scholarly journals Investigating Gaze Behaviour of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Classroom Setting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aideen McParland ◽  
Stephen Gallagher ◽  
Mickey Keenan
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
Operant Training

AbstractA defining feature of ASD is atypical gaze behaviour, however, eye-tracking studies in ‘real-world’ settings are limited, and the possibility of improving gaze behaviour for ASD children is largely unexplored. This study investigated gaze behaviour of ASD and typically developing (TD) children in their classroom setting. Eye-tracking technology was used to develop and pilot an operant training tool to positively reinforce typical gaze behaviour towards faces. Visual and statistical analyses of eye-tracking data revealed different gaze behaviour patterns during live interactions for ASD and TD children depending on the interaction type. All children responded to operant training with longer looking times observed on face stimuli post training. The promising application of operant gaze training in ecologically valid settings is discussed.

scholarly journals Gaze Behavior of Children with ASD toward Pictures of Facial Expressions

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soichiro Matsuda ◽  
Yasuyo Minagawa ◽  
Junichi Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Autism Severity ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
The Relationship

Atypical gaze behavior in response to a face has been well documented in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Children with ASD appear to differ from typically developing (TD) children in gaze behavior for spoken and dynamic face stimuli but not for nonspeaking, static face stimuli. Furthermore, children with ASD and TD children show a difference in their gaze behavior for certain expressions. However, few studies have examined the relationship between autism severity and gaze behavior toward certain facial expressions. The present study replicated and extended previous studies by examining gaze behavior towards pictures of facial expressions. We presented ASD and TD children with pictures of surprised, happy, neutral, angry, and sad facial expressions. Autism severity was assessed using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). The results showed that there was no group difference in gaze behavior when looking at pictures of facial expressions. Conversely, the children with ASD who had more severe autistic symptomatology had a tendency to gaze at angry facial expressions for a shorter duration in comparison to other facial expressions. These findings suggest that autism severity should be considered when examining atypical responses to certain facial expressions.

scholarly journals Autistic differences in the temporal dynamics of social attention

Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132199857
Author(s):  
Nicholas Hedger ◽  
Bhismadev Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Over Time

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders typically exhibit reduced visual attention towards social stimuli relative to neurotypical individuals. Importantly, however, attention is not a static process, and it remains unclear how such effects may manifest over time. Exploring these momentary changes in gaze behaviour can more clearly illustrate how individuals respond to social stimuli and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying reduced social attention in autism spectrum disorder. Using a simple passive eye-tracking task with competing presentations of social and nonsocial stimuli, we examine the different ways in which attention to social stimuli evolves over time in neurotypical adults and adults with and autism spectrum disorders. Our temporal modelling of gaze behaviour revealed divergent temporal profiles of social attention in neurotypical and observers with autism. Neurotypical data showed an initial increase in social attention, a ‘decay’ and subsequent ‘recovery’ after prolonged viewing. By contrast, in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, social attention decayed over time in a linear fashion without recovery after prolonged viewing. We speculate that the ‘gaze cascade’ effect that maintains selection of social stimuli in neurotypical observers is disrupted in individuals with high autistic traits. Considering these temporal components of gaze behaviour may enhance behavioural phenotypes and theories of social attention in autism spectrum disorder. Lay abstract One behaviour often observed in individuals with autism is that they tend to look less towards social stimuli relative to neurotypical individuals. For instance, many eye-tracking studies have shown that individuals with autism will look less towards people and more towards objects in scenes. However, we currently know very little about how these behaviours change over time. Tracking these moment-to-moment changes in looking behaviour in individuals with autism can more clearly illustrate how they respond to social stimuli. In this study, adults with and without autism were presented with displays of social and non-social stimuli, while looking behaviours were measured by eye-tracking. We found large differences in how the two groups looked towards social stimuli over time. Neurotypical individuals initially showed a high probability of looking towards social stimuli, then a decline in probability, and a subsequent increase in probability after prolonged viewing. By contrast, individuals with autism showed an initial increase in probability, followed by a continuous decline in probability that did not recover. This pattern of results may indicate that individuals with autism exhibit reduced responsivity to the reward value of social stimuli. Moreover, our data suggest that exploring the temporal nature of gaze behaviours can lead to more precise explanatory theories of attention in autism.

scholarly journals How Attention to Faces and Objects Changes Over Time in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Preliminary Evidence from An Eye Tracking Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Filippo Muratori ◽  
Lucia Billeci ◽  
Sara Calderoni ◽  
Maria Boncoddo ◽  
Caterina Lattarulo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Longitudinal Changes ◽  
Global Space ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Tracking Technology

Further understanding of the longitudinal changes in visual pattern of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is needed. We examined twelve 19 to 33-month-old toddlers at their first diagnosis (mean age: 25.1 months) and after six months (mean age: 31.7 months) during two initiating joint attention (IJA) tasks using eye tracking. Results were compared with the performance of age-matched typically developing (TD) toddlers evaluated at a single time-point. Autistic toddlers showed longitudinal changes in the visual sensory processing of the IJA tasks, approaching TD performance with an improvement in the ability to disengage and to explore the global space. Findings suggest the use of eye tracking technology as an objective, non-intrusive, adjunctive tool to measure outcomes in toddlers with ASD.

