Visual scanning of social stimuli in preterm and autism spectrum disorder children

Varredura visual de estímulos sociais em crianças prematuras e com transtorno do espectro autista

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To evaluate the pattern of eye-gaze of preterm (PT), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (Ty) children.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study with eight preterm (born with ≤2000 g weight), nine ASD and five Ty male children, between six and nine years old, was performed. The eye gaze was evaluated presenting a board with a couple in social interaction, and a video with four children playing with blocks, projected in a screen computer, successively, evaluating the time that the children looked at each stimulus.

Results:

Although all the groups focus on the central social figure with no significant differences, ASD presented significant differences in time fixation of the objects (p=0.021), while premature children fixated more time in the central social interaction than in the whole scene than typical children.

Conclusions:

Although this study found noteworthy differences in the eye-gaze patterns among the three groups, additional research with a more extensive participant pool is necessary to validate these preliminary results.

Keywords:
Autism; Autism spectrum disorder; Eye-tracking technology; Infant, premature; Social visual engagement