Social attention to activities in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder: effects of context and age

Kaliukhovich, Dzmitry A.; Manyakov, Nikolay V.; Bangerter, Abigail; Ness, Seth; Skalkin, Andrew; Goodwin, Matthew S.; Dawson, Geraldine; Hendren, Robert L.; Leventhal, Bennett L.; Hudac, Caitlin M.; Bradshaw, Jessica; Shic, Frederick; Pandina, Gahan

doi:10.1186/s13229-020-00388-5

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In line with previous findings (Kaliukhovich et al, 2020;Pierce et al, 2016;Tang, Chen, Falkmer, Bölte, & Girdler, 2019), in the dynamic video, the social attention of autistic females diverged from that of nonautistic females at the average level. However, we found no difference at the dynamic level, so the evidence for a different process is less strong.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Unique dynamic profiles of social attention in autistic females

Bianco

Mason

Lai

et al. 2022

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Background: Social attention affords learning opportunities across development and may contribute to individual differences in developmental trajectories, such as between male and female individuals, and in neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism. Methods: Using eye-tracking, we measured social attention in a large cohort of autistic (n = 123) and nonautistic females (n = 107), and autistic (n = 330) and nonautistic males (n = 204), aged 6-30 years. Using mixed Growth Curve Analysis, we modelled sex and diagnostic effects on the temporal dynamics of proportional looking time to three types of social stimuli (lean-static, naturalistic-static, and naturalistic-dynamic) and examined the link between individual differences and dimensional social and nonsocial autistic traits in autistic females and males. Results: In the lean-static stimulus, average face-looking was higher in females than in males of both autistic and nonautistic groups. Differences in the dynamic pattern of face-looking were seen in autistic vs. nonautistic females, but not males, with face-looking peaking later in the trial in autistic females. In the naturalisticdynamic stimulus, average face-looking was higher in females than in males of both groups; changes in the dynamic pattern of face looking were seen in autistic vs. nonautistic males, but not in females, with a steeper peak in nonautistic males. Lower average face-looking was associated with higher observer-measured autistic characteristics in autistic females, but not in males. Conclusions: Overall, we found stronger social attention in females to a similar degree in both autistic and nonautistic groups. Nonetheless, the dynamic profiles of social attention differed in different ways in autistic females and males compared to their nonautistic peers, and autistic traits predicted trends of average face-looking in autistic females. These findings support the role of social attention in the emergence of sexrelated differences in autistic characteristics, suggesting an avenue to phenotypic stratification.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Unique dynamic profiles of social attention in autistic females

Bianco

Mason

Lai

et al. 2022

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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“…A total of 22 studies explored the relationship between gaze toward objects and nonbiological targets and social functioning/autism symptom severity (refer to Table 12). Of these studies, 10 employed gaze cued, joint attention, and activity monitoring paradigms (Del Valle Rubido et al, 2018; Franchini et al, 2017; Fujioka et al, 2020; Griffin & Scherf, 2020; Kaliukhovich et al, 2020; Plesa‐Skwerer et al, 2019; Riby et al, 2013; Shic et al, 2011; Swanson & Siller, 2013; Thorup et al, 2017) and the general pattern of findings (seven out of these 10 studies) indicated significant associations between gaze measures and social functioning/autism symptom severity.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No significant relationships with the ADOS Overall and Social Affect calibrated severity scores were identified. In participants with ASD, Kaliukhovich et al (2020) demonstrated that increased looking time to the heads of actors was associated with increased social functioning (ADOS-2 Social Affect) and reduced autism symptom severity (ADOS-2 Total) only when actors were gazing at each other, but not when actors' gaze was focused on a shared activity. However, no associations were identified for social domains of the Autism Behavior Inventory or Aberrant Behavior Checklist, and the authors urged caution in interpretation of the results given the number of multiple comparisons performed.…”

Section: Individual Interest Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Face/head (N = 33) Avni et al (2020), Chawarska and Shic (2009), Chawarska et al (2012), Cole et al (2017), Del Bianco et al (2021), Del Valle Rubido et al (2018, Gillespie-Smith, , Greene et al (2020), Griffin and Scherf (2020), Grynszpan and Nadel (2014), Hanley et al (2014), Kaliukhovich et al (2020), Kirchner et al (2011), Macari et al (2021, Murias et al (2018), Nadig et al (2010), Parish-Morris et al (2013, Plesa-Skwerer et al (2019), Riby and Hancock (2009a), Riby and Hancock (2009b), Rigby et al (2016), Sasson et al (2007), Sasson et al (2016), Shic et al (2011, Snow et al (2011), Sumner et al (2018, Swanson and Siller (2013), Vivanti et al (2014), White et al (2015), Wilson et al (2012), Xavier et al (2015), Zantinge et al (2017).…”

