relating Attentional Biases for Stimuli Associated with Social Reward and Punishment to Autistic Traits

“…Rather than measure attention to social stimuli, such as faces, which has been more extensively studied in the context of autism and autistic traits (e.g., Chawarska, & Shic, 2009;Chawarska, Volkmar, & Klin, 2010;Chevallier et al, 2012;Dawson et al, 1998Dawson et al, , 2005Elsabbagh et al, 2013;Fischer et al, 2014;Fletcher-Watson et al, 2008;Kikuchi et al, 2011;New et al, 2010;Schultz, 2005;Sheth et al, 2011;van der Geest et al, 2001), our experimental task was specifically designed to measure the ability of social feedback to shape attention to the stimuli that predict such feedback. Specifically, we measured the degree to which attention is biased towards stimuli that are associated with a high probability of being followed by valent reactions.…”

“…While some studies have provided evidence for reduced attention to social stimuli (Chawarska, & Shic, 2009;Chawarska, Volkmar, & Klin, 2010;Chevallier et al, 2012;Dawson et al, 1998Dawson et al, , 2005Kikuchi et al, 2011;Schultz, 2005), cases of unimpaired attention, with intact and robust preferences for social stimuli, have also been reported (Elsabbagh et al, 2013;Fischer et al, 2014;Fletcher-Watson et al, 2008;New et al, 2010;Sheth et al, 2011;van der Geest et al, 2001). It seems not to be the case that autism can be explained simply by a broad tendency to ignore social information across situations and contexts.…”

Analyzing dynamic components of social scene parsing strategy in autism spectrum disorder

“…Static images are frequently served as the visual stimuli. Some reports have suggested that individuals with ASD have poor face recognition and give decreased attention to internal features of faces such as eyes, nose and mouth compared to typical controls [6], [7], [8], [9]. Some others have stated that there is similarity in fixation pattern between individuals with ASD and with typical development [10] al.…”