Abstract

We tested the potential for Gazefinder eye-tracking to support early autism identification, including feasible use with infants, and preliminary concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against clinical assessment scores. We embedded the ~ 2-min ‘Scene 1S4’ protocol within a comprehensive clinical assessment for 54 consecutively-referred, clinically-indicated infants (prematurity-corrected age 9–14 months). Alongside % tracking rate as a broad indicator of feasible assessment/data capture, we report infant gaze data to pre-specified regions of interest (ROI) across four trial types and associations with scores on established clinical/behavioural tools. Most infants tolerated Gazefinder eye-tracking well, returning high overall % tracking rate. As a group, infants directed more gaze towards social vs. non-social (or more vs. less socially-salient) ROIs within trials. Behavioural autism features were correlated with increased gaze towards non-social/geometry (vs. social/people) scenes. No associations were found for gaze directed to ROIs within other stimulus types. Notably, there were no associations between developmental/cognitive ability or adaptive behaviour with gaze towards any ROI. Gazefinder assessment seems highly feasible with clinically-indicated infants, and the people vs. geometry stimuli show concurrent predictive validity for behavioural autism features. Aggregating data across the ~ 2-min autism identification protocol might plausibly offer greater utility than stimulus-level analysis alone.

Details

Title
Feasibility of a 2-minute eye-tracking protocol to support the early identification of autism
Author
Chetcuti, Lacey 1 ; Varcin, Kandice J. 2 ; Boutrus, Maryam 3 ; Smith, Jodie 4 ; Bent, Catherine A. 1 ; Whitehouse, Andrew J. O. 3 ; Hudry, Kristelle 1 

 La Trobe University, Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, School of Psychology and Public Health, Melbourne, Australia (GRID:grid.1018.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2342 0938) 
 Griffith University, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia (GRID:grid.1022.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 0437 5432); University of Western Australia, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910) 
 University of Western Australia, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910) 
 La Trobe University, Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, School of Psychology and Public Health, Melbourne, Australia (GRID:grid.1018.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2342 0938); La Trobe University, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, Melbourne, Australia (GRID:grid.1018.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2342 0938) 
Pages
5117
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2933663891
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.