The use of eye-tracking technology as a tool to evaluate social cognition in people with an intellectual disability: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractBackgroundRelatively little is known about social cognition in people with intellectual disability (ID), and how this may support understanding of co-occurring autism. A limitation of previous research is that traditional social-cognitive tasks place a demand on domain-general cognition and language abilities. These tasks are not suitable for people with ID and lack the sensitivity to detect subtle social-cognitive processes. In autism research, eye-tracking technology has offered an effective method of evaluating social cognition —indicating associations between visual social attention and autism characteristics. The present systematic review synthesised research which has used eye-tracking technology to study social cognition in ID. A meta-analysis was used to explore whether visual attention on socially salient regions ( SSRs) of stimuli during these tasks correlated with degree of autism characteristics presented on clinical assessment tools.MethodSearches were conducted using four databases, research mailing lists, and citation tracking. Following in-depth screening and exclusion of studies with low methodological quality, 49 articles were included in the review. A correlational meta-analysis was run on Pearson ’sr values obtained from twelve studies, reporting the relationship between visual attention on SSRs and autism characteristics.Results and conclusionsEye-tracking technology was used to measure different social-cognitive abilities across a range of sy...
Source: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders - Category: Neurology Source Type: research