Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit serious social-emotional difficulties from early infancy which hamper the differential diagnosis of these two conditions. This review aims at analysing differences between ASD and SLI disorders in children from 0 to 12 years regarding emotional competence abilities using eye tracking methodology. The findings show specific markers in the ASD population (e.g. difficulties in facial emotion recognition, atypical visual scanning patterns, or non-social attentional orientation) and a notable scarcity of studies involving SLI children. Comparative research points at potential differences in visual scanning patterns. The conclusions support the use of this methodology for comparative studies between clinical populations.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Notes
It is important to note that although the DSM-5 removed the term ‘specific language impairment’ (‘SLI’) from the manual and uses the term ‘language impairment’ (‘LI’) instead, it is still widely used in the literature on the condition.
Note that this is an approximated classification since some studies addressed more than one dimension (e.g. social attention and visual preference). In these cases, we classified papers according to the main dimension covered.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5thEdition). Author.
Andreu, L., Sanz-Torrent, M., Olmos, J. G., & Macwhinney, B. (2011). Narrative comprehension and production in children with SLI: an eye movement study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 25(9), 767–783. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2011.565542.
Andreu, L., Sanz-Torrent, M., Olmos, J. G., & MacWhinney, B. (2013). The formulation of argument structure in SLI: an eye-movement study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 27(2), 111–133. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2012.751623.
Aslin, R. N. (2007). What´s in a look? Developmental Science, 10(1), 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00563.x.
Aslin, R. N., & McMurray, B. (2004). Automated corneal-reflection eye tracking in infancy: methodological developments and applications to cognition. Infancy, 6(2), 155–163. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327078in0602_1.
Bal, E., Harden, E., Lamb, D., Van Hecke, A., Denver, J., & Porges, S. (2010). Emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum disorders: relations to eye gaze and autonomic state. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(3), 358–370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0884-3.
Bar-On, R. (1997). The Emotional Quotient (EQ-I). A Test of Emotional Intelligence. Multi-Health Systems.
Beck, L., Kumschick, I. R., Eid, M., & Klann-Delius, G. (2012). Relationship between language competence and emotional competence in middle childhood. Emotion, 13(3), 503–514. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026320.
Begeer, S., Koot, H. M., Rieffe, C., Meerum Terwogt, M., & Stegge, H. (2008). Emotional competence in children with autism: diagnostic criteria and empirical evidence. Develomental Review, 28(3), 342–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2007.09.001.
Black, M. H., Chen, N. T. M., Iyer, K. K., Lipp, O. V., Bölte, S., Falkmer, M., Tan, T., & Girdler, S. (2017). Mechanisms of facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: insights from eye tracking and electroencephalography. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 488–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.06.016.
Bölte, S., Bartl-Pokorny, K. D., Jonsson, U., Berggren, S., Zhang, D., Kostrzewa, E., Falck-Ytter, T., Einspieler, C., Pokorny, F. B., Jones, E. J. H., Roeyers, H., Charman, T., & Marschik, P. B. (2016). How can clinicians detect and treat autism early? Methodological trends of technology use in research. Acta Paediatrica, 105(2), 137–144. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13243.
Boucher, J., Lewis, V., & Collis, G. M. (2000). Voice processing abilities in children with autism, children with specific language impairments, and young typically developing children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 41(7), 847–857. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021963099006149.
Burris, J. L., Barry-Anwar, R. A., & Rivera, S. M. (2017). An eye tracking investigation of attentional biases towards affect in young children. Developmental Psychology, 53(8), 1418–1427. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000345.
Chawarska, K., & Shic, F. (2009). Looking but not seeing: atypical visual scanning and recognition of faces in 2 and 4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(12), 1663–1672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0803-7.
Chevallier, C., Parish-Morris, J., McVey, A., Rump, K. M., Sasson, N. J., Herrington, J. D., & Schultz, R. T. (2015). Measuring social attention and motivation in autism spectrum disorder using eye-tracking: stimulus type matters. Autism Research, 8(5), 620–628. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1479.
