Poster #10 - No Initial Left Gaze Bias to Faces in Children with High Levels of Autistic Traits

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Face processing in typical development may be characterized by a left gaze bias that includes both initial biases and increased overall looking to the left side of the face (e.g., Guo et al., 2009; Racca et al., 2012). Studies with autistic adults and infants at elevated likelihood of receiving an autism diagnosis have found evidence of a reduced left gaze bias (e.g., Dundas et al., 2012a, 2012b), potentially reflecting a different mechanism for face processing that might relate to increased levels of autistic traits. To explore this further, the current study examined left gaze bias in non-autistic children with varying levels of autistic traits.
The final sample included 58 children (Mage = 4 years, SD = 10.6 months) who were shown emotional faces displaying happy, sad, angry, fearful, and neutral expressions from the NimStim database (Tottenham et al., 2009). Each emotional face was presented twice for four seconds in a semi-randomized order, while an SMI RED 120 Hz eye-tracker recorded gaze. Parents completed the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2; Constantino & Gruber, 2012) to assess levels of autistic traits. Areas of interest were drawn on the left and right sides of faces, and a left bias measure was calculated as time on left side divided by time on left plus right for each emotion. This was then averaged across all emotions, yielding a composite left bias measure. To examine initial and overall left gaze biases, composites were calculated for the initial 500 ms trial window and across the full trial period. Analyses first assessed left gaze bias in the full sample. Next, based on calculations of the Total Raw Score on the SRS-2, analyses were run separately for children in the highest and lowest quartiles of scores, creating groups high and low on autistic traits.
In the full sample of children, one-sample t-tests against chance (.5) for both the overall trial and the initial 500 ms window found significant left gaze biases for faces (ts > 3.25, ps < .003). Examining the autistic traits groups separately, for the full trial, both groups showed a significant left gaze bias (ts > 2.57, ps < .024; see Figure 1). When examining the initial 500 ms window, a significant left gaze bias remained in the low autistic traits group (t(14) = 2.24, p = .042), while the high autistic traits group showed no bias (p = .483; see Figure 2).
Consistent with past studies, preschoolers showed both an initial and overall left bias when attending to emotional faces (e.g., Racca et al., 2012). When examining subgroups of children in the upper and lower quartiles for levels of autistic traits, this finding remained across the full time window, but when focusing on initial attention in the first 500 ms of the trial, the high autistic traits group no longer showed a left gaze bias. These findings may indicate subtle differences in early face processing strategies that are associated with varying levels of autistic traits in children.

Authors

• Chloe Elizabeth Brittenham, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer B Wagner, City University of New York College of Staten Island