Division of Pediatrics, Ohchi Municipal Hospital, 3848-2, Nakano Ohnan-cho, Ohchi, Shimane, 696-0102, Japan.
Department of Pediatrics, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine, 89-1, Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane, 693-8501, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2021 May 11;11(1):10009. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89585-7.
Eye-tracking to evaluate gaze patterns has developed as an assessment tool for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Gazefinder is one of Eye-tracking devices and few studies have investigated whether it can measure the gaze data of infants under 12 months of age. We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study from April 2019 to March 2020 in a periodic health checkup in Ohchi County, Shimane, Japan. Participants included infants between 4 and 11 months of age who were not suspected the presence of developmental problems. Ninety-three participants' datapoints were analyzed. The mean age was 6.5 months and mean developmental quotient was 88%. The mean fixation time percentage of all sequences was 81.0% (standard deviation; 4.4), and there was no significant difference in each age group. Infants in all groups showed a significantly higher predilection for eyes than for mouths. There was a positive association of age with human gaze and a negative association with geometric gaze. Moreover, we confirmed that joint attention skills were enhanced in accordance with their growth process. The eye-tracking data were almost corresponding to previous studies' data of infant with typical development and Gazefinder could be applied to infants starting at 4 months of age.
眼动追踪评估注视模式已发展成为自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的评估工具。Gazefinder 是眼动追踪设备之一，很少有研究调查它是否可以测量 12 个月以下婴儿的注视数据。我们在 2019 年 4 月至 2020 年 3 月期间在日本岛根县大内町的定期健康检查中进行了一项前瞻性横断面研究。参与者包括年龄在 4 至 11 个月之间且未被怀疑存在发育问题的婴儿。分析了 93 名参与者的数据点。平均年龄为 6.5 个月，平均发育商为 88%。所有序列的注视时间百分比平均值为 81.0%（标准差；4.4），且在各个年龄组之间无显著差异。所有组的婴儿均明显更倾向于注视眼睛而非嘴巴。年龄与人类注视呈正相关，与几何注视呈负相关。此外，我们证实，共同注意技能随着婴儿的成长过程而增强。眼动追踪数据几乎与典型发育婴儿的先前研究数据相吻合，Gazefinder 可应用于 4 个月大的婴儿。
