| 1. |
- Del Bianco, Teresa, et al.
(författare)
-
The Developmental Origins of Gaze-Following in Human Infants
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Infancy. - : Wiley. - 1525-0008 .- 1532-7078. ; 24:3, s. 433-454
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the first year of life, infants develop the capacity to follow the gaze of others. This behavior allows sharing attention and facilitates language acquisition and cognitive development. This article reviews studies that investigated gaze-following before 12 months of age in typically developing infants and discusses current theoretical perspectives on early GF. Recent research has revealed that early GF is highly dependent on situational constraints and individual characteristics, but theories that describe the underlying mechanisms have partly failed to consider this complexity. We propose a novel framework termed the perceptual narrowing account of GF that may have the potential to integrate existing theoretical accounts.
|
|
| 2. |
- Falck-Ytter, Terje, et al.
(författare)
-
Brief Report : Lack of Processing Bias for the Objects Other People Attend to in 3-Year-Olds with Autism
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 45:6, s. 1897-1904
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Whether gaze following-a key component of joint attention-is impaired in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently debated. Functional gaze following involves saccading towards the attended rather than unattended targets (accuracy) as well as a subsequent processing bias for attended objects. Using non-invasive eye tracking technology, we show that gaze following accuracy is intact in intellectually low-functioning 3-year-olds with ASD. However, analyses of the duration of first fixations at the objects in the scene revealed markedly weaker initial processing bias for attended objects in children with ASD compared to children with typical development and non-autistic children with developmental delays. Limited processing bias for the objects other people attend to may negatively affect learning opportunities in ASD.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Falck-Ytter, Terje, et al.
(författare)
-
Reduced Orienting to Audiovisual Synchrony in Infancy Predicts Autism Diagnosis at 3 Years of Age
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. - : Wiley. - 0021-9630 .- 1469-7610. ; 59:8, s. 872-880
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Effective multisensory processing develops in infancy and is thought to be important for the perception of unified and multimodal objects and events. Previous research suggests impaired multisensory processing in autism, but its role in the early development of the disorder is yet uncertain. Here, using a prospective longitudinal design, we tested whether reduced visual attention to audiovisual synchrony is an infant marker of later-emerging autism diagnosis.Methods: We studied 10-month-old siblings of children with autism using an eye tracking task previously used in studies of preschoolers. The task assessed the effect of manipulations of audiovisual synchrony on viewing patterns while the infants were observing point light displays of biological motion. We analyzed the gaze data recorded in infancy according to diagnostic status at 3 years of age (DSM-5).Results: Ten-month-old infants who later received an autism diagnosis did not orient to audiovisual synchrony expressed within biological motion. In contrast, both infants at low-risk and high-risk siblings without autism at follow-up had a strong preference for this type of information. No group differences were observed in terms of orienting to upright biological motion.Conclusions: This study suggests that reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony within biological motion is an early sign of autism. The findings support the view that poor multisensory processing could be an important antecedent marker of this neurodevelopmental condition.
|
|
| 5. |
- Falck-Ytter, Terje, Professor, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
-
Social attention : Developmental foundations and relevance for autism spectrum disorder
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Biological Psychiatry. - : Elsevier. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 94:1, s. 8-17
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of the term Social Attention (SA) in the cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychopathology literature has increased exponentially in recent years, in part motivated by the aim to understand the early development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Unfortunately, theoretical discussions around the term have lagged behind its various uses. Here, we evaluate SA through a review of key candidate SA phenotypes emerging early in life, from newborn gaze cueing and preference for face-like configurations to later emerging skills such as joint attention. We argue that most of the considered SA phenotypes are unlikely to represent unique socio-attentional processes but have to be understood in the broader context of bottom-up and emerging top-down (domain-general) attention. Some types of SA behaviors (e.g., initiation of joint attention) are linked to the early development of ASD, but this may reflect differences in social motivation rather than attention per se. Several SA candidates are not linked to ASD early in life, including the ones that may represent uniquely socio-attentional processes (e.g., orienting to faces, predicting others’ manual action goals). Although SA may be a useful super-ordinate category under which one can organize certain research questions, the widespread use of the term without proper definition is problematic. Characterizing gaze patterns and visual attention in infants at elevated likelihood for ASD in social contexts may facilitate early detection, but conceptual clarity regarding the underlying processes at play are needed to sharpen research questions and identify potential targets for early intervention.
