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Autistic children’s visual sensitivity to face movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2023

Qiandong Wang Open the ORCID record for Qiandong Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Xue Li ,
Xiaoyun Gong ,
Tingni Yin ,
Qinyi Liu ,
Li Yi  and
Jing Liu
Qiandong Wang
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Education Research Center for Children With ASD, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Xue Li
Affiliation:
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
Xiaoyun Gong
Affiliation:
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
Tingni Yin
Affiliation:
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
Qinyi Liu
Affiliation:
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
Li Yi*
Affiliation:
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jing Liu*
Affiliation:
Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
*
Corresponding authors: Li Yi, email: yilipku@pku.edu.cn; Jing Liu, email: ljyuch@yahoo.cn
Corresponding authors: Li Yi, email: yilipku@pku.edu.cn; Jing Liu, email: ljyuch@yahoo.cn
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Abstract

There is a pressing need for studies of large sample sizes and variable age ranges to delineate the mechanism underlying reduced visual attention to biological motion in autism. Here we focused on the basic movement of the eyes or mouth in guiding attention. The stimuli face blinked continuously or moved the mouth silently. In a large sample (145 autistic and 132 non-autistic participants) ranging from 3 to 17 years old, we assessed whether autistic participants showed reduced visual attention to basic movement of the eyes or mouth using a free-viewing eye-tracking task. We found that, like non-autistic participants, autistic participants increased their eye-looking time when viewing the blinking face and increased mouth-looking time when viewing the mouth-moving face. Furthermore, these effects were stable across ages, suggesting the presence of a developmentally stable attentional capture by basic face movements in both groups. We also found that autistic participants looked less at basic face movement than non-autistic participants. Our results suggest that autistic children and adolescents could modulate their visual attention to the basic face movements, but their modulation effect is weaker than non-autistic participants. These results further our understanding of the mechanism underlying visual attention-to-face movement in autistic people.

Keywords

autism spectrum disorderbiological motionface movementdevelopmenteye-tracking
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , First View , pp. 1 - 10
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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