Atypical Social Attention and Emotional Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights From Face Scanning and Pupillometry

Reisinger, Debra L.; Shaffer, Rebecca C.; Horn, Paul S.; Hong, M.; Pedapati, Ernest V.; Dominick, Kelli C.; Erickson, Craig A.

doi:10.3389/fnint.2019.00076

Cited by 29 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(97 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results demonstrate decreased social orienting towards faces in ASD compared to TD, which is commensurate with previous studies [ 2 – 9 , 34 , 52 ]. Similar to Harrop et al’s results [ 27 ], our preschool boys with ASD showed reduced attention to faces compared to TD children.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Based on this observation, studies have focused on the possible link between atypical visual exploration and social difficulties in autism using eye-tracking technology. The majority of these studies have shown decreased attention to social stimuli in individuals with ASD (often referred to as a lack of social orienting) and less time spent on the eye region compared to people with typical development [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] which were more evident when using dynamic (as opposed to static) stimuli [10] and naturalistic social interactions [2]. In addition, studies of high-risk children indicate that atypical social orienting emerges early in development, [8,[11][12][13] and shapes future developmental trajectories of children with ASD [5,14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The impact of social complexity on the visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Typical development of socio-communicative skills relies on keen observation of others. It thus follows that decreased social attention negatively impacts the subsequent development of socio-communicative abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In addition, studies indicate that social attention is modulated by context and that greater social difficulties are observed in more socially demanding situations. Our study aims to investigate the effect of social complexity on visual exploration of others’ actions in preschoolers. Methods To investigate the impact of social complexity, we used an eye-tracking paradigm with 26 typically developing preschoolers (TD, age = 3.60 ± 1.55) and 37 preschoolers with ASD (age = 3.55 ± 1.21). Participants were shown videos of two children engaging in socially simple play (parallel) versus socially complex play (interactive). We subsequently quantified the time spent and fixation duration on faces, objects, bodies, as well as the background and the number of spontaneous gaze shifts between socially relevant areas of interest. Results In the ASD group, we observed decreased time spent on faces. Social complexity (interactive play) elicited changes in visual exploration patterns in both groups. From the parallel to the interactive condition, we observed a shift towards socially relevant parts of the scene, a decrease in fixation duration, as well as an increase in spontaneous gaze shifts between faces and objects though there were fewer in the ASD group. Limitations Our results need to be interpreted cautiously due to relatively small sample sizes and may be relevant to male preschoolers, given our male-only sample and reported phenotypic differences between males and females. Conclusion Our results suggest that similar to TD children, though to a lesser extent, visual exploration patterns in ASD are modulated by context. Children with ASD that were less sensitive to context modulation showed decreased socio-communicative skills or higher levels of symptoms. Our findings support using naturalistic designs to capture socio-communicative deficits in ASD.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of social complexity on the visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Sepeta et al (2012) hypothesise that their results, increased pupillary responses in response to happy faces in the TD group and not in the ASD group, can be explained by an impairment in social reward processing in ASD, since attractive faces with direct eye-contact are known to provoke activation of the ventral striatum, which is part of the neural reward processing system. Reisinger et al (2020) found the opposite effect, increased pupil reactivity in the ASD group compared to TD. In another article by Nuske et al (2014b), the children with ASD had reduced pupillary responses to the fearful expressions of unfamiliar people, relative to the typically developing children.…”

Section: Processing Of Emotional Informationmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…ASD and TD both had a greater pupil dilation to direct versus averted gaze. Sepeta et al (2012) also argue against this hypothesis, since their study shows similar pupillary responses in TD and ASD when watching a fearful or anger face with a direct gaze, as do Reisinger et al (2020). Galazka et al (2019) found that the ASD group looked less at the eyes in their study, but despite this, showed similar pupillary contagion as the TD group.…”

Section: Processing Of Emotional Informationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Autism spectrum disorder and pupillometry: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Vries

Fouquaet

Boets

et al. 2021

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pupillometry, measuring pupil size and reactivity, has been proposed as a measure of autonomic nervous system functioning, the latter which might be altered in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to evaluate if pupillary responses differ in individuals with and without ASD. After performing a systematic literature search, we conducted a meta-analysis and constructed a qualitative synthesis. The meta-analysis shows a longer latency of the pupil response in the ASD-group as a substantial group difference, with a Hedges' g of 1.03 (95% CI 0.49-1.56, p = 0.008). Evidence on baseline pupil size and amplitude change is conflicting. We used the framework method to perform a qualitative evaluation of these differences. Explanations for the group differences vary between studies and are inconclusive, but many authors point to involvement of the autonomous nervous system and more specifically the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system. Pupillometry reveals differences between people with and without ASD, but the exact meaning of these differences remains unknown. Future studies should align research designs and investigate a possible effect of maturation.

show abstract

“…Fixation duration has been used to gain insights into cognitive control capacity; for example, what we remember, 123, 124 how we perform mental computations, 125 read, 126 solve problems, 89, 127–133 compare specific stimuli and make decisions based on integrated pieces of information 134 . Eye‐tracking technology also provides knowledge about regions of interest, and therefore answers essential questions of when and how information is being captured and processed during vision‐oriented tests 92, 135–140 . Of great interest is the time spent on an image; this gaze metric has been widely covered in the scientific literature and is associated with the visual expression of preference 141–144 …”

Section: (Eye‐)tracking the Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent updates of eye movement abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia: A scoping review

Wolf

Ueda

Hirano

2021

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Although eye‐tracking technology expands beyond capturing eye data just for the sole purpose of ensuring participants maintain their gaze at the presented fixation cross, gaze technology remains of less importance in clinical research. Recently, impairments in visual information encoding processes indexed by novel gaze metrics have been frequently reported in patients with schizophrenia. This work undertakes a scoping review of research on saccadic dysfunctions and exploratory eye movement deficits among patients with schizophrenia. It gathers promising pieces of evidence of eye movement abnormalities in attention‐demanding tasks on the schizophrenia spectrum that have mounted in recent years and their outcomes as potential biological markers. Methods The protocol was drafted based on PRISMA for scoping review guidelines. Electronic databases were systematically searched to identify articles published between 2010 and 2020 that examined visual processing in patients with schizophrenia and reported eye movement characteristics as potential biomarkers for this mental illness. Results The use of modern eye‐tracking instrumentation has been reported by numerous neuroscientific studies to successfully and non‐invasively improve the detection of visual information processing impairments among the screened population at risk of and identified with schizophrenia. Conclusions Eye‐tracking technology has the potential to contribute to the process of early intervention and more apparent separation of the diagnostic entities, being put together by the syndrome‐based approach to the diagnosis of schizophrenia. However, context‐processing paradigms should be conducted and reported in equally accessible publications to build comprehensive models.

show abstract

Atypical Social Attention and Emotional Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights From Face Scanning and Pupillometry

Cited by 29 publications

References 60 publications

The impact of social complexity on the visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

The impact of social complexity on the visual exploration of others' actions in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder and pupillometry: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Recent updates of eye movement abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia: A scoping review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About