Do Animals Engage Greater Social Attention in Autism? An Eye Tracking Analysis.

Georgitta J Valiyamattam,Harish Katti,Marguerite E O’Haire,Virender Sachdeva,Vinay K Chaganti

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00727

Abstract

BackgroundVisual atypicalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are a well documented phenomenon, beginning as early as 2–6 months of age and manifesting in a significantly decreased attention to the eyes, direct gaze and socially salient information. Early emerging neurobiological deficits in perceiving social stimuli as rewarding or its active avoidance due to the anxiety it entails have been widely purported as potential reasons for this atypicality. Parallel research evidence also points to the significant benefits of animal presence for reducing social anxiety and enhancing social interaction in children with autism. While atypicality in social attention in ASD has been widely substantiated, whether this atypicality persists equally across species types or is confined to humans has not been a key focus of research insofar.MethodsWe attempted a comprehensive examination of the differences in visual attention to static images of human and animal faces (40 images; 20 human faces and 20 animal faces) among children with ASD using an eye tracking paradigm. 44 children (ASD n = 21; TD n = 23) participated in the study (10,362 valid observations) across five regions of interest (left eye, right eye, eye region, face and screen).ResultsResults obtained revealed significantly greater social attention across human and animal stimuli in typical controls when compared to children with ASD. However in children with ASD, a significantly greater attention allocation was seen to animal faces and eye region and lesser attention to the animal mouth when compared to human faces, indicative of a clear attentional preference to socially salient regions of animal stimuli. The positive attentional bias toward animals was also seen in terms of a significantly greater visual attention to direct gaze in animal images.ConclusionOur results suggest the possibility that atypicalities in social attention in ASD may not be uniform across species. It adds to the current neural and biomarker evidence base of the potentially greater social reward processing and lesser social anxiety underlying animal stimuli as compared to human stimuli in children with ASD.

Highlights

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder emerging in the first three years of life and characterized by significant deficits in social functioning and repetitive patterns of interest and behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
Overall the present study suggests that animal faces may elicit greater visual attention in children with ASD
It suggests the possibility that the deficits in social functioning and related deficits in visual attention that children with ASD experience may not be uniform across species

Summary

Introduction

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder emerging in the first three years of life and characterized by significant deficits in social functioning and repetitive patterns of interest and behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Studies employing static (e.g., Dalton et al, 2005), dynamic (e.g., Klin et al, 2003) and interactive stimuli (e.g., Campbell et al, 2014) have evidenced a significantly decreased attention to the eyes and direct gaze in children with ASD when compared to typical controls. This was accompanied by an increased attention to typically less salient parts of the face including the nose, mouth and other facial regions along with an increased attention to the body and other objects (Joseph and Tanaka, 2002; Klin et al, 2002; Dalton et al, 2005). While atypicality in social attention in ASD has been widely substantiated, whether this atypicality persists across species types or is confined to humans has not been a key focus of research insofar

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