Gaze perception from head and pupil rotations in 2D and 3D: Typical development and the impact of autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

The study of gaze perception has largely focused on a single cue (the eyes) in two-dimensional settings. While this literature suggests that 2D gaze perception is shaped by atypical development, as in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), gaze perception is in reality contextually-sensitive, perceived as an emergent feature conveyed by the rotation of the pupils and head. We examined gaze perception in this integrative context, across development, among children and adolescents developing typically or with ASD with both 2D and 3D stimuli. We found that both groups utilized head and pupil rotations to judge gaze on a 2D face. But when evaluating the gaze of a physically-present, 3D robot, the same ASD observers used eye cues less than their typically-developing peers. This demonstrates that emergent gaze perception is a slowly developing process that is surprisingly intact, albeit weakened in ASD, and illustrates how new technology can bridge visual and clinical science.

Assisted Robots in Therapies for Children with Autism in Early Childhood

“…The most relevant information on the articles studied for this review can be found in Table 2 , where the author, the type of article, the sample, the intervention, the type of scale used, and the results of each work are indicated. There are six study cases [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], two pilot studies [ 16 , 17 ], and one randomised controlled trial (RCT) [ 50 ]. In these papers, the number of subjects included was 186, of which 27 were known to be female.…”

“…Searches based on the snowball technique were also carried out, reviewing the reference lists of articles already included for review in this work to verify the existence of additional non-emerging articles in databases. The age exclusion criterion was found to be the most relevant, eliminating some potential articles such as [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 35 ], which clearly showed the therapies performed, the robots used, and the relevant results provided.…”

“…These works focus on the use of advanced algorithms and techniques to improve diagnostic accuracy and gain a better understanding of the patterns associated with the disorder. Another use, also related to this field, is Mihalache et al’s [ 17 ] research on gaze perception in children with ASD that sheds light on how head and pupil rotations in 2D and 3D impact typical development and the effects of the disorder.…”