Social attention as a cross‐cultural transdiagnostic neurodevelopmental risk marker

Abstract

The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate the structure and age‐related stability of social attention in English and Arabic‐speaking youth and to compare social attention between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), other developmental disabilities (DD), and typically‐developing controls. Eye‐tracking data were collected from US (N = 270) and Qatari (N = 242) youth ages 1–17, including children evaluated for possible ASD. Participants viewed 44 stimuli from seven social paradigms. Fixation was computed for areas of interest within each stimulus. Latent variable models examined the structure of social attention. Generalized estimating equation models examined the effect of age, sex, culture, and diagnostic group on social attention. The best‐fitting model included a general social attention factor and six specific factors. Cultural differences in social attention were minimal and social attention was stable across age (r = 0.03), but females showed significantly greater social attention than males (d = 0.28). Social attention was weaker in DD (d = −0.17) and lowest in ASD (d = −0.38) relative to controls. Differences were of sufficient magnitude across areas‐of‐interest to reliably differentiate DD from controls (AUC = 0.80) and ASD‐only from all other cases (AUC = 0.76). A social attention dimension that represents an early‐life preference for socially salient information was identified. This preference was cross‐culturally consistent and stable across development but stronger in females and weaker in DD, especially ASD. Given rapid and easy‐to‐collect remote eye tracking administration, social attention measurement may be useful for developmental monitoring. Acquisition of population norms, analogous to height/weight/head circumference, might enhance early screening and tracking of neurodevelopment. Lay Summary This research found that social attention is a single dimension of behavior that represents a strong preference for social stimuli, is consistent across cultures, stable across age, and stronger in females. Children with developmental disabilities had lower levels of social attention than neurotypical children and children with autism spectrum disorder had the lowest levels of social attention.

The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism

“…Further, processing of eye gaze may be as fundamental or more fundamental to social attention development than face processing per se [e.g., ( 134 , 136 )] and the development of social orienting and joint attention may share common neurodevelopmental and genetic substrates [e.g., ( 199 , 233 )]. A unified measurements model of social attention that combines measures of social orienting and joint attention may be more powerful way forward in research on social attention in ASD ( 118 , 119 ). However, a unified measurement model that allows for the direct comparison of data from joint attention and social orienting measures on the same samples of children in future research is still needed to truly examine the relations between these two types of social attention in the development of ASD.…”

“…This level of reliability may be difficult to obtain with research that employs only one or the other social attention paradigm. However, a multivariate latent construct measurement model may be expected to improve reliability and power in social attention research on ASD ( 118 , 119 ). Attempts to utilize a multivariate, latent construct approach to social attention measurement have begun to appear in the literature ( 119 ), but much more research is needed to understand the utility of this approach.…”

Social orienting and initiated joint attention behaviors in 9 to 12 month old children with autism spectrum disorder: A family home movies study

“…The limited number of girls in ASD group foiled our intention of analyzing gender differences within the ASD children. This task is especially relevant considering that previous research have found that older girls with ASD pay more social attention than boys (Frazier et al, 2021) and are more communicative (Wood‐Downie et al, 2021). In addition, gender differences have been found in social attention during the first year of life in girls than have an older sibling with ASD (Chawarska et al, 2016).…”

Level of Attention to Motherese Speech as an Early Marker of Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Eye tracking is a relatively new approach for rapidly and accurately characterizing attention in ASD 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 and holds promise as a screening and diagnostic tool. 31 , 33 Eye-tracking studies, however, have been largely restricted to the visual domain and have demonstrated reduced attention to social visual images in ASD.…”

“…In a brain imaging study, toddlers with ASD who showed the lowest levels of attention to motherese speech also showed the lowest levels of neural functional activation in speech-processing regions and lower language abilities than toddlers who paid greater attention to motherese speech. 27 Eye tracking is a relatively new approach for rapidly and accurately characterizing attention in ASD [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] and holds promise as a screening and diagnostic tool. 31,33 Eye-tracking studies, however, have been largely restricted to the visual domain and have demonstrated reduced attention to social visual images in ASD.…”