Initial ocular fixation and face exploration: The case of children with autistic spectrum disorders and developmental delay
Type de matériel :
52
Systematic study of the visual activity exhibited by subjects with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) during face exploration yields mixed and even contradictory results. In the case of isolated static face exploration by high-functioning participants with ASD, while adults exhibit atypical visual activity characterized in particular by a lower eye fixation time, the same result is not found in children or adolescents. However, when the child with ASD presents an associated non-verbal development delay, atypical patterns of face exploration do occur (Chawarska & Shic, 2009). Our study aims to confirm this result in children with ASD who also present an overall developmental delay. Eye-tracking data for 15 children with ASD, aged from 3 years and 1 month to 10 years and 10 months (mean age = 6 years and 9 months; SD = 2 years and 3 months) is compared to those of 15 typical children aged from 3 years and 6 months to 7 years and 9 months (mean age = 5 years and 7 months, SD = 1 year and 4 months) during spontaneous exploration of faces exhibiting different degrees of realism (photographs, virtual avatars, and stylized drawings).The main results show several aspects of the visual fixation pattern usually found in high-functioning adults with ASD but not in children. In particular, although frequency of first fixation on different areas of interest of the face (including the eyes) is comparable between the two groups, typical children look more at the eyes of photos and avatars than do children with ASD and developmental delay, while the latter also exhibit significant visual activity directed outside the screen and toward the background of percepts, whatever their degree of realism. These results are discussed in relation to the visual exploration performance of participants with ASD as reported in the literature.
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