Abstract
Eye tracking studies of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report a reduction in social attention and an increase in visual attention to non-social stimuli, including objects related to circumscribed interests (CI) (e.g., trains). In the current study, fifteen preschoolers with ASD and 15 typically developing controls matched on gender and age (range 24–62 months) were eye tracked while viewing a paired preference task of face and object stimuli. While co-varying verbal and nonverbal developmental quotients, preschoolers with ASD were similar to controls in their visual attention to faces presented with objects unrelated to CI, but attended significantly less than controls to faces presented with CI-related objects. This was consistent across three metrics: preference, prioritization and duration. Social attention in preschoolers with ASD therefore appears modulated by salience of competing non-social stimuli, which may affect the development of both social and non-social characteristics of the disorder.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger’s syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis.
Auyeung, B., Baron-Cohen, S., Ashwin, E., Knickmeyer, R., Taylor, K., & Hackett, G. (2009). Fetal testosterone and autistic traits. British Journal of Psychology, 100, 1–22.
Bhat, A. N., Galloway, J. C., & Landa, R. J. (2010). Social and non-social visual attention patterns and associative learning in infants at risk for autism. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 989–997.
Bryson, S. E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Brian, J., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., Rombough, V., et al. (2007). A prospective case series of high-risk infants who developed autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 12–24.
Chawarska, K., Macari, S., & Shic, F. (2012). Context modulates attention to social scenes in toddlers with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53, 903–913.
Chawarska, K., Macari, S., & Shic, F. (2013). Decreased spontaneous attention to social scenes in 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 74, 195–203.
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012). The social motivation theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 231–239.
Dawson, G., Carver, L., Meltzoff, A. N., Panagiotides, H., McPartland, J., & Webb, S. J. (2002). Neural correlates of face and object recognition in young children with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, and typical development. Child Development, 73, 700–717.
DeLoache, J. S., Simcock, G., & Macari, S. (2007). Planes, trains, automobiles—And tea sets: Extremely intense interests in very young children. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1579–1586.
Dichter, G. S., Felder, J. N., Green, S. R., Rittenberg, A. M., Sasson, N. J., & Bodfish, J. W. (2012). Reward circuitry function in autism spectrum disorders. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7, 160–172.
Elison, J. T., Paterson, S. J., Wolff, J. J., Reznick, J. S., Sasson, N. J., Gu, H., et al. (2013). White matter microstructure and atypical visual orienting in 7 month-olds at risk for autism. American Journal of Psychiatry. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12091150.
Elison, J. T., Sasson, N. J., Turner-Brown, L. M., Dichter, G. S., & Bodfish, J. W. (2012). Age trends in visual exploration of social and nonsocial information in children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6, 842–851.
Elsabbagh, M., Fernandes, J., Webb, S. J., Dawson, G., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., et al. (2013). Disengagement of visual attention in infancy is associated with emerging autism in toddlerhood. Biological Psychiatry, 74, 189–194.
Elsabbagh, M., Holmboe, K., Gliga, T., Mercure, E., Hudry, K., Charman, T., et al. (2011). Social and attention factors during infancy and the later emergence of autism characteristics. Progress in Brain Research, 189, 195–207.
Elsabbagh, M., & Johnson, M. H. (2010). Getting answers from babies about autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14, 81–87.
Esbensen, A. J., Seltzer, M. M., Lam, K. S. L., & Bodfish, J. W. (2009). Age-related differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 57–66.
Greenough, W. T., Black, J. E., & Wallace, C. S. (1987). Experience and brain development. Child Development, 58, 539–559.
Grelotti, D. J., Gauthier, I., & Schultz, R. T. (2002). Social interest and the development of cortical face specialization: What autism teaches us about face processing. Developmental Psychobiology, 40, 213–225.
Gur, R., Schroeder, L., Turner, T., McGrath, C., Chan, R., Turetsky, B., et al. (2002). Brain activation during facial emotion processing. NeuroImage, 16, 651.
Hollander, E., Novotny, S., Hanratty, M., Yaffe, R., DeCaria, C. M., Aronowitz, B. R., et al. (2003). Oxytocin infusion reduces repetitive behavior in adults with autistic and Asperger’s disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, 28, 193–198.
Hutman, T., Chela, M. K., Gillespie-Lynch, K., & Sigman, M. (2012). Selective visual attention at twelve months: Signs of autism in early social interactions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 487–498.
Johnson, M. H. (2000). Cortical specialization for higher cognitive functions: Beyond the maturational model. Brain and Cognition, 42, 124–127.
Johnson, M., Griffin, R., Csibra, G., Halit, H., Farronni, T., de Haan, M., et al. (2005). The emergence of the social brain network: Evidence from typical and atypical development. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 599–619.
Jones, W., Carr, K., & Klin, A. (2008). Absence of preferential looking to the eyes of approaching adults predicts level of social disability in 2-year-old toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(8), 946–954.
Jordan, C. J., & Caldwell-Harris, C. L. (2012). Understanding differences in neurotypical and autism spectrum special interests through internet forums. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 50, 391–402.
Klin, A., Danovitch, J. H., Merz, A. B., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Circumscribed interests in higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders: An exploratory study. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 32, 89–100.
Klin, A., Jones, W., Schultz, R. T., Volkmar, F., & Cohen, D. J. (2002). Visual fixation patterns during viewing of naturalistic social situations as predictors of social competence in individuals with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 809–816.
Klin, A., Lin, D. J., Gorrindo, P., Ramsay, G., & Jones, W. (2009). Two-year-olds with autism orient to non-social contingencies rather than biological motion. Nature, 459, 257–261.
