Dataset Information

Development and Validation of Objective and Quantitative Eye Tracking-Based Measures of Autism Risk and Symptom Levels.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:The primary aim of this study was to develop and validate eye tracking-based measures for estimating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk and quantifying autism symptom levels. METHOD:Eye tracking data were collected from youth during an initial evaluation visit, with administrators blinded to all clinical information. Consensus diagnoses were given by the multidisciplinary team. Participants viewed a 5-minute video that included 44 dynamic stimuli from 7 distinct paradigms while gaze was recorded. Gaze metrics were computed for temporally defined regions of interest. Autism risk and symptom indices aggregated gaze measures showing significant bivariate relationships with ASD diagnosis and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) symptom severity levels in a training sample (75%, n = 150). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and nonparametric correlations were used to cross-validate findings in a test sample (25%; n = 51). RESULTS:Most children (n = 201, 92%) completed a valid eye tracking assessment (ages 1.6?17.6; 80% male; ASD n = 91, non-ASD n = 110). In the test subsample, the autism risk index had high accuracy for ASD diagnosis (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.86, 95% CI =0.75-0.95), whereas the autism symptom index was strongly associated with ADOS-2 total severity scores (r = 0.41, p < .001). Validity was not substantively attenuated after adjustment for language, nonverbal cognitive ability, or other psychopathology symptoms (r = 0.40-0.67, p > .001). CONCLUSION:Eye tracking measures appear to be useful quantitative, objective measures of ASD risk and autism symptom levels. If independently replicated and scaled for clinical use, eye tracking-based measures could be used to inform clinical judgment regarding ASD identification and to track autism symptom levels.

SUBMITTER: Frazier TW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6220711 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Development and Validation of Objective and Quantitative Eye Tracking-Based Measures of Autism Risk and Symptom Levels.

Frazier Thomas W TW Klingemier Eric W EW Parikh Sumit S Speer Leslie L Strauss Mark S MS Eng Charis C Hardan Antonio Y AY Youngstrom Eric A EA

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 20180913 11

<h4>Objective</h4>The primary aim of this study was to develop and validate eye tracking-based measures for estimating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk and quantifying autism symptom levels.<h4>Method</h4>Eye tracking data were collected from youth during an initial evaluation visit, with administrators blinded to all clinical information. Consensus diagnoses were given by the multidisciplinary team. Participants viewed a 5-minute video that included 44 dynamic stimuli from 7 distinct paradig ...[more]

PMID: 30392627

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Project description:BackgroundScanning faces is important for social interactions. Difficulty with the social use of eye contact constitutes one of the clinical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It has been suggested that individuals with ASD look less at the eyes and more at the mouth than typically developing (TD) individuals, possibly due to gaze aversion or gaze indifference. However, eye-tracking evidence for this hypothesis is mixed. While gaze patterns convey information about overt orienting processes, it is unclear how this is manifested at the neural level and how relative covert attention to the eyes and mouth of faces might be affected in ASD.MethodsWe used frequency-tagging EEG in combination with eye tracking, while participants watched fast flickering faces for 1-min stimulation sequences. The upper and lower halves of the faces were presented at 6 Hz and 7.5 Hz or vice versa in different stimulation sequences, allowing to objectively disentangle the neural saliency of the eyes versus mouth region of a perceived face. We tested 21 boys with ASD (8-12 years old) and 21 TD control boys, matched for age and IQ.ResultsBoth groups looked longer at the eyes than the mouth, without any group difference in relative fixation duration to these features. TD boys looked significantly more to the nose, while the ASD boys looked more outside the face. EEG neural saliency data partly followed this pattern: neural responses to the upper or lower face half were not different between groups, but in the TD group, neural responses to the lower face halves were larger than responses to the upper part. Face exploration dynamics showed that TD individuals mostly maintained fixations within the same facial region, whereas individuals with ASD switched more often between the face parts.LimitationsReplication in large and independent samples may be needed to validate exploratory results.ConclusionsCombined eye-tracking and frequency-tagged neural responses show no support for the excess mouth/diminished eye gaze hypothesis in ASD. The more exploratory face scanning style observed in ASD might be related to their increased feature-based face processing style.

Project description:Background:Visual atypicalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are a well documented phenomenon, beginning as early as 2-6 months of age and manifesting in a significantly decreased attention to the eyes, direct gaze and socially salient information. Early emerging neurobiological deficits in perceiving social stimuli as rewarding or its active avoidance due to the anxiety it entails have been widely purported as potential reasons for this atypicality. Parallel research evidence also points to the significant benefits of animal presence for reducing social anxiety and enhancing social interaction in children with autism. While atypicality in social attention in ASD has been widely substantiated, whether this atypicality persists equally across species types or is confined to humans has not been a key focus of research insofar. Methods:We attempted a comprehensive examination of the differences in visual attention to static images of human and animal faces (40 images; 20 human faces and 20 animal faces) among children with ASD using an eye tracking paradigm. 44 children (ASD n = 21; TD n = 23) participated in the study (10,362 valid observations) across five regions of interest (left eye, right eye, eye region, face and screen). Results:Results obtained revealed significantly greater social attention across human and animal stimuli in typical controls when compared to children with ASD. However in children with ASD, a significantly greater attention allocation was seen to animal faces and eye region and lesser attention to the animal mouth when compared to human faces, indicative of a clear attentional preference to socially salient regions of animal stimuli. The positive attentional bias toward animals was also seen in terms of a significantly greater visual attention to direct gaze in animal images. Conclusion:Our results suggest the possibility that atypicalities in social attention in ASD may not be uniform across species. It adds to the current neural and biomarker evidence base of the potentially greater social reward processing and lesser social anxiety underlying animal stimuli as compared to human stimuli in children with ASD.

Dataset Information

Development and Validation of Objective and Quantitative Eye Tracking-Based Measures of Autism Risk and Symptom Levels.

Publications

Development and Validation of Objective and Quantitative Eye Tracking-Based Measures of Autism Risk and Symptom Levels.

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