Reduced engagement of visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Autism
; 25(7): 2064-2073, 2021 10.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33966481
ABSTRACT
LAY ABSTRACT Limited eye contact and difficulty tracking where others are looking are common in people with autism spectrum disorder. It is unclear, however, whether these are specifically social differences; it is possible that they are a result of broader alterations in engaging and disengaging visual attention. We used eye-tracking technology with children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 35) and typical development (n = 32), showing them both social and nonsocial imaging to test their visual attention. Children with autism spectrum disorder had a significant difference in how long it took them to look from an image in the middle to one on the side, depending on whether the middle image stayed on the screen or flashed off before the one on the side appeared. This difference was present for both social and nonsocial images, and was related to cognitive ability for only the children with autism spectrum disorder. Our findings suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder have differences in general processes of engaging visual attention that are not specifically social in nature, and that these processes may relate to cognitive ability in autism spectrum disorder. Affected processes of visual engagement in autism spectrum disorder may contribute to symptoms like reduced eye contact, but social-specific symptoms of autism spectrum disorder likely do not stem from reduced visual engagement alone.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtorno do Espectro Autista
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Autism
Assunto da revista:
PSICOLOGIA
/
PSIQUIATRIA
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos