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Cited by 248Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentAction Observation and Synchronization

Precursors to social and communication difficulties in infants at-risk for autism: Gaze following and attentional engagement

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the BASIS team, Bedford, Rachael, Elsabbagh, Mayada, Gliga, Teodora, Pickles, Andrew, Senju, Atsushi, Charman, Tony, Johnson, Mark H.·2012·Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
DOI 10.1007/s10803-012-1450-y
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Abstract

Whilst joint attention (JA) impairments in autism have been widely studied, little is known about the early development of gaze following, a precursor to establishing JA. We employed eye-tracking to record gaze following longitudinally in infants with and without a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 7 and 13 months. No group difference was found between at-risk and low-risk infants in gaze following behaviour at either age. However, despite following gaze successfully at 13 months, at-risk infants with later emerging socio-communication difficulties (both those with ASD and atypical development at 36 months of age) allocated less attention to the congruent object compared to typically developing at-risk siblings and low-risk controls. The findings suggest that the subtle emergence of difficulties in JA in infancy may be related to ASD and other atypical outcomes.

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  • Behavioral measures of gaze following seem typical around 6 months of age in Sib-A.

    “Behavioral measures of gaze following seem typical around 6 months of age in Sib-A, but impairments become apparent at the beginning of the second year, when Sib-A follow gaze but spend less time than controls looking at the gazed-at object (Bedford et al., 2012; Landa, Holman, & Garrett-Mayer, 2007).”

    From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Bedford et al., 2012

  • Impairments in gaze following become apparent in Sib-A at the beginning of the second year, when they follow gaze but spend less time than controls looking at the gazed-at object.

    “Behavioral measures of gaze following seem typical around 6 months of age in Sib-A, but impairments become apparent at the beginning of the second year, when Sib-A follow gaze but spend less time than controls looking at the gazed-at object (Bedford et al., 2012; Landa, Holman, & Garrett-Mayer, 2007).”

    From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Bedford et al., 2012

  • Gaze following and disengagement of attention measured at one year of age independently and additively predict clinical outcome.

    “Bedford et al. (2014) focused on gaze following (Bedford et al., 2012) and disengagement of attention (Elsabbagh, Fernandes, et al., 2013) measured at one year of age to show that they independently and additively predict clinical outcome.”

    From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Bedford et al., 2012

  • The independence of gaze following and disengagement of attention measures at 14 months speaks against the hypothesis that poor attentional control is a unique primary cause of autism with subsequent cascading effects on gaze following.

    “The independence of gaze following and disengagement of attention measures at 14 months, speaks against the hypothesis that poor attentional control could be a unique primary cause of autism, with subsequent cascading effects on gaze following (no relationship was found between disengagement of attention at 7 months and gaze following at 14 months, either; Bedford, 2012).”

    From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Bedford, 2012

  • At 12-18 months, clinically relevant behavioural differences span social communication and stereotyped/repetitive behaviour domains, as well as motor and attentional atypicalities, appearing to represent early manifestations of later ASD symptoms.

    “At this age, clinically relevant behavioural differences span both social communication (e.g. gaze following (Bedford et al., 2012); social referencing (Cornew, Dobkins, Akshoomoff, McCleery, & Carver, 2012)) and stereotyped/repetitive behaviour (e.g. repetitive play (Christensen et al., 2010); repetitive movement (Loh et al., 2007) domains, as well as motor (Flanagan et al., 2012) and attentional”

    From Behavioural markers for autism in infancy: Scores on the Autism Observational Scale for Infants in a prospective study of at-risk siblings (2015) · cites this paper as Bedford et al., 2012

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Baron-Cohen, S., Allen, J., and Gillberg, C. (1992). Can autism be detected at 18 months? The needle, the haystack, and the CHAT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 839-843.
  2. Baron-Cohen, S., Cox, A., Baird, G., Swettenham, J., Drew, A., Nightingale, N., et al. (1996). Psychological markers of autism at 18 months of age in a large population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 158-163.

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Authors
the BASIS team, Bedford, R., Elsabbagh, M., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Senju, A., Charman, T., & Johnson, M. H.
Affiliations
University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Bedford, Rachael
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2012-01-26
Volume
42
Issue
10
Pages
2208-2218
ISSN
  • 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-3432
DOI
10.1007/s10803-012-1450-y
OpenAlex
W2038288599
Cited by
248
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 19
FWCI
8.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0510-10268)
  • Medical Research Council (MR/K005863/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
Keywords
gaze following, joint attention, autism spectrum disorder, family history of autism, attentional engagement, atypical development, early development, eye tracking
MeSH terms
Attention, Autistic Disorder, Child, Preschool, Communication, Eye Movements, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Social Behavior, Siblings

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