Background
From birth, infants show a preference for the faces, gaze, and voices of others. In
individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) these biases seem to be disturbed.
The source of these disturbances is not well-understood, but recent efforts have shown
that the spontaneous deployment of attention to social targets might be atypical as
early as 6 months of age. The nature of this atypical behavior and the conditions
under which it arises are currently unknown.
Methods
We used eye-tracking to examine the gaze patterns of 6-month-old infants (n = 99) at high risk (n = 57) and low risk (n = 42) for developing ASD as they viewed faces that were: 1) still; 2) moving and
expressing positive affect; or 3) speaking. Clinical outcomes were determined through
a comprehensive assessment at the age of 3 years. The scanning patterns of infants
later diagnosed with ASD were compared with infants without an ASD outcome.
Results
Infants who later developed ASD spent less time looking at the presented scenes in
general than other infants. When these infants looked at faces, their looking toward
the inner features of faces decreased compared with the other groups only when the
presented face was speaking.
Conclusions
Our study suggests that infants later diagnosed with ASD have difficulties regulating
attention to complex social scenes. It also suggests that the presence of speech might
uniquely disturb the attention of infants who later develop ASD at a critical developmental
point when other infants are acquiring language and learning about their social world.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 15, 2013
Accepted:
July 8,
2013
Received in revised form:
June 27,
2013
Received:
February 6,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
