Investigating eye movement patterns, language, and social ability in children with autism spectrum disorder

Stagg, Steven; Linnell, Karina J and Heaton, Pam F.. 2014. Investigating eye movement patterns, language, and social ability in children with autism spectrum disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 26(2), pp. 529-537. ISSN 0954-5794 [Article]

No full text available

Abstract or Description

Although all intellectually high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display core social and communication deficits, some develop language within a normative timescale and others experience significant delays and subsequent language impairment. Early attention to social stimuli plays an important role in the emergence of language, and reduced attention to faces has been documented in infants later diagnosed with ASD. We investigated the extent to which patterns of attention to social stimuli would differentiate early and late language onset groups. Children with ASD (mean age = 10 years) differing on language onset timing (late/normal) and a typically developing comparison group completed a task in which visual attention to interacting and noninteracting human figures was mapped using eye tracking. Correlations on visual attention data and results from tests measuring current social and language ability were conducted. Patterns of visual attention did not distinguish typically developing children and ASD children with normal language onset. Children with ASD and late language onset showed significantly reduced attention to salient social stimuli. Associations between current language ability and social attention were observed. Delay in language onset is associated with current language skills as well as with specific eye-tracking patterns.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414000108

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology

Dates:

DateEvent
May 2014Published

Item ID:

10819

Date Deposited:

28 Oct 2014 16:24

Last Modified:

04 Jul 2017 10:09

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/10819

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)