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Looking But Not Seeing: Atypical Visual Scanning and Recognition of Faces in 2 and 4-Year-Old Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study used eye-tracking to examine visual scanning and recognition of faces by 2- and 4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (N = 44) and typically developing (TD) controls (N = 30). TD toddlers at both age levels scanned and recognized faces similarly. Toddlers with ASD looked increasingly away from faces with age, atypically attended to key features of faces, and were impaired in face recognition. Deficits in recognition were associated with imbalanced attention between key facial features. This study illustrates that face processing in ASD may be affected early and become further compromised with age. We propose that deficits in face processing likely impact the effectiveness of toddlers with ASD as social partners and thus should be targeted for intervention.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the NAAR foundation (to KC), NIMH grant T32 MH18268 (to FS), and NIMH STAART grant U54 MH66494 (to KC). We would like to thank Jessica Bradshaw for her work in preparation of this data for analysis; Fred Volkmar, Ami Klin, and Suzanne Macari for helpful suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript; and Celine Saulnier for her contribution to sample characterization. We wish to express our deep appreciation to the children and families who participated in the study.

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  1. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 40 Temple St Suite 7-I, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Katarzyna Chawarska & Frederick Shic

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  1. Katarzyna Chawarska
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Correspondence to Katarzyna Chawarska.

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Chawarska, K., Shic, F. Looking But Not Seeing: Atypical Visual Scanning and Recognition of Faces in 2 and 4-Year-Old Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 39, 1663–1672 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0803-7

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