Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study

Recent studies indicate a positive correlation between canine-assisted interventions and social and communicative abilities in people with autism. These benefits could be due to more efficient processing of socially informative areas when dog faces are processed. Using an eye tracker, this study aim...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Duarte-Gan, Carolina, Martos-Montes, Rafael, García-Linares, Mª Cruz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Jaén
Repositorio:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
OAI Identifier:oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/1816
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2023.2187136
https://hdl.handle.net/10953/1816
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:autism spectrum disorder
dogs
eye tracking
human–animal interaction
1 Psicología
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spelling Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking StudyDuarte-Gan, CarolinaMartos-Montes, RafaelGarcía-Linares, Mª Cruzautism spectrum disorderdogseye trackinghuman–animal interaction1 PsicologíaRecent studies indicate a positive correlation between canine-assisted interventions and social and communicative abilities in people with autism. These benefits could be due to more efficient processing of socially informative areas when dog faces are processed. Using an eye tracker, this study aimed to assess the visual processing of faces in 13 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 13 neurotypical (NT) children when gazing at the faces of humans and of dogs. We divided the faces into two categories. First, individual faces of adult humans, children, and dogs were used in a free-viewing paradigm, where the area of interest was the eyes. We recorded the total time spent gazing at the eyes (dwell time), latency to the first look, and continuous gaze time. Second, pairs of faces were presented at the same time in a pair paradigm, and preferences in terms of face position (left/right) and type (dog/human), and the number of transitions between faces, were measured. When presented with pairs of faces, ASD children gazed for longer at the dog’s face, regardless of its position, and showed a higher number of shifts between pictures when the face of a dog was present. However, the NT group did not discriminate between the two faces. The results for individual faces showed significant differences in how ASD children look at the eyes of faces rather than differences in the total duration of the gaze; they are faster in terms of their first gaze and exhibit a longer average fixation time when gazing at the eyes of dogs compared with those of humans. Both human and dog faces were processed atypically in children with ASD, who seemed to engage with dogs more rapidly and for extended periods. This suggests possible socio-communicative benefits of human–dog interactions for people with autism, from a visual processing point of viewRoutledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD202420242023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2023.2187136https://hdl.handle.net/10953/1816reponame:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaéninstname:Universidad de JaénInglésAnthrozoös, 36(4)info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/18162026-06-24T12:41:07Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
title Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
spellingShingle Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
Duarte-Gan, Carolina
autism spectrum disorder
dogs
eye tracking
human–animal interaction
1 Psicología
title_short Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
title_full Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
title_fullStr Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
title_full_unstemmed Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
title_sort Visual Processing of the Faces of Humans and Dogs by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Duarte-Gan, Carolina
Martos-Montes, Rafael
García-Linares, Mª Cruz
author Duarte-Gan, Carolina
author_facet Duarte-Gan, Carolina
Martos-Montes, Rafael
García-Linares, Mª Cruz
author_role author
author2 Martos-Montes, Rafael
García-Linares, Mª Cruz
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv autism spectrum disorder
dogs
eye tracking
human–animal interaction
1 Psicología
topic autism spectrum disorder
dogs
eye tracking
human–animal interaction
1 Psicología
description Recent studies indicate a positive correlation between canine-assisted interventions and social and communicative abilities in people with autism. These benefits could be due to more efficient processing of socially informative areas when dog faces are processed. Using an eye tracker, this study aimed to assess the visual processing of faces in 13 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 13 neurotypical (NT) children when gazing at the faces of humans and of dogs. We divided the faces into two categories. First, individual faces of adult humans, children, and dogs were used in a free-viewing paradigm, where the area of interest was the eyes. We recorded the total time spent gazing at the eyes (dwell time), latency to the first look, and continuous gaze time. Second, pairs of faces were presented at the same time in a pair paradigm, and preferences in terms of face position (left/right) and type (dog/human), and the number of transitions between faces, were measured. When presented with pairs of faces, ASD children gazed for longer at the dog’s face, regardless of its position, and showed a higher number of shifts between pictures when the face of a dog was present. However, the NT group did not discriminate between the two faces. The results for individual faces showed significant differences in how ASD children look at the eyes of faces rather than differences in the total duration of the gaze; they are faster in terms of their first gaze and exhibit a longer average fixation time when gazing at the eyes of dogs compared with those of humans. Both human and dog faces were processed atypically in children with ASD, who seemed to engage with dogs more rapidly and for extended periods. This suggests possible socio-communicative benefits of human–dog interactions for people with autism, from a visual processing point of view
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2023.2187136
https://hdl.handle.net/10953/1816
url https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2023.2187136
https://hdl.handle.net/10953/1816
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Anthrozoös, 36(4)
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
instname:Universidad de Jaén
instname_str Universidad de Jaén
reponame_str RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
collection RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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