Chita-Tegmark, M. (2016a). Attention allocation in ASD: a review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 3(4), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-016-0089-6.
Chita-Tegmark, M. (2016b). Social attention in ASD: a review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 48, 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.011.
de Wit, T. C. J., Falck-Ytter, T., & von Hofsten, C. (2008). Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder look differently at positive versus negative emotional faces. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2(4), 651–659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2008.01.004.
Denham, S. A. (1998). Emotional development in young children (1st ed.). Guilford Press.
Falck-Ytter, T., Fernell, E., Gillberg, C., & von Hofsten, C. (2010). Face scanning distinguishes social from communication impairments in autism. Developmental Science, 13(6), 864–875. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00942.x.
Falck-Ytter, T., Bolte, S., & Gredeback, G. (2013). Eye tracking in early autism research. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 5, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/1866-1955-5-28.
Franchini, M., Glaser, B., Gentaz, E., Wood, H., Eliez, S., & Schaer, M. (2017). The effect of emotional intensity on responses to joint attention in preschoolers with an autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 35, 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.11.010.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. Bantam.
Gredebäck,G., Johnson, S., & von Hofsten, C. (2009). Eye tracking in infancy research. Developmental Neuropsychology, 35(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565640903325758.
Guillon, Q., Hadjikhani, N., Baduel, S., & Roge, B. (2014). Visual social attention in autism spectrum disorder: insights from eye tracking studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 42, 279–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.03.013.
Guillon, Q., Roge, B., Afzali, M. H., Baduel, S., Kruck, J., & Hadjikhani, N. (2016). Intact perception but abnormal orientation towards face-like objects in young children with ASD. Scientific Reports, 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22119.
Hanley, M., Riby, D. M., McCormack, T., Carty, C., Coyle, L., Crozier, N., Robinson, J., & McPhillips, M. (2014). Attention during social interaction in children with autism: comparison to specific language impairment, typical development, and links to social cognition. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(7), 908–924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2014.03.020.
Harms, M. B., Martin, A., & Wallace, G. L. (2010). Facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychology Review, 20(3), 290–322. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-010-9138-6.
Hepach, R., Vaish, A., & Tomasello, M. (2015). Novel paradigms to measure variability of behavior in early childhood: posture, gaze, and pupil dilation. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00858.
Horlin, C., Falkmer, M., Fitzgerald, P., Leung, D., Ordqvist, A., & Falkmer, T. (2013). The influence of static versus naturalistic stimuli on face processing in children with and without Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(12), 1617–1624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2013.09.012.
Hosozawa, M., Tanaka, K., Shimizu, T., Nakano, T., & Kitazawa, S. (2012). How children with specific language impairment view social situations: an eye tracking study. Pediatrics, 129(6), 1453–1460. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2278.
Jeanneret, G., Ona, A., Rego, P., Vaiman, M., & Pereno, G. (2015). A bibliometric study of the scientific publications that use facial emotion recognition tests. Anales de Psicología, 31(1), 324–337. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.31.1.170831.
Lau, P. S. Y., & Wu, F. K. Y. (2012). Emotional competence as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review. The Scientific World Journal, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1100/2012/975189.
Leung, D., Ordqvist, A., Falkmer, T., Parsons, R., & Falkmer, M. (2013). Facial emotion recognition and visual search strategies of children with high functioning Autism and Asperger syndrome. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(7), 833–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2013.03.009.
Liberati, A., Fadda, R., Doneddu, G., Congiu, S., Javarone, M. A., Striano, T., & Chessa, A. (2017). A statistical physics perspective to understand social visual attention in autism spectrum disorder. Perception, 46(8), 889–913. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006616685.
Liebermann, D., Giesbrecht, G. E., & Muller, U. (2007). Cognitive and emotional aspects of self-regulation in preschoolers. Cognitive Development, 22(4), 511–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2007.08.005.
Magrelli, S., Jermann, P., Noris, B., Ansermet, F., Hentsch, F., Nadel, J., & Billard, A. (2013). Social orienting of children with autism to facial expressions and speech: a study with a wearable eye-tracker in naturalistic settings. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00840.
Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. J. Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Educational implications (pp. 3–31). Basic Books.
McPartland, J. C., Webb, S. J., Keehn, B., & Dawson, G. (2011). Patterns of visual attention to faces and objects in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(2), 148–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1033-8.
Monopoli, W. J., & Kingston, S. (2012). The relationships among language ability, emotion regulation and social competence in second-grade students. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 36(5), 398–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025412446394.
Moore, A., Wozniak, M., Yousef, A., Barnes, C. C., Cha, D., Courchesne, E., & Pierce, K. (2018). The geometric preference subtype in ASD: identifying a consistent, early-emerging phenomenon through eye tracking. Molecular Autism, 9, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-018-0202-z.
Neubauer, A. C., & Freudenthaler, H. H. (2005). Models of emotional intelligence. In R. Schulze & R. D. Roberts (Eds.), Emotional intelligence: An international handbook (pp. 31–50). Hogrefe.
Nuske, H. J., Vivanti, G., & Dissanayake, C. (2014a). Reactivity to fearful expressions of familiar and unfamiliar people in children with autism: an eye-tracking pupillometry study. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 6, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1866-1955-6-14.
Nuske, H., Vivanti, J., Hudry, K., & Dissanayake, C. (2014b). Pupillometry reveals reduced unconscious emotional reactivity in autism. Biological Psychology, 101(1), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.07.003.
Nuske, H. J., Vivanti, G., & Dissanayake, C. (2016). Others’ emotions teach, but not in autism: an eye-tracking pupillometry study. Molecular Autism, 7, 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-016-0098-4.
Oberwelland, E., Schilbach, L., Barisic, I., Krall, S. C., Vogeley, K., Fink, G. R., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B., Konrad, K., & Schulte-Rüther, M. (2016). Look into my eyes: investigating joint attention using interactive eye-tracking and fMRI in a developmental sample. NeuroImage, 130, 248–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.026.
Ornaghi, V., & Grazzani, I. (2013). The relationship between emotional-state language and emotion understanding: a study with school-age children. Cognition and Emotion, 27(2), 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2012.711745.
Ornaghi, V., Pepe, A., & Grazzani, I. (2016). False-belief understanding and language ability mediate the relationship between emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation in preschoolers. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01534.
Palmović, M., & Jušić, I. G. (2011). Anticipatory gaze and argument structure building in children with specific language impairment. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 58(1), 108–119. https://doi.org/10.1556/ALing.58.2011.1-2.6.
Pfeiffer, U. J., Vogeley, K., & Schilbach, L. (2013). From gaze cueing to dual eye-tracking: novel approaches to investigate the neural correlates of gaze in social interaction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(10), 2516–2528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.07.017.
Pierce, K., Conant, D., Hazin, R., Stoner, R., & Desmond, J. (2011). Preference for geometric patterns early in life as a risk factor for autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(1), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.113.
Pierce, K., Marinero, S., Hazin, R., McKenna, B., Barnes, C. C., & Malige, A. (2016). Eye tracking reveals abnormal visual preference for geometric images as an early biomarker of an autism spectrum disorder subtype associated with increased symptom severity. Biological Psychiatry, 79(8), 657–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.03.032.
Pons, F., Andreu, L., Sanz-Torrent, M., Buil-Legaz, L., & Lewkowicz, D. J. (2013). Perception of audio-visual speech synchrony in Spanish-speaking children with and without specific language impairment. Journal of Child Language, 40(3), 687–700. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000912000189.
Riggs, N. R., Jahromi, L. B., Razza, R. P., Dillworth-Bart, J. E., & Mueller, U. (2006). Executive function and the promotion of social-emotional competence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27(4), 300–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2006.04.002.
Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. Guilford Press.
Sasson, N. J., & Touchstone, E. W. (2014). Visual attention to competing social and object images by preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(3), 584–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1910-z.
