Impact of Visual Cues on Child Attention in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Investigation
In a recent study, researchers explored the effect of social and nonsocial visual stimuli on the attention of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children in a simulated virtual classroom.
The study, which used a commercial software platform to record and analyze real-time eye-gaze measures, found that while social and nonsocial stimuli did not affect the attention of ASD and TD children equally, there were significant differences in attention distribution patterns between the two groups.
Children with ASD exhibited reduced prediction efficiency and slower or less focused gaze shifts toward socially relevant stimuli compared to TD children. Specifically, they demonstrated reduced overall fixation proportions and slower growth rates of fixation on target objects, particularly those with social relevance. ASD children also showed a delayed onset of predictive fixations on target objects and equivalent brain responses to social and nonsocial stimuli in certain neural regions.
To analyze attention distribution, the study used four eye-gaze measures: TTFF, FFD, AFD, and SFC. TTFF measures the time it takes to look at the first Area of Interest (AOI) in the stimuli, FFD gives the total time of the first look at an AOI, AFD provides the mean value of the entire fixation duration for each AOI, offering insights into how participants pay attention to stimuli, and SFC estimates the number of looks made on each AOI throughout the viewing time.
The findings of the study highlight the strengths of children with ASD during attention tasks and suggest the potential for the use of eye-gaze measures to identify attention impairment in children with ASD. The study recommends an investigation methodology for on-task attention assessment in a learning environment.
Forty-six participants (ASD = 20, TD = 26) took part in a series of attention tests, in which social and nonsocial visual stimuli were used as target stimuli. The software used in the study extracts eyetracking data, recording the fixation duration and scan path of the eyes, as well as raw data from the eyetracking devices.
References:
[1] Kuwabara, Y., et al. (2019). Attentional and neural mechanisms of social attention in autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychologia, 123, 179-191.
[2] Pelphrey, K. A., et al. (2005). The neural basis of social attention in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(7), 308-314.
