The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, 234 St Kilda Road, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia.
Optometry and Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Autism Res. 2018 May;11(5):732-737. doi: 10.1002/aur.1930. Epub 2018 Jan 22.
Children on the autism spectrum are reported to have lower rates of social gaze as early as toddlerhood, and this pattern persists across the lifespan. Finding ways to promote more natural and spontaneous engagement in social interactions may help to boost developmental opportunities in the child's home and community settings. This proof-of-concept study hypothesized that a video of a singer would elicit more attention to the performer, particularly to her face, than a video of her reading a story, and that the child's familiarity with the material would enhance attention. Sixteen children on the autism spectrum (7-10 years old) watched 4 videos 1 min long comprising a favorite song or story, and an unfamiliar song and story. Eye movements were recorded, and three-way repeated measures ANOVAs examined the proportion of total valid visual dwell time and fixations, in each trial and each target area. For proportion of both dwell time and fixation counts, children were significantly more likely to look at the performer's face and body and less at the prop during singing than story-telling and when familiar rather than unfamiliar material was presented. These findings raise important issues for supporting children to naturally initiate looking toward a person's face. Autism Res 2018, 11: 732-737. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Children on the autism spectrum may have difficulty looking at people, particularly their faces. In this study, children watched videos of someone singing or reading a story. The results show that children look more at the person if they were singing and if the story was familiar to them. Using songs and familiar stories may be a way to help children with autism to naturally engage with others.
据报道，自闭症谱系儿童早在幼儿期社交注视率就较低，而且这种模式会持续整个生命周期。寻找方法促进更自然和自发的社交互动可能有助于增加孩子在家庭和社区环境中的发展机会。这项概念验证研究假设，与观看讲故事的视频相比，观看歌手唱歌的视频会引起孩子更多地关注表演者，尤其是她的脸，而且孩子对材料的熟悉程度会增强注意力。16 名自闭症谱系儿童（7-10 岁）观看了 4 个 1 分钟长的视频，其中包括一首喜爱的歌曲或故事，以及一首不熟悉的歌曲和故事。记录了眼动，三向重复测量 ANOVA 检查了每个试验和每个目标区域的总有效视觉停留时间和注视次数的比例。对于停留时间和注视次数的比例，与讲故事相比，唱歌时孩子更有可能注视表演者的脸和身体，而较少注视道具，并且在呈现熟悉而不是不熟悉的材料时也是如此。这些发现提出了一些重要问题，需要支持儿童自然地开始注视人的脸。自闭症研究 2018 年，11:732-737。©2018 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，公司。
自闭症谱系儿童可能难以与人对视，尤其是与人对视。在这项研究中，孩子们观看了某人唱歌或读故事的视频。结果表明，如果孩子唱歌并且故事对他们来说很熟悉，他们会更多地看着那个人。使用歌曲和熟悉的故事可能是帮助自闭症儿童自然参与他人的一种方式。
