Gaze Following and Pupil Dilation as Early Diagnostic Markers of Autism in Toddlers

Abstract

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show certain characteristics in visual attention. These may generate differences with non-autistic children in the integration of relevant social information to set the basis of communication. Reliable and objective measurement of these characteristics in a language learning context could contribute to a more accurate early diagnosis of ASD. Gaze following and pupil dilation are being studied as possible reliable measures of visual attention for the early detection of ASD. The eye-tracking methodology allows objective measurement of these biomarkers. The aim of this study is to determine whether measurements of gaze following and pupillary dilation in a linguistic interaction task are potential objective biomarkers for the early diagnosis of ASD. Method: A group of 20 children between 17 and 24 months of age, made up of 10 neurotypical children (NT) and 10 children with an increased likelihood of developing ASD were paired together according to chronological age. A human face on a monitor pronounced pseudowords associated with pseudo-objects. Gaze following and pupil dilation were registered during the task These measurements were captured using eye-tracking methodology. Results: Significant statistical differences were found in the time of gaze fixation on the human face and on the object, as well as in the number of gazes. Children with an increased possibility of developing ASD showed a slightly higher pupil dilation than NT children. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Nevertheless, their pupil dilation was uniform throughout the different periods of the task while NT participants showed greater dilation on hearing the pseudoword. Conclusions: The fixing and the duration of gaze, objectively measured by a Tobii eye-tracking system, could be considered as potential biomarkers for early detection of ASD. Additionally, pupil dilation measurement could reflect differential activation patterns during word processing in possible ASD toddlers and NT toddlers.

A Virtual Reality Based System for the Screening and Classification of Autism

“…a recent review, see [28]) but eye gaze patterns in autism have been pointed out as possible biomarkers of this condition [11,16,18]. More concretely, eye-tracking has been used to investigate the gaze patterns of autistic individuals (for a systematic review and meta-analysis see [54]).…”

Application of Eye Tracking Technology in Medicine: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Since the diagnosis of autism is challenging and no biomarker is available [ 51 ], the development of computational models based on early abnormalities such as the differences in gaze processing might be of substantial help to improve and anticipate the diagnosis, thus, making it possible to initiate treatment at an earlier stage, when it is most effective [ 52 ]. Eye tracking measurements that might prove to be useful as early biomarkers include dysregulations in pupil dilation [ 53 , 54 , 55 ], changes in saccadic behavior, differences in gaze patterns during vision exposure to social stimuli [ 56 , 57 , 58 ] and analysis of scan paths or gaze patterns [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ]. Some studies combined eye tracking data with other measurements such as resting-state EEG data [ 65 , 66 , 67 ].…”

Introduction to Language Development in Children: Description to Detect and Prevent Language Difficulties

“…One paper in this Special Issue looked at the integration of multimodal information within the communicative setting in toddlers at risk of developing ASD by means of eye-tracking measures. The study by Camero et al [23] investigated visual attention to establish potential early markers of ASD. A group of 10 age-paired TD children and another group composed of 10 children with an increased likelihood of developing ASD looked at a human face when pronouncing pseudowords on a monitor, which were associated with several pseudo-objects.…”