School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
Cortex. 2024 May;174:110-124. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.012. Epub 2024 Feb 29.
Gaze following difficulties are considered an early marker of autism, thought likely to cumulatively impact the development of social cognition, language and social skills. Subtle differences in gaze following abilities may contribute to the diverse range social and communicative autistic characteristics observed across people with genetic syndromes, such as Cornelia de Lange (CdLS) and fragile X (FXS) syndromes.
To compare profiles of 1) visual attention to the eye region at critical points of the attention direction process, 2) whether children follow the gaze cue to the object, and 3) participant looking time to the target object following the gaze cue between groups and conditions.
Children with CdLS (N = 11) and FXS (N = 8) and autistic (N = 22) and neurotypical (N = 15) children took part in a passive viewing paradigm adapted from Senju and Csibra (2008), in which videos of a central cue (ball/cartoon face/human face) directed attention towards one of two objects. Visual attention patterns were recorded via eye tracking technology.
Neurotypical children were used as a reference group against which the autistic, CdLS and FXS groups were compared. Although autistic children looked at the eye region for significantly less time, they looked at the target object as frequently and for a similar duration as neurotypical children. Children with FXS looked at the target as frequently as neurotypical children but looked at it for comparatively less time. Both neurotypical children and children with CdLS frequently looked at the eye region, but children with CdLS were less likely to look at the target than neurotypical children.
Findings provide preliminary evidence of unique patterns of visual attention and gaze following strategies in children with CdLS, children with FXS and autistic children. These unique gaze following patterns may underpin the distinct profiles of social and communication autistic traits observed between these groups.
目光追随困难被认为是自闭症的早期标志物，可能会累积影响社会认知、语言和社交技能的发展。在具有遗传综合征的人群中，如 Cornelia de Lange（CdLS）和脆性 X（FXS）综合征，目光追随能力的细微差异可能导致社交和交流自闭症特征的多样性。
比较 1）在注视方向过程的关键点上对眼部区域的视觉注意力，2）儿童是否跟随注视线索到目标，以及 3）在组间和条件下，参与者跟随注视线索到目标的注视时间的三个方面的表现。
患有 CdLS（N=11）和 FXS（N=8）以及自闭症（N=22）和神经典型（N=15）的儿童参加了一个从 Senju 和 Csibra（2008）改编的被动观察范式，在这个范式中，一个中央线索（球/卡通脸/人脸）的视频将注意力引导到两个目标中的一个。通过眼动追踪技术记录视觉注意力模式。
以神经典型儿童作为参考组，将自闭症、CdLS 和 FXS 组与之进行比较。虽然自闭症儿童注视眼部区域的时间明显较少，但他们注视目标的频率和持续时间与神经典型儿童相似。FXS 儿童注视目标的频率与神经典型儿童一样高，但注视时间相对较短。神经典型儿童和 CdLS 儿童都经常注视眼部区域，但 CdLS 儿童注视目标的可能性比神经典型儿童小。
这些发现为 CdLS、FXS 和自闭症儿童的视觉注意力和注视跟随策略提供了初步的证据。这些独特的注视跟随模式可能是这些群体之间观察到的社交和交流自闭症特征的独特模式的基础。