Section: Region Of Interest Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gaze and social functioning associations in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

et al. 2022

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by significant social functioning impairments, including (but not limited to) emotion recognition, mentalizing, and joint attention. Despite extensive investigation into the correlates of social functioning in ASD, only recently has there been focus on the role of low-level sensory input, particularly visual processing. Extensive gaze deficits have been described in ASD, from basic saccadic function through to social attention and the processing of complex biological motion. Given that social functioning often relies on accurately processing visual information, inefficient visual processing may contribute to the emergence and sustainment of social functioning difficulties in ASD. To explore the association between measures of gaze and social functioning in ASD, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. A total of 95 studies were identified from a search of CINAHL Plus, Embase, OVID Medline, and psycINFO databases in July 2021. Findings support associations between increased gaze to the face/head and eye regions with improved social functioning and reduced autism symptom severity. However, gaze allocation to the mouth appears dependent on social and emotional content of scenes and the cognitive profile of participants. This review supports the investigation of gaze variables as potential biomarkers of ASD, although future longitudinal studies are required to investigate the developmental progression of this relationship and to explore the influence of heterogeneity in ASD clinical characteristics. Lay SummaryThis review explored how eye gaze (e.g., where a person looks when watching a movie) is associated with social functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We found evidence that better social functioning in ASD was associated with increased eye gaze toward faces/head and eye regions. Individual characteristics (e.g., intelligence) and the complexity of the social scene also influenced eye gaze. Future research including large longitudinal studies and studies investigating the influence of differing presentations of ASD are recommended.

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“…It is possible that there are developmental effects such that internal representations of emotion differ between autistic and non‐autistic children but not between autistic and non‐autistic adults. This is plausible since autistic children show less attention to faces than non‐autistic children (as shown by a lack of an attentional bias to faces, less distraction by faces in visual search tasks, and lower fixation times; Kikuchi et al, 2009; Riby et al, 2012; Rice et al, 2012) and spend less time looking at heads/faces in a social scene than autistic adults (Kaliukhovich et al, 2020). Consequently, one may speculate that autistic children have atypical internal representations of emotion (at least in part due to reduced attention to faces), however, by the time they reach adulthood, they have gathered enough information about faces to have ‘typical’ emotion representations.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non‐autistic adults

2021

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Recent developments suggest that autistic individuals require dynamic angry expressions to have a higher speed in order for them to be successfully identified. Therefore, it is plausible that autistic individuals do not have a ‘deficit’ in angry expression recognition, but rather their internal representation of these expressions is characterised by very high‐speed movement. In this study, matched groups of autistic and non‐autistic adults completed a novel emotion‐based task which employed dynamic displays of happy, angry and sad point light facial (PLF) expressions. On each trial, participants moved a slider to manipulate the speed of a PLF stimulus until it moved at a speed that, in their ‘mind's eye’, was typical of happy, angry or sad expressions. Participants were shown three different types of PLFs—those showing the full‐face, only the eye region, and only the mouth region, wherein the latter two were included to test whether differences in facial information sampling underpinned any dissimilarities in speed attributions. Across both groups, participants attributed the highest speeds to angry, then happy, then sad, facial motion. Participants increased the speed of angry and happy expressions by 41% and 27% respectively and decreased the speed of sad expressions by 18%. This suggests that participants have ‘caricatured’ internal representations of emotion, wherein emotion‐related kinematic cues are over‐emphasised. There were no differences between autistic and non‐autistic individuals in the speeds attributed to full‐face and partial‐face angry, happy and sad expressions respectively. Consequently, we find no evidence that autistic adults possess atypically fast internal representations of anger.

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Social attention to activities in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder: effects of context and age

Cited by 11 publications

References 55 publications

Unique dynamic profiles of social attention in autistic females

Unique dynamic profiles of social attention in autistic females

Gaze and social functioning associations in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non‐autistic adults

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