Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 boulevard du Pont-d'Arve, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 19;11(1):8461. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87888-3.
The goal of this study was to examine the visual preference towards socially salient stimuli, using a low-cost eye-tracking device in a group of typically developing (TD) Ecuadorian preschoolers aged 11 to 60 months, from rural and urban areas, and from families with low to high socioeconomic status (SES). Series of original stimuli inspired by those used in Western experiments on the early detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were proposed in two eye-tracking tasks. Two types of movements (human vs. object) were presented in task 1, and dynamic speaking faces in task 2. Parental perceptions of the adaptability of the low-cost eye-tracking device used here were also investigated through a questionnaire. The analyses of mean fixation times showed a visual preference for human movements compared to moving objects whatever age, residency location or SES. In task 2, visual preference for the mouth's area compared to the eyes' area was observed in specific conditions, modulated by residency location and SES but not by age. The analyses of the parental perception indicated that the eye-tracking technique is well accepted. The findings suggest that these stimuli, along with the experimental procedure and low-cost eye-tracking device used in the present study may be a relevant tool that can be used in clinical settings as a contribution to the early identification of at-risk factors of ASD in low- and middle-income contexts.
本研究的目的是使用低成本眼动追踪设备，在来自农村和城市地区、社会经济地位（SES）从低到高的 11 至 60 个月大的典型发育（TD）厄瓜多尔学龄前儿童群体中，检查对社会显著刺激的视觉偏好。在两项眼动追踪任务中提出了一系列受西方早期自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）检测实验启发的原创刺激。任务 1 中呈现了两种运动（人类与物体），任务 2 中呈现了动态说话人脸。还通过问卷调查研究了家长对所使用低成本眼动追踪设备的适应性的看法。平均注视时间的分析表明，无论年龄、居住地点或 SES 如何，与移动物体相比，儿童更喜欢观看人类运动。在任务 2 中，在特定条件下观察到与眼睛区域相比嘴巴区域的视觉偏好，该偏好受居住地点和 SES 调节，但不受年龄影响。对家长看法的分析表明，眼动追踪技术是可以接受的。研究结果表明，这些刺激以及本研究中使用的实验程序和低成本眼动追踪设备可能是一种相关工具，可以在临床环境中使用，作为对中低收入背景下 ASD 风险因素的早期识别的贡献。