|
|
| 6. |
- Frick, Matilda, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
-
Elever med adhd och autism : psykologiska och pedagogiska perspektiv
- 2023
-
Bok (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Boken presenterar konkreta strategier som kan användas i klassrummet för att främja lärande och delaktighet hos elever med adhd och autism.I den första delen, Psykologiska perspektiv, beskrivs diagnoskriterier, utredningsprocessen, hur adhd och autism uttrycks i vardagen samt en rad sociala och kognitiva förklaringsmodeller som är relaterade till tillstånden.Den andra delen, Pedagogiska perspektiv, knyter de psykologiska teorierna till olika vardagssituationer i skolan och redogör för olika strategier för stöd, såsom ledarskap i klassrummet, struktur i tid och rum, stöd för motivation, lärande och kamratrelationer. Boken riktar sig till specialpedagoger, speciallärare, lärare och skolpsykologer verksamma i skolan.
|
|
| 7. |
- Hendry, Alexandra, et al.
(författare)
-
Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer Nature. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 50:11, s. 4085-4105
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals’ mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7–9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years.
|
|
| 8. |
- Kleberg, Johan Lundin, et al.
(författare)
-
Reduced visual disengagement but intact phasic alerting in young children with autism
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Autism Research. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1939-3792 .- 1939-3806. ; 10:3, s. 539-545
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Children with autism may have difficulties with visual disengagement-that is, inhibiting current fixations and orienting to new stimuli in the periphery. These difficulties may limit these children's ability to flexibly monitor the environment, regulate their internal states, and interact with others. In typical development, visual disengagement is influenced by a phasic alerting network that increases the processing speed of the visual system after salient events. The role of the phasic alerting effect in the putative atypical disengagement performance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not known. Here, we compared visual disengagement in six-year-old children with autism (N = 18) and typically developing children (N = 17) matched for age and nonverbal IQ. We manipulated phasic alerting during a visual disengagement task by adding spatially nonpredictive sounds shortly before the onset of the visual peripheral targets. Children with ASD showed evidence of delayed disengagement compared to the control group. Sounds facilitated visual disengagement similarly in both groups, suggesting typical modulation by phasic alerting in ASD in the context of this task. These results support the view that atypical visual disengagement in ASD is related to other factors than atypicalities in the alerting network. Autism Res 2016.
|
|
| 9. |
- Kleberg, Johan L., et al.
(författare)
-
Visual orienting in children with autism : Hyper-responsiveness to human eyes presented after a brief alerting audio-signal, but hyporesponsiveness to eyes presented without sound
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Autism Research. - : Wiley. - 1939-3792 .- 1939-3806. ; 10:2, s. 246-250
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been associated with reduced orienting to social stimuli such as eyes, but the results are inconsistent. It is not known whether atypicalities in phasic alerting could play a role in putative altered social orienting in ASD. Here, we show that in unisensory (visual) trials, children with ASD are slower to orient to eyes (among distractors) than controls matched for age, sex, and nonverbal IQ. However, in another condition where a brief spatially nonpredictive sound was presented just before the visual targets, this group effect was reversed. Our results indicate that orienting to social versus nonsocial stimuli is differently modulated by phasic alerting mechanisms in young children with ASD.
|
|
| 10. |
- Nyström, Pär, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
-
Joint attention in infancy and the emergence of autism
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Biological Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 86:8, s. 631-638
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundIn typical infant development, parents and their children jointly contribute to establishing frequent episodes of joint attention that boost language acquisition and shape social cognition. Here we used novel live eye-tracking technology to evaluate the degree to which autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is related to reduced responding to others’ joint attention bids in infancy (RJA) and to a reduced tendency to initiate joint attention episodes (IJA). Because young infants use their gaze for both RJA and IJA, this approach allowed us to quantify these elusive processes early in life.MethodsThe final sample consisted of 112 infants (54 boys and 58 girls), of whom 81 were at familial risk for ASD and 31 were typically developing low-risk infants. At follow-up (36 months of age), 22 children in the high-risk group were diagnosed with ASD.ResultsAt 10 months of age, rates of IJA were lower in infants later diagnosed with ASD than in the comparison groups (effect sizes d = 0.78–0.95) and followed an atypical developmental trajectory from 10 to 18 months (p < .002). RJA distinguished infants based on familial ASD risk, albeit not ASD diagnosis. The differences in IJA could not be explained by overall looking time, social preference, eye movement latencies, or number of fixations.ConclusionsThis live eye-tracking study suggests that during an important period for the development of social cognition (10–18 months of age), infants later diagnosed with ASD show marked atypicalities in IJA but not in RJA. The results indicate that IJA is an important target for future prodromal intervention trials.
