Attention Allocation During Exploration of Visual Arrays in ASD: Results from the ABC-CT Feasibility Study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Visual exploration paradigms are used to study social stimuli salience in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
• Previous research indicates a link between performance in these paradigms and clinical features of ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate visual exploration metrics in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children.
• To explore the association between visual attention patterns and clinical features in ASD.

Main Methods:

• A visual exploration paradigm was employed with 4-to-11-year-old children diagnosed with ASD (n=23) and TD controls (n=23).
• Participants were presented with visual arrays containing faces and nonsocial stimuli.
• Metrics such as gaze duration, fixation count, and time spent viewing objects were recorded.

Main Results:

• Children with ASD exhibited significantly less visual attention towards faces compared to TD children (p=0.002).
• Fewer fixations on faces (p=0.022) and reduced average viewing time per object (p=0.004) were observed in the ASD group.
• Attention to the screen and faces positively correlated with social and cognitive skills within the ASD group (ps < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Objective measures of visual exploration can quantify differences in social attention in ASD.
• Visual attention patterns in children with ASD are linked to their social and cognitive functioning.
• This research contributes to understanding ASD through objective, quantifiable metrics of visual behavior.