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Updated: Jul 1, 2025
Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
Published on: March 27, 2012
Feasibility of a 2-minute eye-tracking protocol to support the early identification of autism
Lacey Chetcuti1, Kandice J Varcin2,3, Maryam Boutrus3
1Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Insights
Gazefinder eye-tracking is feasible for infant autism identification. Gaze patterns toward social versus geometric stimuli predict behavioral autism features in infants.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is crucial for timely intervention.
- Eye-tracking technology offers a potential objective measure for assessing infant behavior and cognitive processes related to ASD.
- Assessing the feasibility and validity of novel tools like Gazefinder in clinically-indicated infant populations is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility of using Gazefinder eye-tracking for early autism identification in infants.
- To determine the concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against established clinical assessment scores.
- To explore infant gaze patterns towards social and non-social stimuli in relation to autism features.
Main Methods:
- A 2-minute 'Scene 1S4' eye-tracking protocol was embedded within comprehensive clinical assessments.
- Fifty-four clinically-indicated infants (9-14 months corrected age) participated.
- Infant gaze data to predefined regions of interest (ROIs) were analyzed alongside clinical/behavioral scores, with % tracking rate as a feasibility indicator.
Main Results:
- Gazefinder eye-tracking was well-tolerated, demonstrating high overall tracking rates in infants.
- Infants generally directed more gaze towards social versus non-social ROIs.
- Increased gaze towards non-social/geometric stimuli, rather than social/people stimuli, correlated with behavioral autism features.
Conclusions:
- Gazefinder eye-tracking is a feasible tool for assessing clinically-indicated infants for early autism identification.
- Gaze patterns differentiating between people and geometry stimuli show concurrent predictive validity for behavioral autism features.
- Aggregating data across the short protocol may enhance the utility of eye-tracking for autism identification.
Abstract:
We tested the potential for Gazefinder eye-tracking to support early autism identification, including feasible use with infants, and preliminary concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against clinical assessment scores. We embedded the ~ 2-min 'Scene 1S4' protocol within a comprehensive clinical assessment for 54 consecutively-referred, clinically-indicated infants (prematurity-corrected age 9-14 months). Alongside % tracking rate as a broad indicator of feasible assessment/data capture, we report infant gaze data to pre-specified regions of interest (ROI) across four trial types and associations with scores on established clinical/behavioural tools. Most infants tolerated Gazefinder eye-tracking well, returning high overall % tracking rate. As a group, infants directed more gaze towards social vs. non-social (or more vs. less socially-salient) ROIs within trials. Behavioural autism features were correlated with increased gaze towards non-social/geometry (vs. social/people) scenes. No associations were found for gaze directed to ROIs within other stimulus types. Notably, there were no associations between developmental/cognitive ability or adaptive behaviour with gaze towards any ROI. Gazefinder assessment seems highly feasible with clinically-indicated infants, and the people vs. geometry stimuli show concurrent predictive validity for behavioural autism features. Aggregating data across the ~ 2-min autism identification protocol might plausibly offer greater utility than stimulus-level analysis alone.
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