|
|
| 11. |
- Thorup, Emilia, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
-
Altered gaze following during live interaction in infants at risk for autism : An eye tracking study
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Molecular Autism. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2040-2392. ; 7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The ability to follow gaze is an important prerequisite for joint attention, which is often compromised in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The direction of both the head and eyes provides cues to other people's attention direction, but previous studies have not separated these factors and their relation to ASD susceptibility. Development of gaze following typically occurs before ASD diagnosis is possible, and studies of high-risk populations are therefore important. Methods: Eye tracking was used to assess gaze following during interaction in a group of 10-month-old infants at high familial risk for ASD (high-risk group) as well as a group of infants with no family history of ASD (low-risk group). The infants watched an experimenter gaze at objects in the periphery. Performance was compared across two conditions: one in which the experimenter moved both the eyes and head toward the objects (Eyes and Head condition) and one that involved movement of the eyes only (Eyes Only condition). Results: A group by condition interaction effect was found. Specifically, whereas gaze following accuracy was comparable across the two conditions in the low-risk group, infants in the high-risk group were more likely to follow gaze in the Eyes and Head condition than in the Eyes Only condition. Conclusions: In an ecologically valid social situation, responses to basic non-verbal orienting cues were found to be altered in infants at risk for ASD. The results indicate that infants at risk for ASD may rely disproportionally on information from the head when following gaze and point to the importance of separating information from the eyes and the head when studying social perception in ASD.
|
|
| 12. |
- Thorup, Emilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Gaze Following in Children with Autism : Do High Interest Objects Boost Performance?
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 47:3, s. 626-635
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study tested whether including objects perceived as highly interesting by children with autism during a gaze following task would result in increased first fixation durations on the target objects. It has previously been found that autistic children differentiate less between an object another person attends to and unattended objects in terms of this measure. Less differentiation between attended and unattended objects in ASD as compared to control children was found in a baseline condition, but not in the high interest condition. However, typically developing children differentiated less between attended and unattended objects in the high interest condition than in the baseline condition, possibly reflecting reduced influence of gaze cues on object processing when objects themselves are highly interesting.
|
|
| 13. |
|
|
| 14. |
- Thorup, Emilia
(författare)
-
Joint Attention in Development : Insights from Children with Autism and Infant Siblings
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Compared to other children, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are known to engage less in joint attention - the sharing of attention between two individuals toward a common object or event. Joint attention behaviors - for example gaze following, alternating gaze, and pointing - play an important role in early development, as they provide a foundation for learning and social interaction. Study I and Study II focused on infant siblings of children with ASD. These infants, often termed high risk (HR) infants, have an increased probability of receiving a later ASD diagnosis. Studying them therefore allows for the detection of early signs of ASD. Live eye tracking was used to investigate different joint attention behaviors at 10 months of age. Study I showed that omitting the head movement that usually accompany experimenters’ eye gaze shifts in similar designs reduced gaze following performance in the HR group, but not in a group of infants at low risk (LR) for ASD. HR infants may thus be less sensitive to eye information, or may need more salient cues in order to follow gaze optimally. Study II focused on the infants’ tendency to initiate joint attention by alternating their gaze between a person and an event. LR infants engaged more in alternating gaze than HR infants, and less alternating gaze in infancy was associated with more ASD symptoms at 18 months. This relation remained when controlling for visual disengagement and general social interest in infancy. Study III explored the role of joint attention later in development, by investigating the microstructure of the looking behaviors of autistic and typically developing children (~6 years old). The results indicated that seeing somebody look at an object influenced the processing of that object less in autistic children than in the typically developing controls. Both groups followed gaze effectively, suggesting that differences in joint attention at this age may be subtle, but detectable with eye tracking technology. Together, the studies contribute to our understanding of the role that joint attention atypicalities play both in the early development of infants at risk for ASD, and later in the development of children with a confirmed diagnosis.
