Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2019 Feb;61(2):174-180. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.13928. Epub 2018 Jun 5.
To examine visual attention to faces within social scenes in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and typically developing peers.
Using eye-tracking technology we investigated the time taken to fixate on a face and the percentage of time spent attending to faces relative to the rest of the screen within social scenes in 24 children with NF1 (17 females, seven males; mean age 10y 4mo [SD 1y 9mo]). Results were compared with those of 24 age-matched typically developing controls (11 females, 13 males; mean age 10y 3mo [SD 2y]).
There was no significant between-group differences in time taken to initially fixate on a face (p=0.617); however, children with NF1 spent less time attending to faces within scenes than controls (p=0.048). Decreased attention to faces was associated with elevated autism traits in children with NF1.
Children with NF1 spend less time attending to faces than typically developing children when presented in social scenes. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature suggesting that abnormal face processing is a key aspect of the social-cognitive phenotype of NF1 and appears to be related to autism spectrum disorder traits. Clinicians should consider the impact of reduced attention to faces when designing and implementing treatment programmes for social dysfunction in this population.
Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) demonstrated atypical gaze behaviour when attending to faces. NF1 gaze behaviour was characterized by normal initial fixation on faces but shorter face dwell time. Decreased attention to faces was associated with elevated autism traits in the sample with NF1.
研究 1 型神经纤维瘤病（NF1）患儿与发育正常的同龄儿童在社会场景中对面部的视觉注意力。
我们使用眼动追踪技术，调查了 24 名 NF1 患儿（17 名女性，7 名男性；平均年龄 10 岁 4 个月[标准差 1 岁 9 个月]）和 24 名年龄匹配的发育正常对照组儿童（11 名女性，13 名男性；平均年龄 10 岁 3 个月[标准差 2 岁]）在社会场景中注视面部的时间以及注视面部的时间百分比。将结果与对照组进行比较。
两组儿童首次注视面部的时间无显著差异（p=0.617）；然而，NF1 组儿童在场景中注视面部的时间少于对照组（p=0.048）。NF1 患儿对场景中面部的注意力减少与自闭症特征升高有关。
与发育正常的儿童相比，NF1 患儿在呈现社会场景时，对面部的注意力时间更短。我们的研究结果为越来越多的文献提供了支持，即异常的面部处理是 NF1 社会认知表型的一个关键方面，并且似乎与自闭症谱系障碍特征有关。临床医生在为该人群设计和实施社交功能障碍治疗方案时，应考虑到减少对面部注意力的影响。
NF1 患儿在注视面部时表现出异常的注视行为。NF1 的注视行为特征为正常的初始面部注视，但面部停留时间较短。在 NF1 样本中，对脸部的注意力减少与自闭症特征升高有关。