Koegel, R. L., Firestone, P. B., Kramme, K. W., & Dunlap, G. (1974). Increasing spontaneous play by suppressing self-stimulation in autistic children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 521–528.
Kohler, C. G., Turner, T. H., Bilker, W. B., Brensinger, C. M., Siegel, S. J., Kanes, S. J., et al. (2003). Facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia: Intensity effects and error pattern. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1768–1774.
Koterba, E. A., Leezenbaum, N. B., & Iverson, J. M. (2012). Object exploration at 6 and 9 months in infants with and without risk for autism. Autism. doi:10.1177/1362361312464826.
Lam, K. S., Bodfish, J. W., & Piven, J. (2008). Evidence for three subtypes of repetitive behaviors in autism that differ in familiality and association with other symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 1193–1200.
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H, Jr, Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., et al. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205–223.
Morgan, L., Wetherby, A. M., & Barber, A. (2008). Repetitive and stereotyped movements in children with autism spectrum disorders late in the second year of life. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 826–837.
Mullen, E. (1995). Mullen Scales of Early Learning (AGS Edition ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service, Inc.
Nadig, A., Lee, I., Singh, L., Bosshart, K., & Ozonoff, S. (2010). How does the topic of conversation affect verbal exchange and eye gaze? A comparison between typical development and high-functioning autism. Neuropsychologia, 48, 2730–2739.
Osterling, J. A., Dawson, G., & Munson, J. A. (2002). Early recognition of 1-year-old infants with autism spectrum disorder versus mental retardation. Development and Psychopathology, 14(2), 239–251.
Ozonoff, S., Macari, S., Young, G. S., Goldring, S., Thompson, M., & Rogers, S. J. (2008). Atypical object exploration at 12 months of age is associated with autism in a prospective sample. Autism, 12, 457–472.
Parish-Morris, J., Chevallier, C., Tonge, N., Letzen, J., Pandey, J., & Schultz, R. T. (2013). Visual attention to dynamic faces and objects is linked to face processing skills: A combined study of children with autism and controls. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 4(185). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00185.
Pelphrey, K. A., Sasson, N. J., Reznick, J. S., Paul, G., Goldman, B. N., & Piven, J. (2002). Visual scanning of faces in adults with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 249–261.
Pierce, K., Conant, D., Hazin, R., Stoner, R., & Desmond, J. (2011). Preference for geometric patterns early in life as a risk factor for autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68, 101–109.
Sasson, N. J. (2006). The Development of Face Processing in Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 381–394.
Sasson, N. J., Dichter, G. S., & Bodfish, J. W. (2012). Affective responses by adults with autism are reduced to social images but elevated to images related to circumscribed interests. PLoS ONE, 7(8), e42457. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042457.
Sasson, N. J., Elison, J. T., Turner-Brown, L. M., Dichter, G. S., & Bodfish, J. W. (2011). Brief report: Circumscribed attention in young children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 242–247.
Sasson, N. J., Pinkham, A. E., Richard, J., Hughett, P., Gur, R. E., & Gur, R. C. (2010). Controlling for response biases clarifies sex and age differences in facial affect recognition. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 34, 207–221.
Sasson, N., Tsuchiya, N., Hurley, R., Couture, S. M., Penn, D. L., Adolphs, R., et al. (2007). Orienting to social stimuli differentiates social cognitive impairment in autism and schizophrenia. Neuropsychologia, 45, 2580–2588.
Sasson, N. J., Turner-Brown, L. M., Holtzclaw, T. N., Lam, K. S. L., & Bodfish, J. W. (2008). Children with autism demonstrate circumscribed attention during passive viewing of complex social and nonsocial picture arrays. Autism Research, 1, 31–42.
Schultz, R. T. (2005). Developmental deficits in social perception in autism: The role of the amygdala and fusiform face area. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 23, 125–141.
South, M., Ozonoff, S., & McMahon, W. M. (2005). Repetitive behavior profiles in Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 145–158.
Turner-Brown, L. M. T., Lam, K. S. L., Holtzclaw, T. N., Dichter, G. S., & Bodfish, J. W. (2011). Phenomenology and measurement of circumscribed interests in autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 15, 437–456.
Varni, J. W., Lovaas, O. I., Koegel, R. L., & Everett, N. L. (1979). An analysis of observational learning in autistic and normal children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 7, 31–43.
Watt, N., Wetherby, A. M., Barber, A., & Morgan, L. (2008). Repetitive and stereotyped behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders in the second year of life. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1518–1533.
Werner, E., Dawson, G., Osterling, J., & Dinno, N. (2000). Brief report: Recognition of autism spectrum disorder before one year of age: A retrospective study based on home videotapes. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(2), 157–162.
Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P. (2005). Behavioral manifestations of autism in the first year of life. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 23, 143–152.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Thomas Campbell and Christine Dollaghan for generously sharing their lab space, and Suzanne Bonifert, Jamie Cato, Hillary Carrington and Lark Huang-Storms for their assistance with recruitment and clinical evaluations. We also extend our gratitude to all participating children and their families. This research was supported by Grant Number UL1RR024982, titled, “North and Central Texas Clinical and Translational Science Initiative” (Milton Packer, M.D., PI) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, and its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the NCRR or NIH. Information on NCRR is available at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/. Information on Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise can be obtained from http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinicalresearch/overview-translational.asp.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sasson, N.J., Touchstone, E.W. Visual Attention to Competing Social and Object Images by Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 584–592 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1910-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1910-z