Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
Published on: March 27, 2012
Neural correlates of eye gaze processing in the infant broader autism phenotype
Mayada Elsabbagh1, Agnes Volein, Gergely Csibra
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London, London, United Kingdom. m.elsabbagh@bbk.ac.uk
Insights
Infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show early differences in brain responses to direct gaze, suggesting a broader autism phenotype emerges in infancy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
Background:
- Infant sibling studies offer a prospective method for understanding autism emergence.
- Early behavioral characteristics of the broader autism phenotype have been identified.
- Atypical eye gaze processing is a known characteristic in individuals with autism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the early autism phenotype in infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (sib-ASD).
- To examine neural correlates of direct versus averted gaze processing in infants at high risk for ASD.
- To identify early indicators of atypical gaze processing in the broader autism phenotype.
Main Methods:
- Compared 19 sib-ASD with 17 control infants (mean age 10 months).
- Assessed responses to direct versus averted gaze using static stimuli.
- Utilized event-related potentials (occipital P400) and time-frequency analysis (gamma band oscillations).
Main Results:
- Sib-ASD group exhibited prolonged latency of the occipital P400 component to direct gaze.
- No group differences were found in earlier event-related potential components.
- Sib-ASD group showed delayed and less persistent gamma band activity over the right temporal region in response to direct gaze.
Conclusions:
- Atypical responses to direct gaze are evident early in infancy.
- These findings suggest the broader autism phenotype manifests in early development.
- Early identification of gaze processing differences may inform future autism research.
Background:
Studies of infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism have allowed for a prospective approach to study the emergence of autism in infancy and revealed early behavioral characteristics of the broader autism phenotype. In view of previous findings of atypical eye gaze processing in children and adults with autism, the aim of this study was to examine the early autism phenotype in infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (sib-ASD), focusing on the neural correlates of direct compared with averted gaze.
Methods:
A group of 19 sib-ASD was compared with 17 control infants with no family history of ASD (mean age=10 months) on their response to direct versus averted gaze in static stimuli.
Results:
Relative to the control group, the sib-ASD group showed prolonged latency of the occipital P400 event-related potentials component in response to direct gaze, but they did not differ in earlier components. Similarly, time-frequency analysis of high-frequency oscillatory activity in the gamma band showed group differences in response to direct gaze, where induced gamma activity was late and less persistent over the right temporal region in the sib-ASD group.
Conclusion:
This study suggests that a broader autism phenotype, which includes an atypical response to direct gaze, is manifest early in infancy.
