Evaluating the Validity of an Eye Gaze Paradigm in Predicting Autism Spectrum Disorder

Completed

Conditions studied: Autism Spectrum Disorders

In brief

The primary purpose of the present study is to evaluate the diagnostic validity of eye tracking measurements acquired during viewing of socially-relevant stimuli in predicting ASD diagnosis. The secondary purpose was to explore the potential prognostic value of eye tracking measures through cross-sectional associations with non-verbal cognitive ability. Deficits in eye gaze are a hallmark sign of autism. A large and growing body of research supports the ability of eye-tracking based measurements to sensitively discriminate individuals with ASD and healthy participants. These investigations have identified that the core deficit in autism as disruption of social attention, reflecting an inability to appropriately engage and track socially- and emotionally-relevant aspects of the visual world. Thus, eye gaze tracking, acquired during viewing of socially-relevant stimuli, may be a useful approach to identifying objective markers of ASD. Eye tracking also carries the advantages of being less intrusive and expensive than MRI and genetic testing and specifically focuses on the core neurobehavioral characteristics of ASD - abnormalities in social attention. After diagnosis of ASD, key clinical tasks in young children involve determining an accurate prognosis and tracking the progress of early interventions. Currently, the only prognostic indicators are clinical observations (subjective and expensive) and non-verbal cognitive ability testing (difficult to acquire, time-consuming, unavailable in many settings). Recently, eye gaze tracking was found to predict functional outcomes. Thus, in addition to being an objective marker for ASD, eye tracking measurements have potential to be useful for predicting cognitive and functional outcomes. Similarly, the only available methods for tracking treatment progress are parental reports (highly subjective), clinical observations (subjective and expensive), and cognitive measurements (expensive and unavailable in many settings. This study will evaluate, using cross-section data, the potential for eye tracking data to serve as a proxy for non-verbal cognitive ability scores in determining prognosis for ASD-affected children. Additionally, this study will evaluate the test re-test reliability of eye tracking parameters that can potentially be used to track treatment progress.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02573428

Run by

The Cleveland Clinic

People needed

389

Starts

2015-06-01

Expected to finish

2016-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-03-14

Who can join

Age: 2 and older, up to 18. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Clinical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (299.0) following evaluation in Cleveland Clinic Center for Autism Diagnostic Clinic, or a clinical diagnosis of another developmental or psychiatric disorder, or have no specific developmental or psychiatric diagnosis.
• Age 1.5 to 18 years at time of consent.

You may not qualify if…

• Individuals whom, with corrective lenses are still legally blind.
• Individuals whom, it is determined at the discretion of hte Primary Investigator, after consultation with the evaluating psychologist in the Center for Autism Diagnostic Clinic, are not able to sufficiently attend to the stimulus presentation or have substantial challenging behaviors that would prohibit participation.

Where it is running

• Cleveland Clinic Center for Autism — Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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