Gaze Following in Children with Autism: Do High Interest Objects Boost Performance?
Emilia Thorup, Johan Lundin Kleberg, Terje Falck-Ytter
PMID 27987062WHAT IT FOUND
High-interest objects did not improve first look duration in children with autism.
Gaze-following accuracy was similar in both groups. Children with autism showed no advantage for the object another person looked at.
Key findings
01Gaze following accuracy was above chance in both groups and did not differ between groups or object conditions.
02The main first-fixation score differed by group depending on object type, but the autism group did not differ between high-interest and baseline conditions.
03Typically developing children showed a higher relative first-fixation score for plants than for high-interest objects.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The final sample was small, with 33 children analysed and 15 additional children excluded for not contributing enough valid data. The main analysis used only trials where children followed gaze, which left a low number of valid trials for first fixation durations. The typically developing group had above average non-verbal IQ, although the groups did not differ significantly. Verbal IQ was not measured. The finding that typically developing children showed a stronger attended-object first fixation index for plants than for high-interest objects was not predicted and needs replication. The study compared lab gaze following in two groups. It did not test whether using high-interest objects in therapy changes communication.
Declared interests
The work was funded by Vetenskapsrådet, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, and the Strategic Research Area Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet. The supplied funding and conflict statement does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that high-interest objects improve gaze following in children with autism. The study tested eye-tracking responses in a lab task, and the autism group did not show a first fixation duration benefit from high-interest objects.