Abstract

Social attention, which refers to the specific ability to attend to socially relevant information, is a key aspect of social competency and is significantly impacted in ASD . What a toddler decides to look at, listen to, and shift between are all drivers of early brain development, and foundational for early language and social skills. While difficulties in attending to and reacting to the social world are consistent challenges in ASD , symptoms are heterogenous in nature and degree across individuals. In this lecture, Dr. Pierce will discuss how metrics of social attention as indexed by eye tracking can be powerful tools to: (1) discover diagnostic biomarkers to lower the age of first diagnosis; (2) characterize social attention phenotypes in ASD and understand biological subtypes; (3) reveal prognostic markers to predict future functioning; and (4) suggest possible treatment approaches best matched to each child’s profile. Given that levels of social attention as indexed by eye tracking could be considered a proxy for social attention levels ‘in the real world’, Dr. Pierce will discuss relationships between eye tracking and neural functional levels of activation in brain regions that are critical for social and language development in toddlers with ASD . She will also discuss how bioinformatic tools can be used to reveal key biological subtypes.