Evaluating the Validity of an Eye Gaze Paradigm in Predicting Autism Spectrum Disorder

Plain-language summary

The primary purpose of the present study is to evaluate the diagnostic validity of eye tracking measurements acquired during viewing of socially-relevant stimuli in predicting ASD diagnosis. The secondary purpose was to explore the potential prognostic value of eye tracking measures through cross-sectional associations with non-verbal cognitive ability. Deficits in eye gaze are a hallmark sign of autism. A large and growing body of research supports the ability of eye-tracking based measurements to sensitively discriminate individuals with ASD and healthy participants. These investigations have identified that the core deficit in autism as disruption of social attention, reflecting an inability to appropriately engage and track socially- and emotionally-relevant aspects of the visual world. Thus, eye gaze tracking, acquired during viewing of socially-relevant stimuli, may be a useful approach to identifying objective markers of ASD. Eye tracking also carries the advantages of being less intrusive and expensive than MRI and genetic testing and specifically focuses on the core neurobehavioral characteristics of ASD - abnormalities in social attention. After diagnosis of ASD, key clinical tasks in young children involve determining an accurate prognosis and tracking the progress of early interventions. Currently, the only prognostic indicators are clinical observations (subjective and expensive) and non-verbal cognitive ability testing (difficult to acquire, time-consuming, unavailable in many settings). Recently, eye gaze tracking was found to predict functional outcomes. Thus, in addition to being an objective marker for ASD, eye tracking measurements have potential to be useful for predicting cognitive and functional outcomes. Similarly, the only available methods for tracking treatment progress are parental reports (highly subjective), clinical observations (subjective and expensive), and cognitive measurements (expensive and unavailable in many settings. This study will evaluate, using cross-section data, the potential for eye tracking data to serve as a proxy for non-verbal cognitive ability scores in determining prognosis for ASD-affected children. Additionally, this study will evaluate the test re-test reliability of eye tracking parameters that can potentially be used to track treatment progress.

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