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. 2012 Apr;42(4):487-98.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-011-1262-5.

Selective visual attention at twelve months: signs of autism in early social interactions

Ted Hutman  1 , Mandeep K Chela, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Marian Sigman
Affiliations

Selective visual attention at twelve months: signs of autism in early social interactions

Ted Hutman et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

We examined social attention and attention shifting during (a) a play interaction between 12-month olds and an examiner and (b) after the examiner pretended to hurt herself. We coded the target and duration of infants' visual fixations and frequency of attention shifts. Siblings of children with autism and controls with no family history of autism were tested at 12 months and screened for ASD at 36 months. Groups did not differ on proportion of attention to social stimuli or attention shifting during the play condition. All groups demonstrated more social attention and attention shifting during the distress condition. Infants later diagnosed with ASD tended to continue looking at a toy during the distress condition despite the salience of social information.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ratio of looking time to social targets by group and condition. *ASD group change between conditions, p < 0.05. **Other Concerns, HRT, LRT groups change between conditions, p < 0.001
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