Social attention in ASD: A review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies

Chita-Tegmark, Meia

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.011

Cited by 346 publications

(313 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…(26)] and contribute to differences between studies. However, as Chita-Tegmark suggested in a review (13), tasks that display moving biological and geometric stimuli on opposite sides of the display, such as the task used in the current study and the one used by Pierce et al (10, 16), have the advantage of clearly demarcating a visual preference for BIO-M or GEO-M in children with ASD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…(13, 26)]. Specific social content of stimuli used in tasks, as well as the salience of non-social stimuli can influence visual attention patterns in individuals with ASD [for a review, see Ref.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These investigations using social stimuli have consistently reported reduced attention to social stimuli in individuals with ASD [for a meta-analysis see Ref. (13)], though this reduction is inconsistent in preschoolers with ASD and appears to be related to adaptive or cognitive functioning [e.g., Ref. (14–17)].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, it is important to keep in mind that paradigm design also can greatly influence attention to social stimuli. An elegant meta-analysis by Chita-Tegmark (13) recently described different eye-tracking paradigms used to assess visual attention to social stimuli in ASD. This implies, for instance, social scenes used to measure preference for socially salient stimuli (e.g., faces) or on non-socially salient stimuli (e.g., objects).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brief Report: A Preference for Biological Motion Predicts a Reduction in Symptom Severity 1 Year Later in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

et al. 2016

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Recent research has consistently demonstrated reduced orienting to social stimuli in samples of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, social orienting greatly varies between individual children on the spectrum. Better understanding this heterogeneity in social orienting may contribute to our comprehension of the mechanisms underlying autistic symptoms thereby improving our ability to intervene. Indeed, children on the autism spectrum who show higher levels of interest in social stimuli demonstrate reduced clinical symptoms and increased adaptive functioning. However, longitudinal studies examining the influence of social orienting on subsequent outcome are critically lacking. Here, we aim to explore the relationship between social interest at the age of 3 and changes in severity of autistic symptoms over the subsequent year, in 20 children with ASD and 20 age-matched typically developing (TD) children. A visual preference for social stimuli was measured using an eye-tracking task at baseline, consisting of a previously studied visual preference paradigm presenting biological and geometric motion side-by-side. The task was altered for the current study by alternating presentation side for each type of stimuli to keep visual perseveration from influencing participants’ first fixation location. Clinical data were collected both at baseline and 1 year later at follow-up. As a group, we observed reduced interest for biological motion (BIO-M) in children with ASD compared to TD children, corroborating previous findings. We also confirmed that a preference for BIO-M is associated with better adaptive functioning in preschoolers with ASD. Most importantly, our longitudinal results showed that a preference for BIO-M strongly predicted decreased severity of diagnostic symptoms. Participants who preferred social stimuli at the age of 3 showed drastic reductions in their severity level of autistic symptoms 1 year later, whereas participants who preferred geometric stimuli showed autistic symptoms that were unchanged or more severe after 1 year. As a whole, our results suggest that a preference for BIO-M may be key to understanding the behavioral phenotype of young children with ASD, and may represent a promising candidate behavior for predicting early developmental trajectories and outcome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brief Report: A Preference for Biological Motion Predicts a Reduction in Symptom Severity 1 Year Later in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

et al. 2016

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“…Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display enhanced attention to details and exhibit restricted and repetitive behaviors. Anyway, this is a still debated clinical issue given the mixed experimental results, the variety of stimuli used and the different experimental procedures [6]. Moreover, due to a lack of comprehensive eye-movement modeling techniques, it is currently unknown whether these behavioral effects are also evident during scene viewing [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ecological Visual Exploration Tool to Support the Analysis of Visual Processing Pathways in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Cazzato

Leo²,

Distante³

et al. 2017

J. Imaging

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Recent improvements in the field of assistive technologies have led to innovative solutions aiming at increasing the capabilities of people with disability, helping them in daily activities with applications that span from cognitive impairments to developmental disabilities. In particular, in the case of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the need to obtain active feedback in order to extract subsequently meaningful data becomes of fundamental importance. In this work, a study about the possibility of understanding the visual exploration in children with ASD is presented. In order to obtain an automatic evaluation, an algorithm for free (i.e., without constraints, nor using additional hardware, infrared (IR) light sources or other intrusive methods) gaze estimation is employed. Furthermore, no initial calibration is required. It allows the user to freely rotate the head in the field of view of the sensor, and it is insensitive to the presence of eyeglasses, hats or particular hairstyles. These relaxations of the constraints make this technique particularly suitable to be used in the critical context of autism, where the child is certainly not inclined to employ invasive devices, nor to collaborate during calibration procedures.The evaluation of children's gaze trajectories through the proposed solution is presented for the purpose of an Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) program built on the child's spontaneous interests and game choice delivered in a natural setting.

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Computational Methods to Measure Patterns of Gaze in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

et al. 2021

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IMPORTANCE Atypical eye gaze is an early-emerging symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and holds promise for autism screening. Current eye-tracking methods are expensive and require special equipment and calibration. There is a need for scalable, feasible methods for measuring eye gaze.OBJECTIVE Using computational methods based on computer vision analysis, we evaluated whether an app deployed on an iPhone or iPad that displayed strategically designed brief movies could elicit and quantify differences in eye-gaze patterns of toddlers with ASD vs typical development. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA prospective study in pediatric primary care clinics was conducted from December 2018 to March 2020, comparing toddlers with and without ASD. Caregivers of 1564 toddlers were invited to participate during a well-child visit. A total of 993 toddlers (63%) completed study measures. Enrollment criteria were aged 16 to 38 months, healthy, English-or Spanish-speaking caregiver, and toddler able to sit and view the app. Participants were screened with the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers-Revised With Follow-up during routine care. Children were referred by their pediatrician for diagnostic evaluation based on results of the checklist or if the caregiver or pediatrician was concerned. Forty toddlers subsequently were diagnosed with ASD.EXPOSURES A mobile app displayed on a smartphone or tablet. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESComputer vision analysis quantified eye-gaze patterns elicited by the app, which were compared between toddlers with ASD vs typical development.RESULTS Mean age of the sample was 21.1 months (range, 17.1-36.9 months), and 50.6% were boys, 59.8% White individuals, 16.5% Black individuals, 23.7% other race, and 16.9% Hispanic/Latino individuals. Distinctive eye-gaze patterns were detected in toddlers with ASD, characterized by reduced gaze to social stimuli and to salient social moments during the movies, and previously unknown deficits in coordination of gaze with speech sounds. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve discriminating ASD vs non-ASD using multiple gaze features was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.82-0.97). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe app reliably measured both known and new gaze biomarkers that distinguished toddlers with ASD vs typical development. These novel results may have potential for developing scalable autism screening tools, exportable to natural settings, and enabling data sets amenable to machine learning.

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Social attention in ASD: A review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies

Cited by 346 publications

References 63 publications

Brief Report: A Preference for Biological Motion Predicts a Reduction in Symptom Severity 1 Year Later in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Brief Report: A Preference for Biological Motion Predicts a Reduction in Symptom Severity 1 Year Later in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

An Ecological Visual Exploration Tool to Support the Analysis of Visual Processing Pathways in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Computational Methods to Measure Patterns of Gaze in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

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