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Updated: Mar 12, 2026
Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
A group of very preterm children characterized by atypical gaze patterns
Mariko Sekigawa-Hosozawa1, Kyoko Tanaka2, Toshiaki Shimizu1
1Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Insights
Very preterm children show distinct eye-tracking patterns, with some exhibiting social difficulties similar to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This method may identify at-risk very preterm individuals for early intervention.
Area of Science:
- Developmental neuroscience
- Clinical psychology
- Pediatric ophthalmology
Background:
- Very preterm (VP) children face increased risks for social challenges, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
- Understanding early visual attention patterns is crucial for identifying potential social difficulties in VP populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate eye-tracking viewing behaviors in very preterm (VP) children to identify markers for social difficulties.
- To compare gaze patterns of VP children with typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD.
Main Methods:
- Assessed temporo-spatial gaze patterns of 47 VP children using eye tracking while viewing social scenes.
- Compared VP gaze patterns with 25 TD children and 25 children with ASD using multidimensional scaling (MDS).
- Analyzed time spent viewing faces and sustained attention.
Main Results:
- VP children clustered into two groups: VP-small (n=32) with TD-like gaze and VP-large (n=15) with ASD-like gaze.
- VP-large children spent significantly less time viewing faces compared to TD and VP-small groups.
- VP-large children struggled to maintain visual focus on faces after the initial second.
Conclusions:
- Eye-tracking objectively classified VP children into two distinct gaze behavior groups.
- One VP group showed typical attention, while the other exhibited atypical viewing patterns akin to ASD.
- This eye-tracking approach may aid in identifying VP children at higher risk for social difficulties.
Objective:
Very preterm (VP) children are at risk for social difficulties, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study used eye tracking to determine viewing behaviors that may reflect these difficulties.
Design:
The gaze patterns of 47 VP (mean gestational age: 28weeks, mean birth weight: 948g, and mean chronological age: 49months) were assessed while viewing dynamic social scenes and compared with those of 25 typically developing (TD) and 25 children with ASD. The temporo-spatial gaze patterns were summarized on a two-dimensional plane using multidimensional scaling (MDS) and the median of the TD children was used to characterize the gazes of the VP children. Time spent viewing the face was also compared.
Results:
The VP children formed two clusters: one had a mean MDS distance comparable to that of TD group (n=32; VP-small), and the other had a larger mean distance comparable to that of ASD group (n=15; VP-large). The VP-large were similar to the ASD group by spending significantly less time viewing the face. Their performance was comparable to the TD during the initial 1s, but they could not remain focused on the face thereafter.
Conclusions:
The VP children were objectively classified into two groups based on gaze behaviors. One group was comparable to TD children, whereas the other had difficulty maintaining attention and exhibited atypical viewing behaviors similar to those of the ASD group. Our method may be useful in identifying VP children at higher risk for experiencing social difficulties.
