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Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Do Not Preferentially Attend to Biological Motion

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Abstract

Preferential attention to biological motion can be seen in typically developing infants in the first few days of life and is thought to be an important precursor in the development of social communication. We examined whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 3–7 years preferentially attend to point-light displays depicting biological motion. We found that children with ASD did not preferentially attend to biological motion over phase-scrambled motion, but did preferentially attend to a point-light display of a spinning top rather than a human walker. In contrast a neurotypical matched control group preferentially attended to the human, biological motion in both conditions. The results suggest a core deficit in attending to biological motion in ASD.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by an E.S.R.C. Grant (RES 000 23 1148) awarded to John Swettenham, Elizabeth Milne and Ruth Campbell at University College London. We are gratefully acknowledge the efforts of staff and pupils at schools and nurseries in Aberdeen who participated in the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Psychology and Language Science, Department of Developmental Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, UK

    Dagmara Annaz, Mike Coleman & John Swettenham

  2. Division of Psychology and Language Science, Department of Human Communication Science, Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, UK

    Ruth Campbell

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Elizabeth Milne

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  1. Dagmara Annaz
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  2. Ruth Campbell
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Correspondence to John Swettenham.

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Annaz, D., Campbell, R., Coleman, M. et al. Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Do Not Preferentially Attend to Biological Motion. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 401–408 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1256-3

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