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Gaze Patterns in a Narrative Task with FMR1 Premutation Carriers and Autism Parents
Fragile X syndrome, caused by a mutation in the FMR1 gene, is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and the most common monogenic disorder associated with autism. Carriers of the FMR1 gene in its premutation have been shown to exhibit executive dysfunction, as well as elevated rates of certain personality and language features of the broad autism phenotype (BAP).
Objectives:
This study aims to further investigate potential similarities between carriers of the FMR1premutation and parents of individuals with autism by examining eye gaze patterns during a narrative elicitation task using illustrated narrative stimuli. We also examined whether BAP status impacted eye gaze patterns across groups.
Methods:
Participants included 56 parents (33 female, 23 male) of children with autism (ASD), 20 maternal carriers of the FMR1 premutation (CX), and 24 parents (15 females, 9 males) of typically developing individuals (TD) with no family history of autism or fragile X. Features of the BAP were measured using direct assessment interviews coded blind to group status. On the eye tracking measure, participants were presented with six different emotionally evocative images from the Thematic Apperception Test, and gaze was recorded using the Tobii X60. Each slide was presented for eight seconds. After each image was removed, participants were instructed to tell a story about the picture they had just seen.
Results:
Fixation patterns differed across groups, and in relation to BAP features. On the visually complex images (i.e., involving multiple characters and extensive scenery), CX parents spent less time on faces (F=5.20, p<.03) and animate features (F=26.01,p<.01), and more time on inanimate features (F=25.01, p<.01) than control parents. However, the socially complex slides, (i.e. only two characters), showed variable patterns. ASD parents differed from controls across all fixation measures including proportion of time on interest areas (F=104.00, p<.01), faces (F=19.50, p<.01), animate features (F=1.10, p<.01), and inanimate features (F=1.10, p<.01). When considering BAP features, both ASD and CX parents with these characteristics made fewer fixations overall than those without BAP features (F=143.86, p<.01) and controls (F=105.80, p<.01). This group also spent more time on inanimate aspects of the slides (e.g., furniture, scenery) and less time on the most salient features of the slides (i.e.., main characters) than did participants without the BAP(F=28.39,p<.01), or controls (F=17.63, p<.01).
Conclusions:
Overall, these data suggest that when processing complex scenes during narrative generation, both CX and ASD parents spend less time fixating on socially salient aspects of complex scenes than do controls, and also fixate less frequently. This suggests a bias away from social processes, particularly in BAP groups, which may be related to overall narrative quality, as initial exploratory analyses suggest. This study provides information on eye gaze patterns across typical, autism, and premutation groups, thus informing understanding on social processing through multiple modalities across related clinical groups.