Serra, M., Henríquez, L., Lorenzo, T., & Duque, N. (2017). Working memory, ability and procedures in specific language impairment: visual analysis of events and their oral expression. Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 37(1), 14–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rlfa.2016.05.003.
Shi, L., Zhou, Y., Ou, J., Gong, J., Wang, S., Cui, X., et al. (2015). Different visual preference patterns in response to simple and complex dynamic social stimuli in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorders. PLoS One, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122280.
St Clair, M. C., Pickles, A., Durkin, K., & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2011). A longitudinal study of behavioral, emotional and social difficulties in individuals with a history of specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Communication Disorders, 44(2), 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2010.09.004.
Stagg, S. D., Linnell, K. J., & Heaton, P. (2014). Investigating eye movement patterns, language, and social ability in children with autism spectrum disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 26(2), 529–537. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414000108.
Tanaka, J. W., & Sung, A. (2016). The “eye avoidance” hypothesis of autism face processing. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(5), 1538–1552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1976-7.
Taylor, L. J., Maybery, M. T., & Whitehouse, A.J.O. (2012). Do children with specific language impairment have a cognitive profile reminiscent of autism? A review of the literature. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 2067–2083. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1456-5.
Taylor, L. J., Maybery, M. T., Grayndler, L., & Whitehouse, A. J. O. (2014). Evidence for distinct cognitive profiles in autism spectrum disorders and specific language impairment. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1847-2.
Taylor, L. J., Maybery, M. T., Grayndler, L., & Whitehouse, A. J. O. (2015). Evidence for shared deficits in identifying emotions from faces and from voices in autism spectrum disorders and specific language impairment. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 50(4), 452–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12146.
Thorup, E., Kleberg, J. L., & Falck-Ytter, T. (2017). Gaze following in children with autism: do high interest objects boost performance? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(3), 626–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2955-6.
Van der Geest, J., Kemner, C., Verbaten, M., & Van Engeland, H. (2002). Gaze behavior of children with pervasive developmental disorder toward human faces: a fixation time study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(5), 669–678. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00055.
Vanderwert, R. E., Westerlund, A., Montoya, L., McCormick, S. A., Miguel, H. O., & Nelson, C. A. (2015). Looking to the eyes influences the processing of emotion on face-sensitive event-related potentials in 7-month-old infants. Developmental Neurobiology, 75(10), 1154–1163. https://doi.org/10.1002/dneu.22204.
Vissers, C., & Koolen, S. (2016). Theory of mind deficits and social emotional functioning in preschoolers with specific language impairment. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbsyg.2016.01734.
Vivanti, G., McCormick, C., Young, G. S., Abucayan, F., Hatt, N., Nadig, A., Ozonoff, S., & Rogers, S. J. (2011). Intact and impaired mechanisms of action understanding in autism. Developmental Psychology, 47(3), 841–856. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023105.
Vivanti, G., Trembath, D., & Dissanayake, C. (2014). Atypical monitoring and responsiveness to goal-directed gaze in autism spectrum disorder. Experimental Brain Research, 232(2), 695–701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3777-9.
Wadman, R., Botting, N., Durkin, K., & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2011). Changes in emotional health symptoms in adolescents with specific language impairment. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 46(6), 641–656. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00033.x.
Xavier, J., Vignaud, V., Ruggiero, R., Bodeau, N., Cohen, D., & Chaby, L. (2015). A Multidimensional approach to the study of emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01954.
Yan, Z. Q., Pei, M., & Su, Y. J. (2017). Children’s empathy and their perception and evaluation of facial pain expression: an eye tracking study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02284.
Zantinge, G., van Rijn, S., Stockmann, L., & Swaab, H. (2017). Psychophysiological responses to emotions of others in young children with autism spectrum disorders: correlates of social functioning. Autism Research, 10(9), 1499–1509. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1794.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vacas, J., Antolí, A., Sánchez-Raya, A. et al. Eye Tracking Methodology for Studying Emotional Competence in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Specific Language Impairment (SLI): a Comparative Research Review. Rev J Autism Dev Disord 9, 351–365 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-021-00261-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-021-00261-y