Wang Qiandong, Han Ying, Hu Yixiao, Li Xue, Liu Jing, Fang Hui, Li Tianbi, Chang Yanmei, Yi Li
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Education Research Center for Children With ASD, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Autism Res. 2025 Jan;18(1):166-178. doi: 10.1002/aur.3270. Epub 2024 Nov 22.
This study employed eye-tracking technology to investigate the mechanisms underlying reduced gaze towards the eyes in infants at high likelihood (HL) for autism, specifically examining whether it results from avoidance triggered by heightened arousal when looking at the eyes or due to indifference to the eyes (i.e., unwilling to orient to the eyes). Infants at HL for autism and typically developing (TD) infants aged within 24 months were tested. In the experiment, participants' gaze was initially guided to the eye or mouth region immediately before the onset of the face. Latency to orient away from the guided regions, latency to orient to the eyes, and the location of the secondary fixation following the onset of the face were measured. The results showed that: (1) The HL infants looked less at eyes than TD infants; (2) Compared with TD infants, HL infants oriented towards eyes more slowly after being guided to the mouth; (3) After being guided to the eyes, HL infants' secondary fixation fell less in the eye region, and their latency to orient away from the eyes was also tended to be shorter. These results suggest that reduced eye-looking time was presented in HL infants, which was further explained by both eye avoidance and indifference to the eyes. Our study contributes theoretically to understanding the atypical face scanning pattern in autistic people and its related underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, our study provides important insights into the development of early screening tools and intervention protocols for autistic people.
本研究采用眼动追踪技术，以探究高自闭症风险（HL）婴儿注视眼睛减少的潜在机制，具体考察这是由于注视眼睛时因唤醒增强引发的回避，还是对眼睛漠不关心（即不愿看向眼睛）所致。对年龄在24个月内的高自闭症风险婴儿和发育正常（TD）的婴儿进行了测试。在实验中，在面部出现之前，参与者的注视最初被引导至眼睛或嘴巴区域。测量了从引导区域移开的潜伏期、看向眼睛的潜伏期，以及面部出现后二次注视的位置。结果表明：（1）高自闭症风险婴儿注视眼睛的时间比发育正常的婴儿少；（2）与发育正常的婴儿相比，高自闭症风险婴儿在被引导至嘴巴后看向眼睛的速度更慢；（3）在被引导至眼睛后，高自闭症风险婴儿的二次注视落在眼睛区域的较少，并且他们从眼睛移开的潜伏期也往往更短。这些结果表明，高自闭症风险婴儿存在注视眼睛时间减少的情况，这可通过回避眼睛和对眼睛漠不关心来进一步解释。我们的研究在理论上有助于理解自闭症患者非典型的面部扫描模式及其相关潜在机制。此外，我们的研究为自闭症患者早期筛查工具和干预方案的开发提供了重要见解。
