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Patterns of Visual Attention to Faces and Objects in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study used eye-tracking to examine visual attention to faces and objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical peers. Point of gaze was recorded during passive viewing of images of human faces, inverted human faces, monkey faces, three-dimensional curvilinear objects, and two-dimensional geometric patterns. Individuals with ASD obtained lower scores on measures of face recognition and social-emotional functioning but exhibited similar patterns of visual attention. In individuals with ASD, face recognition performance was associated with social adaptive function. Results highlight heterogeneity in manifestation of social deficits in ASD and suggest that naturalistic assessments are important for quantifying atypicalities in visual attention.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by funding from NICHD U19 HD35465 to GD, the University of Washington Gatzert Child Welfare Fellowship and the Department of Psychology Bolles Fellowship to JM, and a Young Investigator’s Award from Cure Autism Now to SW; JM’s writing of the manuscript was supported by CTSA Grant Number UL1 RR024139 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Tisa Nalty, Josie Quemodo, Heracles Panagiotides, Robert Joseph, Corri Waitt, and the families who participated in the study. This paper is based on the doctoral dissertation of James McPartland. Portions of this work have been presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research and Biannual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in 2005. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    James C. McPartland

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Sara Jane Webb

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Sara Jane Webb & Geraldine Dawson

  4. Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

    Sara Jane Webb

  5. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Brandon Keehn

  6. University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Brandon Keehn

  7. Autism Speaks, Nashville, TN, USA

    Geraldine Dawson

  8. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Geraldine Dawson

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  1. James C. McPartland
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  3. Brandon Keehn
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  4. Geraldine Dawson
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Correspondence to James C. McPartland.

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McPartland, J.C., Webb, S.J., Keehn, B. et al. Patterns of Visual Attention to Faces and Objects in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 41, 148–157 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1033-8

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