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Eye-movements reveal attention to social information in autism spectrum disorder

Eye-movements reveal attention to social information in autism spectrum disorder
Eye-movements reveal attention to social information in autism spectrum disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition in which children show reduced attention to social aspects of the environment. However in adults with ASD, evidence for social attentional deficits is equivocal. One problem is that many paradigms present social information in an unrealistic, isolated way. This study presented adults and adolescents, with and without ASD, with a complex social scene alongside another, non-social scene, and measured eye-movements during a three-second viewing period. Analyses first identified viewing time to different regions and then investigated some more complex issues. These were: the location of the very first fixation in a trial (indicating attentional priority); the effect of a task instruction on scan paths; the extent to which gaze-following was evident; and the degree to which participants’ scan paths were influenced by the low-level properties of a scene. Results indicate a superficially normal attentional preference for social information in adults with ASD. However, more sensitive measures show that ASD does entail social attention problems across the lifespan, supporting accounts of the disorder which emphasise lifelong neurodevelopmental atypicalities. These subtle abnormalities may be sufficient to produce serious difficulties in real-life scenarios.
eye-tracking, social attention, scene viewing, preferential-looking, perception
0028-3932
248-257
Fletcher-Watson, S.
5aad5b54-4b86-4ed3-9049-0f43579f7f21
Leekam, S.
55511b52-818d-499e-a6fb-a854b9725b2f
Benson, V.
4827cede-6668-4e3d-bded-ade4cd5e5db5
Frank, M.C.
8913abe1-3546-412d-ad52-9c490fbb1bae
Findlay, J.M.
74165557-a6c2-4c41-ba85-cd2df70b84a9
Fletcher-Watson, S.
5aad5b54-4b86-4ed3-9049-0f43579f7f21
Leekam, S.
55511b52-818d-499e-a6fb-a854b9725b2f
Benson, V.
4827cede-6668-4e3d-bded-ade4cd5e5db5
Frank, M.C.
8913abe1-3546-412d-ad52-9c490fbb1bae
Findlay, J.M.
74165557-a6c2-4c41-ba85-cd2df70b84a9

Fletcher-Watson, S., Leekam, S., Benson, V., Frank, M.C. and Findlay, J.M. (2009) Eye-movements reveal attention to social information in autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychologia, 47 (1), 248-257. (doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.07.016). (PMID:18706434)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition in which children show reduced attention to social aspects of the environment. However in adults with ASD, evidence for social attentional deficits is equivocal. One problem is that many paradigms present social information in an unrealistic, isolated way. This study presented adults and adolescents, with and without ASD, with a complex social scene alongside another, non-social scene, and measured eye-movements during a three-second viewing period. Analyses first identified viewing time to different regions and then investigated some more complex issues. These were: the location of the very first fixation in a trial (indicating attentional priority); the effect of a task instruction on scan paths; the extent to which gaze-following was evident; and the degree to which participants’ scan paths were influenced by the low-level properties of a scene. Results indicate a superficially normal attentional preference for social information in adults with ASD. However, more sensitive measures show that ASD does entail social attention problems across the lifespan, supporting accounts of the disorder which emphasise lifelong neurodevelopmental atypicalities. These subtle abnormalities may be sufficient to produce serious difficulties in real-life scenarios.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: June 2008
Published date: January 2009
Keywords: eye-tracking, social attention, scene viewing, preferential-looking, perception
Organisations: Cognition

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 54868
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/54868
ISSN: 0028-3932
PURE UUID: 0e33b631-bab7-4210-8123-1f39934befcb

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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 10:50

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Contributors

Author: S. Fletcher-Watson
Author: S. Leekam
Author: V. Benson
Author: M.C. Frank
Author: J.M. Findlay

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