Eye movement dynamics and cognitive self-organization in typical and atypical development.
This study analyzed distributions of Euclidean displacements in gaze (i.e. "gaze steps") to evaluate the degree of componential cognitive constraints on audio-visual speech perception tasks. Children performing these tasks exhibited distributions of gaze steps that were closest to power-law or lognormal distributions, suggesting a multiplicatively interactive, flexible, self-organizing cognitive system rather than a component-dominant stipulated cognitive structure. Younger children and children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibited distributions that were closer to power-law than lognormal, indicating a reduced degree of self-organized structure. The relative goodness of lognormal fit was also a significant predictor of ASD, suggesting that this type of analysis may point towards a promising diagnostic tool. These results lend further support to an interaction-dominant framework that casts cognitive processing and development in terms of self-organization instead of fixed components and show that these analytical methods are sensitive to important developmental and neuropsychological differences.
Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, 50 Township Line Rd., Elkins Park, PA 19027 USA.
Daniel
D
Mirman
Julia R
JR
Irwin
Damian G
DG
Stephen
Autism; Development; Eye movements; Interaction-dominance; Self-organization