|
|
| 15. |
- Thorup, Emilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Less frequent face looking in infancy is related to autism likelihood status but not diagnosis : A study of parent-infant interaction
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 115
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundPrevious research suggest that autistic children look less at faces than neurotypically developing children, but this finding is based predominantly on screen-based eye tracking studies, with unfamiliar faces used as stimuli. The aim of the current study was to assess 10-month-olds’ gaze to faces in a more naturalistic context - during free play with a parent - in relation to later autism diagnosis.MethodParents were asked to play with their infant ‘as they usually would’ with a set of toys on the floor. During the first 5 min of play, infant gaze to parent’s face was video coded.ResultsInfants at elevated likelihood of autism (N = 18 with later diagnosis; 46 without later diagnosis), regardless of later diagnostic status, produced fewer gaze shifts towards their parents’ faces than infants at low likelihood of autism (N = 18). Infants in all groups spent only ∼3 % of their time looking at parents’ faces, and there was no group difference in terms of the proportion of time spent looking at faces. There was neither a correlation between infant face looking and scores on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2, nor between infant face looking and autistic traits in the parent.ConclusionsDuring toy play, all infants – irrespective of later diagnosis – spent very little time looking at parents’ faces. Infants at elevated likelihood of autism made fewer gazes to their parents’ faces than neurotypically developing infants, which could potentially affect opportunities for social learning. The effect was not specifically linked to later autism diagnosis.
|
|
| 16. |
- Thorup, Emilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Reduced alternating gaze during social interaction in infancy is associated with elevated symptoms of autism in toddlerhood
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0091-0627 .- 1573-2835. ; 46:7, s. 1547-1561
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In typical development, infants often alternate their gaze between their interaction partners and interesting stimuli, increasing the probability of joint attention toward surrounding objects and creating opportunities for communication and learning. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been found to engage less in behaviors that can initiate joint attention compared to typically developing children, but the role of such atypicalities in the development of ASD during infancy is not fully understood. Here, using eye tracking technology in a live setting, we show that 10-month-olds at high familial risk for ASD engage less in alternating gaze during interaction with an adult compared to low risk infants. These differences could not be explained by low general social preference or slow visual disengagement, as the groups performed similarly in these respects. We also found that less alternating gaze at 10 months was associated with more ASD symptoms and less showing and pointing at 18 months. These relations were similar in both the high risk and the low risk groups, and remained when controlling for general social preference and disengagement latencies. This study shows that atypicalities in alternating gaze in infants at high risk for ASD emerge already during the first 10 months of life - a finding with theoretical as well as potential practical implications.
|
|
| 17. |
- Thorup, Emilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Same-sex mothers' experiences of equal treatment, parenting stress and disclosure to offspring : a population-based study of parenthood following identity-release sperm donation
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Human Reproduction. - : Oxford University Press. - 0268-1161 .- 1460-2350. ; 37:11, s. 2589-2598
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- STUDY QUESTION: What are the experiences of same-sex mothers following identity-release sperm donation regarding equal treatment in society, parenting stress and disclosure to child?SUMMARY ANSWER: Mothers predominantly reported equal treatment in society, low levels of parenting stress and early disclosure of the donor conception to the child, and half of the couples had also informed the child of his/her right to obtain the donor's identity.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The number of two-mother families is increasing, and previous studies have reported about challenges related to heteronormativity, discrimination and the status of the non-birth mother. Same-sex mothers have been found to disclose the child's donor conception earlier than different-sex parents, but little is known regarding disclosure of the child's right to obtain identifying information about the donor.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: The present study concerns the fourth wave of data collection of a nation-wide longitudinal study. A total of 143 same-sex mothers (73% response rate) following identity-release sperm donation completed individual surveys when their donor-conceived child had reached age 7. These women represent a total of 82 couples who had undergone sperm donation treatment.