Back to basic: do children with autism spontaneously look at screen displaying a face or an object?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Previous eye-tracking studies on autism used constrained conditions, limiting understanding of spontaneous visual attention.
• Differences in visual attention between individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and controls in naturalistic settings remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare spontaneous visual attention to faces and objects on screen between children with ASD and controls in a non-constrained setting.
• To investigate the relationship between visual attention patterns and clinical characteristics in children with ASD.

Main Methods:

• Eye tracking was used to measure time spent exploring static images of faces and objects on a screen during passive viewing.
• Autistic behaviors were assessed using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Behavior Rating Scale of Executive Function (BREF) in the ASD group.

Main Results:

• Children with ASD spent less time exploring both face and object images on screen compared to controls.
• Visual attention to faces and objects was not correlated with distractibility in the ASD group.
• Time spent looking at faces on screen was significantly correlated with autism severity and gaze impairment.

Conclusions:

• Individuals with ASD exhibit distinct patterns of spontaneous visual attention towards faces and objects presented on screen.
• These findings underscore the importance of considering non-constrained eye-tracking methodologies for studying visual attention in autism.
• Understanding these attention differences is crucial for developing targeted interventions and refining diagnostic tools for ASD.