Thursday, May 20, 2010
Franklin Hall B Level 4 (Philadelphia Marriott Downtown)
9:00 AM
Background: Monitoring the activities of others is an early-developing skill crucial for learning by observation. Previous work in our lab has shown that toddlers with ASD monitor the activities of others to a lesser extent than chronologically age-matched typically-developing (TD) toddlers. However, the nature of this limited attention towards activities in terms of social and cognitive factors, as well as the relationship of activity monitoring to social dynamics more generally, are not fully understood.
Objectives: In this study we link atypical activity monitoring with social and cognitive deficits in toddlers with ASD and, by comparison with a cognitively matched group of children with developmental delays (DD), show that the results are not completely described by cognitive deficits. We further examine dynamic changes in scanning patterns in response to the ongoing social exchange in order to clarify the nature of limited attention to activities.
Methods: Subjects were toddlers with ASD (N=28, M=20.7 months), other developmental delays (DD) (N=16, M=19.3 months), and typical development (TD) (N=34, M=19.6 months). Participants were presented with a 30s video of an adult-child play interaction which centered on the assembly of a puzzle. Eye-tracking was used to measure attention towards activities (the area of shared focus of people in the scene), people, and the background (room elements as well as scattered toys).
Results: ASD toddlers monitored activities (M=35.5%, SD=21.8%) less than both DD (M=50.5%, SD=24.7%) and TD controls (M=54.6%, SD=13.8%), F(2,77)=7.8, p< .01, diverting their attention towards the background (ASD: M=29.8%, SD=20.9%; DD: M=17.2%, SD=10.6%; TD: M=16.7%, SD=9.6%; F(2,77)=6.9, p<.01). No differences in looking at people were found. In ASD, more activity monitoring was associated with less severe social impairment (r=-.39, p<.05) and higher verbal (r=.56, p<.01) and nonverbal (r=.63, p<.001) functioning. A temporal analysis examining attention to the scene in three consecutive temporal sections found that DD and TD toddlers modulated attention towards activities in response to changing scene content (p<.05, p<.01 respectively), whereas ASD toddlers did not (p=.93). A measure of the responsiveness of ASD toddlers to these dynamics correlated with social deficits independent of both verbal and nonverbal cognitive functioning (r=-.44, p<.05).
Conclusions: Infants with ASD show less attention towards the activities of others, limiting their ability to learn about and participate in typical social play. In addition, both TD and DD toddlers respond to the subtle evolution of the social exchange by modulating their attention to scene components, whereas ASD toddlers did not. These results suggest that, from an early age, children with ASD visually explore the social activities of others in an atypical fashion, and that the extent of these atypicalities may either reflect or contribute to the emergence of autism-specific psychopathology. Furthermore, limited attention towards the activities of others in ASD may be linked to decreased exploration induced by limited response to the social dynamics of the interactions of others.
Objectives: In this study we link atypical activity monitoring with social and cognitive deficits in toddlers with ASD and, by comparison with a cognitively matched group of children with developmental delays (DD), show that the results are not completely described by cognitive deficits. We further examine dynamic changes in scanning patterns in response to the ongoing social exchange in order to clarify the nature of limited attention to activities.
Methods: Subjects were toddlers with ASD (N=28, M=20.7 months), other developmental delays (DD) (N=16, M=19.3 months), and typical development (TD) (N=34, M=19.6 months). Participants were presented with a 30s video of an adult-child play interaction which centered on the assembly of a puzzle. Eye-tracking was used to measure attention towards activities (the area of shared focus of people in the scene), people, and the background (room elements as well as scattered toys).
Results: ASD toddlers monitored activities (M=35.5%, SD=21.8%) less than both DD (M=50.5%, SD=24.7%) and TD controls (M=54.6%, SD=13.8%), F(2,77)=7.8, p< .01, diverting their attention towards the background (ASD: M=29.8%, SD=20.9%; DD: M=17.2%, SD=10.6%; TD: M=16.7%, SD=9.6%; F(2,77)=6.9, p<.01). No differences in looking at people were found. In ASD, more activity monitoring was associated with less severe social impairment (r=-.39, p<.05) and higher verbal (r=.56, p<.01) and nonverbal (r=.63, p<.001) functioning. A temporal analysis examining attention to the scene in three consecutive temporal sections found that DD and TD toddlers modulated attention towards activities in response to changing scene content (p<.05, p<.01 respectively), whereas ASD toddlers did not (p=.93). A measure of the responsiveness of ASD toddlers to these dynamics correlated with social deficits independent of both verbal and nonverbal cognitive functioning (r=-.44, p<.05).
Conclusions: Infants with ASD show less attention towards the activities of others, limiting their ability to learn about and participate in typical social play. In addition, both TD and DD toddlers respond to the subtle evolution of the social exchange by modulating their attention to scene components, whereas ASD toddlers did not. These results suggest that, from an early age, children with ASD visually explore the social activities of others in an atypical fashion, and that the extent of these atypicalities may either reflect or contribute to the emergence of autism-specific psychopathology. Furthermore, limited attention towards the activities of others in ASD may be linked to decreased exploration induced by limited response to the social dynamics of the interactions of others.