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Cited by 286Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchFace Recognition and PerceptionChild and Animal Learning Development

Gaze behavior of children with pervasive developmental disorder toward human faces: A fixation time study

Van Der Geest, J.N., Kemner, C., Verbaten, M.N., Van Engeland, H.·2002·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI 10.1111/1469-7610.00055
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The abnormal gaze behavior of autistic children toward human faces, as observed in daily-life situations, are investigated in two fixation time studies. It has been argued that faces are a special kind of stimuli for normal individuals and that this might not be the case for autistic children. METHODS: A group of high-functioning autistic children (including a group of sub-threshold PDD-NOS children) was compared with a group of normal children, with respect to their fixation behavior for photographs of human faces. Using an infrared eye-tracking device, fixation times for the whole face and for the facial elements of faces were compared between the two groups. The first study dealt with faces having an emotional expression. The second study dealt with neutral faces presented either upright or upside-down. RESULTS: Results of the two studies showed that autistic children have the same fixation behavior as normal children for upright faces, with or without an emotional expression. Furthermore, results of the second study showed that normal children spent less time looking at upside-down faces, but that the fixation times of autistic children were not influenced by the orientation of the faces. CONCLUSIONS: These results plead against the notion that the abnormal gaze behavior in everyday life is due to the presence of facial stimuli per se. Furthermore, the absence of a face orientation effect in autistic children might be a reflection of a lack of holistic processing of human faces in autism.

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Crossref · 10.1111/1469-7610.00055

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  • A potential factor in the null results of van der Geest et al. (2002) and Bar-Haim et al. (2006) is the lack of fearful and, in the latter case, any emotional expressions among the face stimuli.

    “A potential factor in the data of both van der Geest et al. (2002) and Bar-Haim et al. (2006) is the lack of fearful and, in the latter case, any emotional expressions among the face stimuli.”

    From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as van der Geest et al. (2002)

  • van der Geest et al. (2002) found no significant differences in scan paths or initial fixations to emotional faces in their sample of 17 children with ASD.

    “van der Geest et al. (2002) found no significant differences in scan paths or initial fixations to emotional faces with his sample of 17 children with ASD”

    From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as van der Geest et al. (2002)

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Authors
Van Der Geest, J. N., Kemner, C., Verbaten, M. N., & Van Engeland, H.
Affiliations
  • University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
  • Utrecht University (NL)
Venue
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2002-05-28
Volume
43
Issue
5
Pages
669-678
ISSN
  • 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7610
DOI
10.1111/1469-7610.00055
OpenAlex
W2049200003
Cited by
286
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 16
FWCI
3.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental disorders, gaze behavior, fixation duration, face processing, facial expressions, face orientation, holistic face processing, eye tracking
MeSH terms
Attention, Autistic Disorder, Child, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Emotions, Eye Movements, Facial Expression, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Intelligence, Male, Orientation, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Reference Values

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