Eye-Tracking Studies of Social Visual Pursuit in Autism

描述(由申请人提供)：本R01集中于这样的假设，即自发的视觉注视和视觉扫描模式是自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)患者社交能力水平的预测因子。这一假说源于一项研究，该研究使用眼球跟踪技术来测量视觉注视时间，而有认知能力的青少年和患有自闭症的成年人则观看自然的社交场景。与年龄、性别和言语智商匹配的对照组相比，自闭症患者花在观察口腔、身体和物体区域的时间要多2？倍。然而，自闭症患者花在看眼睛上的时间要少2？倍。对嘴和物体的注视时间对日常社会适应水平和自闭症的社会症状水平有较强的预测作用，而对眼睛的注视时间与这些社会能力的结果指标关系不大。对嘴巴的注视越多，预示着社交能力越强，而对物体的注视越多，预示的越少。对视觉扫描模式的研究似乎在自闭症患者和对照组之间产生了更大的差异。我们请求5年的支持，以在更广泛的自闭症表现、年龄和认知水平的背景下检验这一假说。我们建议对96名患有自闭症的参与者和96名年龄和言语智商相匹配的5至12岁的对照组完成眼球跟踪程序。在具体目标1中，我们将研究视觉注视模式与年龄、言语智商和社会能力的结果测量之间的关系，其中包括社会损害、社会适应和社会认知的标准化测量。在具体目标#2中，我们将研究视觉扫描模式与社交能力以及年龄和言语智商的相同结果测量之间的关系。除了提供一个独特的窗口，了解自闭症患者在面对社会情况时如何寻找意义，我们的首要目标是将眼球跟踪范式发展为基于实验室的社会残疾量化指标，这是当前自闭症各种表现的遗传学研究的重要需要。建议的R01与其他正在进行的眼球跟踪研究协同工作，包括对有自闭症风险的蹒跚学步儿童的研究，以及对患有近额叶-边缘消融的猴子的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This R01 focuses on the hypothesis that spontaneous visual fixation and visual scanning patterns are predictors of level of social competence in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This hypothesis originated from research using eye-tracking technology to measure visual fixation time while cognitively-able adolescents and adults with autism watched naturalistic social scenes. Time spent looking at mouth, body, and object regions was 2¿ times greater in individuals with autism relative to age-, sex-, and verbal IQ-matched controls. Time spent looking at the eyes, however, was 2¿ times less in individuals with autism. Fixation time on mouths and objects was a strong predictor of level of daily social adjustment and level of autistic social symptomatology, while fixation time on eyes showed little relation to these outcome measures of social competence. Increased fixation on mouths predicted more social competence, whereas increased fixation on objects predicted less. Work on visual scanning patterns seems to yield even greater differences between the individuals with autism and controls. We request 5 years of support to examine this hypothesis in the context of a wider spectrum of autism manifestations, age, and cognitive levels. We propose to complete eye-tracking procedures for 96 participants with ASD and 96 age- and verbal IQ-matched controls aged 5 to 12 years. In specific aim #1 we will study the relationship between visual fixation patterns and age, verbal IQ, and outcome measures of social competence, which include standardized measures of social impairment, social adjustment, and social cognition. In specific aim #2 we will examine the relationship between visual scanning patterns and the same outcome measures of social competence, as well as age and verbal IQ. Apart from providing a unique window into the ways in which individuals with autism search for meaning when confronted with social situations, our overarching goal is to develop the eye-tracking paradigm into a laboratory-based quantifier of social disability, which is an important need in current genetic research of the varying manifestations of autism. The proposed R01 works synergistically with other ongoing eye-tracking research including studies of toddlers at risk of having autism and studies of monkeys with mesiofrontal-limbic ablations.