Circumscribed Interest Modulates Attention to Eyes in Boys With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Qiandong Wang,Sio Pan Hoi,Yuyin Wang,Tianbi Li,Cheuk Man Lam,Ci Song,Li Yi

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.627365

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit abnormal visual attention, such as diminished attention to eyes and enhanced attention to high-autism-interest objects. We tested whether high-autism-interest objects would modulate the attention to eyes in boys with ASD and typically developing (TD) boys. Twenty-two ASD and 22 TD children were presented simultaneously with human eyes and high/low-autism-interest objects (HAI/LAI) while their eye movements were recorded. We found that visual preference for eyes was influenced by competing objects in children with and without ASD. Specifically, both children with and without ASD showed reduced overall and first looking preference when eyes were paired with HAI objects relative to LAI objects. Children with ASD also showed reduced sustained viewing preference to the eyes after first looking at the eyes and late looking preference to the eyes after first looking at the objects in the HAI condition than the LAI condition, but these effects were absent in the TD group. Our study not only helps us understand some factors that impact attention to eyes, but also has implications for interventions aiming at improving eye contact in children with ASD.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by two main core symptoms—social communication deficits and restricted interests and repetitive behaviors [1]
The primary aim of the present study was to test whether attention to eyes in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) depended on the type of competing non-social stimuli (HAI vs. LAI objects) that were present
Using the preferential looking paradigm, we revealed that attention to eyes was influenced by competing objects in both children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children, such that a decreased visual preference for the eyes when they were paired with HAI objects compared to LAI objects was observed

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by two main core symptoms—social communication deficits and restricted interests and repetitive behaviors [1]. People with ASD are found to be interested in certain types of objects, referenced to circumscribed interests (CI), or high-autism-interest (HAI) stimuli (e.g., vehicles, computers, and repetitive movements) [14,15,16,17]. These stimuli have been found to attract visual attention [15, 16, 18], activate neural reward circuitry [19], and induce pleasure responses [20] in people with ASD.

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