Differential Attention to Faces in Autistic Infants

Figure 1. Sample stimuli for mother vs. stranger visual paired comparison test with areas of interest outlined. For each infant, areas of interest included left image, right image, mother image, stranger image, mother's face, stranger's face, mother's eyes, stranger's eyes, mother's mouth, and stranger's mouth. Figure 2. Duration of time spent on the eyes and mouth for Low-risk Controls (LRC; n = 40), Highrisk Autism with no diagnosis (HRA-; n = 29), and High-risk Autism with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis (HRA+; n = 8). HRA+ showed significantly greater attention to the eyes and mouth than LRC (p = .028) and HRA- (p = .001). LRC also showed greater time on eyes and mouth than HRA- (p = .03). Error bars are +/- standard error to the mean. Figure 3. Associations between duration of time spent on eyes at 6 months and Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) social scores at 18 months for Low-risk Controls (LRC) and High-risk Autism with no diagnosis (HRA-) after partialling out Mullen Scales of Early Learning nonverbal developmental quotient. In LRC, a significant positive association was found (p = .011), with greater attention to eyes relating to better CSBS social scores a year later. No significant relation between these variables was found for HRA- (p = .99). Figure 4. Associations between duration of time spent on eyes at 6 months and Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) expressive language T scores at 18 months for Low-risk Controls (LRC) and High-risk Autism with no diagnosis (HRA-) after partialling out MSEL nonverbal developmental quotient. In HRA-, a significant negative association was found (p = .007), with greater attention to eyes relating to worse MSEL expressive language scores a year later. No significant relation between these variables was found for LRC (p = .96). Table 1 Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule means (standard deviations in parentheses) for High-risk Autism group with and without a later Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule - Module 1 Social Total Range Communication Total Range Social+Communication Total Range Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule - Module 2 Social Total Range Communication Total Range Social+Communication Total Range High-risk Autism (No diagnosis) High-risk Autism (With diagnosis) n = 11 n=3 2.64 (1.75) 5.00 (3.00) 0-6 2-8 1.45 (1.13) 1.67 (1.15) 0-4 1-3 4.09 (2.30) 6.67 (4.04) 1-8 3-11 n = 18 n=5 1.56 (1.46) 5.80 (1.79) 0-4 3-7 1.89 (1.41) 3.60 (2.07) 0-4 1-6 3.44 (2.15) 9.40 (3.78) 0-7 4-13 Significance and Effect Size p = .096, d = 1.27 p = .78, d = .21 p = .16, d = 1.04 p < .001, d = 2.9 p = .041, d = 1.15 p < .001, d = 2.45 Note. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) data are from the most recent ADOS administration (either 24 or 36 months). Final sample included n=29 for High-risk Autism with no clinical diagnosis and n=8 for High-risk Autism with an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis at the most recent lab visit. Table 2 Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales and Mullen Scales of Early Learning means (standard deviations in parentheses) for Low-risk Controls and High-risk Autism with and without a later Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales at 18 months Social Percentile Range Total Percentile Range Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 18 months Receptive Language T-score Range Expressive Language T-score Range Non-verbal Developmental Quotient Range Low-risk Controls (LRC) High-risk Autism with no diagnosis (HRA-) High-risk Autism, with ASD diagnosis (HRA+) n = 28 n = 23 n=6 67.79 (22.37) 47.91 (28.64) 48.83 (38.52) Group Differences and Effect Size LRC > HRA-, d = .8 16-99 2-98 2-98 67.04 (28.27) 44.70 (32.13) 37.50 (33.76) LRC > HRA-, d = .76 18-99 3-98 3-89 LRC > HRA+, d = 1.04 n = 32 n = 29 n=6 55.91 (16.43) 47.07 (16.32) 34.50 (12.65) LRC > HRA-, d = .55 26-77 20-72 20-53 LRC > HRA+, d = 1.38 50.03 (10.33) 47.41 (11.45) 37.50 (10.13) LRC > HRA+, d = 1.25 33-76 20-73 24-51 108.50 (12.77) 106.38 (11.44) 101.75 (12.91) 89-139 81-125 81-114 none Note: Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales at 18 months missing for 12 Low-risk Controls, 6 High-risk Autism with no diagnosis, and 2 High-risk Autism with an ASD diagnosis; Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 18 months missing for 8 Low-risk Controls and 2 High-risk Autism with an ASD diagnosis (see Method for more detail). Group differences significant at p < .05.