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: The study is part of the longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation (SSGD). Couples accepted for gamete donation treatment at seven Swedish University hospitals were recruited between 2005 and 2008 and were requested to complete postal surveys during four waves of data collection. The present study sample includes same-sex mothers who completed a survey when their donor-conceived child had reached 7 years of age. Data were collected with the Swedish Parenting Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ), and study-specific items on experiences of treatment in society and disclosure behavior. Group comparisons (birth mothers vs non-birth mothers) were conducted using Chi2-tests, independent t-tests and Mann–Whitney U-tests, and written comments provided for open-response items were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.MAIN RESULTS AND ROLE OF CHANCE: The mothers were generally open about the child's donor conception and the large majority (>80%) reported being treated positively and in the same way as other parents. However, satisfaction with treatment in health care settings was significantly lower than that reported in contacts with the child's school and recreational activities (P < 0.001) and open-response comments indicate that this may be related predominantly to heteronormative language and assumptions. Birth mothers and non-birth mothers reported similar treatment in society and similar levels of parenting stress. All but one couple had already talked with their 7-year-old child about his/her conception with donor sperm. Half of the couples had also informed the child about his/her opportunity to obtain identifying information about the donor, and remaining couples planned later disclosure. Children's reactions were generally described as neutral, positive or characterized by interest and curiosity.LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: The present study was performed within the context of the Swedish legislation on identity-release donation, which limits the generalizability to same-sex couples using anonymous or known sperm donors. Although no evidence of attrition bias was found, it is possible that those couples who initially declined participation in the SSGD (23%) or dropped out at the fourth wave of data collection (27%) differ from the study sample in terms of variables that we were unable to control for.WIDER IMPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS: The present finding that most same-sex mothers in a population-based sample experience equal treatment in society is encouraging and validates previous results from predominantly qualitative studies. Nevertheless, the fact that a subgroup experiences discrimination and less favorable treatment indicates that further action is needed, particularly in child health care settings. The present study is the first to report on the timing of parents' disclosure of the child's right to identifying donor information and suggests that disclosure during preschool ages is feasible and does not appear to be related to negative consequences. In view of the increased availability and use of identity-release donation, there is a pressing need to investigate parents' intentions, behaviors and needs with regard to talking with their child about his/her opportunity to obtain the donor’s identity.
|
|
| 18. |
- Thorup, Emilia, et al.
(författare)
-
What are you looking at? : Gaze following with and without target objects in ASD and typical development
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Autism. - : Sage Publications. - 1362-3613 .- 1461-7005. ; 26:7, s. 1668-1680
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display difficulties with response to joint attention in natural settings but often perform comparably to typically developing (TD) children in experimental studies of gaze following. Previous work comparing infants at elevated likelihood for ASD versus TD infants has manipulated aspects of the gaze cueing stimulus (e.g. eyes only versus head and eyes together), but the role the peripheral object being attended to is not known. In this study of infants at elevated likelihood of ASD (N?=?97) and TD infants (N?=?29), we manipulated whether or not a target object was present in the cued area. Performance was assessed at 10, 14, and 18?months, and diagnostic assessment was conducted at age 3 years. The results showed that although infants with later ASD followed gaze to the same extent as TD infants in all conditions, they displayed faster latencies back to the model?s face when (and only when) a peripheral object was absent. These subtle atypicalities in the gaze behaviors directly after gaze following may implicate a different appreciation of the communicative situation in infants with later ASD, despite their ostensively typical gaze following ability.Lay abstractDuring the first year of life, infants start to align their attention with that of other people. This ability is called joint attention and facilitates social learning and language development. Although children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are known to engage less in joint attention compared to other children, several experimental studies have shown that they follow other?s gaze (a requirement for visual joint attention) to the same extent as other children. In this study, infants? eye movements were measured at age 10, 14, and 18?months while watching another person look in a certain direction. A target object was either present or absent in the direction of the other person?s gaze. Some of the infants were at elevated likelihood of ASD, due to having an older autistic sibling. At age 3?years, infants were assessed for a diagnosis of ASD. Results showed that infants who met diagnostic criteria at 3?years followed gaze to the same extent as other infants. However, they then looked back at the model faster than typically developing infants when no target object was present. When a target object was present, there was no difference between groups. These results may be in line with the view that directly after gaze following, infants with later ASD are less influenced by other people?s gaze when processing the common attentional focus. The study adds to our understanding of both the similarities and differences in looking behaviors between infants who later receive an ASD diagnosis and other infants.
|
|
