Impaired representational gaze following in children with autism spectrum disorder

Sara Congiu; Roberta Fadda; Giuseppe Doneddu; Tricia Striano

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.008

Impaired representational gaze following in children with autism spectrum disorder

Res Dev Disabil. 2016 Oct:57:11-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.008. Epub 2016 Jun 24.

Authors

Sara Congiu¹, Roberta Fadda², Giuseppe Doneddu³, Tricia Striano⁴

Affiliations

¹ Azienda Ospedaliera Brotzu, Center for Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
² University of Cagliari, Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, Italy.
³ Azienda Ospedaliera Brotzu, Center for Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Italy.
⁴ Hunter College, NY, Department of Psychology, Institute for Education on Health & Research, MA, United States.

PMID: 27348855
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.008

Abstract

Using eye-tracking methodology, we compared spontaneous gaze following in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (mean age 5.8 years) to that of typically developing children (mean age 5.7 years). Participants saw videos in which the position of a hidden object was either perceptually visible or was only represented in another person's mind. The findings indicate that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder were significantly less accurate in gaze following and observed the attended object for less time than typically developing children only in the Representational Condition. These results show that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are responsive to gaze as a perceptual cue although they ignore its representational meaning.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Eye-tracking; Gaze-following.

MeSH terms

Autism Spectrum Disorder / physiopathology*
Case-Control Studies
Child
Child, Preschool
Cognition
Cues*
Eye Movement Measurements
Eye Movements
Female
Fixation, Ocular*
Humans
Male
Photic Stimulation
Social Perception*