Abstract
BackgroundChildren with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate distinctive scanning of faces, which has been suggested as an obstacle to social expertise, hindering their lifelong social relationships. MethodThis study aimed at comparing social attention in young children with and without ASD (N = 34). We designed two eye-tracking paired preference tasks to assess the effects of emotional expression and the actor’s gender (Experiment 1) and actor’s age (Experiment 2) on the visual scanning pattern of faces in both groups. ResultsData analysis yielded three behavioral markers in the ASD group: (1) late orientation to angry faces, (2) late orientation to child faces, and (3) superficial facial processing (shorter visits). ConclusionsClinical and research implications are discussed regarding potential markers that could contribute to early diagnosis and intervention.
Published Version
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