Eye-tracking study of joint attention deficits in pre-school age

Abstract

The article investigates joint attention deficits in various forms of atypical development using eye movement recording. Preschoolers aged 5-7 years from different clinical groups participated in the study: typically developing (n = 20), with mental retardation (ICD-10 class F83) (n = 20), preschoolers with delayed speech development (ICD-10 class R47) (n = 20), with hearing impairment (sensorineural hearing loss, ICD-10 class H90) (n = 10) and with visual impairment (amblyopia and strabismus, IBC-10 class H53) (n = 20). Contrasting group analyses allowed us to identify both specific and universal manifestations of joint attention deficit symptoms in the different forms of atypical development. Gaze tracking was used to analyze fixation duration and frequency, fixation distribution, areas of interest, and to identify markers of joint attention deficits that interfere with the child's productive interaction with an adult. Potential mechanisms of atypical joint attention are described, including atypical direction of gaze, changes in the dynamics of the operative visual field, duration of visual concentration, and accuracy in fixing the object’s elements. It is shown that fixation time in joint attention episodes can be regarded as a prognostic marker of joint attention disorders: joint attention is associated not only with spatial characteristics of areas of interest, but also with fixation duration on the object (decrease/increase in fixation duration).