Disfluency Characteristics Observed in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Preliminary Report

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura W. Plexico ◽  
Julie E. Cleary ◽  
Ashlynn McAlpine ◽  
Allison M. Plumb
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Young Children With Autism ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Developmental Stuttering

This descriptive study evaluates the speech disfluencies of 8 verbal children between 3 and 5 years of age with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Speech samples were collected for each child during standardized interactions. Percentage and types of disfluencies observed during speech samples are discussed. Although they did not have a clinical diagnosis of stuttering, all of the young children with ASD in this study produced disfluencies. In addition to stuttering-like disfluencies and other typical disfluencies, the children with ASD also produced atypical disfluencies, which usually are not observed in children with typically developing speech or developmental stuttering. (Yairi & Ambrose, 2005).

Social Cognition in Children Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Eye Tracking Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Galli ◽  
F. Gitti ◽  
M. Lanaro ◽  
A. Rizzi ◽  
M.A. Pavlova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

Disorder-specific alterations of tactile sensitivity in neurodevelopmental disorders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason He ◽  
Ericka Wodka ◽  
Mark Tommerdahl ◽  
Richard Edden ◽  
Mark Mikkelsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
The Core ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Tactile Detection ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Sensory Processes ◽  
Core Symptoms

Alterations of tactile processing have long been identified in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the extent to which these alterations are disorder-specific, rather than disorder-general, and how they relate to the core symptoms of each disorder, remains unclear. We measured and compared tactile detection, discrimination and order judgment thresholds between a large sample of children with ASD, ADHD, ASD + ADHD combined and typically developing controls. The pattern of results suggested that while difficulties with tactile detection and order judgement were more common in children with ADHD, difficulties with tactile discrimination were more common in children with ASD. Strikingly, subsequent correlation analyses found that the disorder-specific alterations suggested by the group comparisons were also exclusively related to the core symptoms of each respective disorder. These results suggest that disorder-specific alterations of lower-level sensory processes exist and are specifically related to higher-level clinical symptoms of each disorder.

scholarly journals Mild Dermatoglyphic Deviations in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Average Intellectual Abilities as Compared to Typically Developing Boys

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther I. de Bruin ◽  
John H. Graham ◽  
Anneke Louwerse ◽  
Anja C. Huizink
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Finger Print ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Western European ◽  
Flexion Crease ◽  
Hands And Feet ◽  
Finger Print Patterns

Dermatoglyphics, ridge constellations on the hands and feet, are permanently formed by the second trimester of pregnancy. Consequently, they are considered “fossilized” evidence of a specific prenatal period. A high frequency of dermatoglyphic anomalies, or a high rate of dermatoglyphic asymmetry (discordance), is an indication of developmental instability (prenatal disturbances) prior to 24-week gestation. Most dermatoglyphic studies in psychiatry focus on adult schizophrenia. Studies on dermatoglyphic deviances and autism are sparse, include severely disturbed and intellectually retarded patients with autism, and are carried out mainly in non-Western European populations. In this study, finger print patterns, atd-angles, and palmar flexion crease patterns (PFCs) are compared between Western European adolescent teenage males, of average intellect, with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD;n=46) and typically developing adolescent teenage males (TD;n=49). Boys with ASD had a higher rate of discordance in their finger print patterns than TD boys. Thus, the hypothesized prenatal disturbances that play a role in the etiology of schizophrenia and severe autism might not be specific to these severe psychiatric disorders but might also be involved in the etiology of varying degrees of ASD.

scholarly journals Peer Perceptions of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney B. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Level Of Functioning ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Students With Autism ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

This quasi-experimental study investigated behavioral intentions of 70 middle school participants toward engaging in activities with a student displaying characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a video vignette. Three video conditions were investigated: moderate to severe ASD, high-functioning ASD, and a typically developing control. Results of an analysis of variance indicated that participants reported significantly higher behavioral intentions toward the typically developing student and the student displaying more severe ASD symptomatology as compared to the student depicting high-functioning ASD. Participants were also able to differentially rate the behaviors they observed across the three conditions. These findings suggest that peers are capable of distinguishing among different behaviors typically displayed by students with ASD but may be less willing to socially engage with a student with mild or subtler characteristics. Implications regarding essential elements of interventions for peers based on the target student’s level of functioning are discussed.

scholarly journals Brief Report: Making Experience Personal: Internal States Language in the Memory Narratives of Children with and Without Asperger’s Disorder

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin T. Brown ◽  
Gwynn Morris ◽  
Robert E. Nida ◽  
Lynne Baker-Ward
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Asperger’S Disorder ◽  
Asperger's Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

The development of the personal past is complex, requiring the operation of multiple components of cognitive and social functioning. Because many of these components are affected by autism spectrum disorders, it is likely that autobiographical memory in children with Asperger’s Disorder (AD) will be impaired. We predicted that the memory narratives of children with AD, in comparison to typically-developing peers, would reflect less personal interpretation as evidenced by internal states language. Thirty children with AD and 20 typically-developing children aged 6–14 reported their earliest memories and two emotional experiences (one positive and one negative). Consistent with our predictions, children with AD included fewer emotional, cognitive, and perceptual terms than the comparison sample.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document