Remote eye gaze tracking as a marker for autism
Eye tracking can differentiate children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from children without ASD but with other developmental problems (non-ASD). At present, ASD is identified using subjective methods such as parent report, interviews, and clinician observations. Having an objective marker of ASD could substantially increase the accuracy of clinical diagnosis. It could also help parents, who are often wary of accepting clinical impressions alone, accept the diagnosis. Using two samples of at-risk patients referred for evaluation, a group of researchers examined whether remotely tracking patients' eye gaze to social and non-social aspects of still pictures and dynamic videos could differentiate children aged 3-8 who would go on to be diagnosed with ASD versus those without ASD.