Journal of International Psychiatry

[Abstract] Objective To explore the relationship between eye movement characteristics and behavioral indicators in children with autism spectrum disorders. Methods A total of 83 children with ASD in our hospital from May 2021 to May 2023 were set as the observation group, and 80 normal children who were matched for age, gender, and other physical examinations were set as the control group. The eye movement feature indicators of two groups of subjects watching videos of common attention mode were compared. The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) Social Response Scale (SRS) in the observation group were evaluated. The correlation between eye movement characteristic indicators and ABC score and SRS score were analyzed. Results The observation group watched a video of common attention mode with eye guidance, head guidance for the first fixation (TFF), first fixation duration (FFD), and total fixation duration (TFD), which were significantly shorter than the control group (P<0.05). There was a negative correlation between TFF, FFD, TFD, ABC score, and SRS score in the observation group (P<0.05). Conclusion Children with ASD have poor co attention abilities guided by the eyes and head, and these eye movement characteristics are significantly associated with social disorders and autism symptoms in the child.

Key words Autism Spectrum Disorder; Eye Movement Characteristics; Joint Attention Mode; Social Barriers