A Study on Gaze Abnormalities to Social Scenes in Toddlers at High Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Objective:To explore gaze patterns on social scenes in toddlers at genetic high risk for autism spectrum dis-order(HR-ASD)(namely,toddler siblings of individuals with ASD),aiming to understand the early signs of individuals with ASD and to provide a basis for early intervention.Methods:This study used a cross-sectional design and included HR-ASD toddlers(n=33),ASD toddlers(n=33)and typically developing(TD)toddlers(n=33).The gaze data of all the subjects were recorded using eye tracker as they viewed scenes of children's interaction.Gesell developmental schedules,autism be-havior checklist and modified checklist for autism in toddler(Chinese revised version)were used for evaluation.Results:(1)The first fixation duration and percentage of fixation time of action area of interest(AOI)in HR-ASD group were signifi-cantly higher than those in TD group,the percentage of fixation time of action AOI in ASD group was significantly higher than that in TD group,but there were no significant differences between HR-ASD group and ASD group.(2)The sensitivity and specificity of the percentage of fixation time of action AOI used to distinguish HR-ASD group from the TD group were 0.72 and 0.76,respectively.And the sensitivity and specificity of the percentage of fixation time of action AOI used to dis-tinguish the ASD group from the TD group were 0.84 and 0.68,respectively.Conclusion:HR-ASD toddlers have a gaze preference for repetitive activities of people in social scenes,and the sensitivity and specificity of this metric for distinguish-ing them from TD toddlers are high.This eye movement feature has a promising application in assisting the early screening of high-risk groups for ASD.
Toddlers at high risk for autism spectrum disorderEye movementSocial scenes
万方数据
维普
