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Broad Autism Phenotype in Typically Developing Children Predicts Performance on an Eye-Tracking Measure of Joint Attention

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Abstract

We examined visual attention allocation during a set of social videos that are intended to elicit the coordination of attention with another person, compared to a control condition. Deficits in joint attention are a characteristic of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants included a diverse sample of 50 typically developing school-aged children between 3 and 9 years of age (M = 6:3, SD = 1:8). Results demonstrated that gaze allocation differed significantly between the experimental and control condition. Further, individual differences in gaze allocation were significantly predicted by a parent-report measure evaluating features of the broad autism phenotype. This study contributes to a research program that aims to develop and validate an endophenotype measure of ASD.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the families for participating in this study. We are grateful to the past and present members of the Communication & Play Lab for their continued support. This study was supported by a Grant-In-Aid of Research from the National Academy of Sciences, administered by Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society, and a Doctoral Student Research Grant from The Graduate Center of City University of New York both awarded to MRS. This research was also supported in part by the RISE Program at Hunter College, GM060665-11. This experiment was carried out by Meghan Swanson as part of her doctoral dissertation.

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  1. Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Subprogram in Psychology, The Graduate Center of City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave, New York, NY, 10016-4309, USA

    Meghan R. Swanson, Gayle C. Serlin & Michael Siller

  2. Psychology Department, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Ave, Hunter North 611, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Meghan R. Swanson, Gayle C. Serlin & Michael Siller

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  1. Meghan R. Swanson
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  2. Gayle C. Serlin
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Correspondence to Meghan R. Swanson.

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Swanson, M.R., Serlin, G.C. & Siller, M. Broad Autism Phenotype in Typically Developing Children Predicts Performance on an Eye-Tracking Measure of Joint Attention. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 707–718 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1616-7

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