title: Pupillary responses during a joint attention task are associated with nonverbal cognitive abilities and sub-clinical symptoms of autism.
abstract: Measures of pupillary dilation provide a temporally sensitive, quantitative indicator of cognitive resource allocation. The current study included 39 typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age. Children completed a free-viewing task designed to elicit gaze following, a core deficit of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Results revealed a negative association between children's pupil dilation and a standardized measure of nonverbal intelligence, suggesting that children with lower intelligence allocated more cognitive resources than children with higher intelligence. In addition, the results revealed a negative association between pupil dilation and a parent-report measure of sub-clinical symptoms of ASD, suggesting that children with fewer ASD-related symptoms allocated more cognitive resources than children who showed more sub-clinical symptoms of ASD. Both associations were independent of each other and could not be explained by variation in chronological age. These findings extend previous research demonstrating associations between basic aspects of visual processing and intelligence. In addition, these findings comport with recent theories of ASD that emphasize reduced sensitivity to the reward value of social situations. When confronted with social ambiguity, children with more ASD-related symptoms allocated fewer cognitive resources to resolving this ambiguity than children who showed fewer sub-clinical symptoms of ASD.
authors.affiliation: Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Valentyna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Erstenyuk
authors.affiliation: Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA ; The Graduate Center of City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA.
authors.forename: Meghan R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.affiliation: Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA ; The Graduate Center of City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siller
keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Broad autism phenotype; Gaze following; Intelligence; Joint attention; Pupil
references.citation: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003 May;60(5):524-30
references.pmid: 12742874
references.citation: Monogr Soc Res Child Dev. 1999;64(1):1-114
references.pmid: 10412222
references.citation: Behav Res Methods. 2011 Dec;43(4):1171-81
references.pmid: 21637943
references.citation: Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2004;10(4):221-33
references.pmid: 15666338
references.citation: Science. 1964 Mar 13;143(3611):1190-2
references.pmid: 17833905
references.citation: Brain Lang. 1986 May;28(1):1-11
references.pmid: 3719292
references.citation: Brain Lang. 1986 Mar;27(2):322-44
references.pmid: 3513899
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 1982 Mar;91(2):276-92
references.pmid: 7071262
references.citation: Am J Hum Genet. 2005 Jan;76(1):68-81
references.pmid: 15547804
references.citation: Child Dev. 1993 Feb;64(1):57-79
references.pmid: 8436038
references.citation: Dev Sci. 2008 Nov;11(6):847-52
references.pmid: 19046153
references.citation: J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 Mar;43(3):707-18
references.pmid: 22847297
references.citation: Behav Brain Sci. 2005 Oct;28(5):675-91; discussion 691-735
references.pmid: 16262930
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2010 Jan 1;47(1):158-69
references.pmid: 19761522
references.citation: Int J Psychophysiol. 2004 Mar;52(1):23-36
references.pmid: 15003370
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2006 Nov 15;33(3):969-79
references.pmid: 17010646
references.citation: J Exp Child Psychol. 2006 Sep;95(1):27-55
references.pmid: 16677668
references.citation: J Autism Dev Disord. 2014 Mar;44(3):694-702
references.pmid: 23921972
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Feb;163(2):294-6
references.pmid: 16449484
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2002 Nov;38(6):958-66
references.pmid: 12428707
references.citation: J Neurodev Disord. 2012 May 17;4(1):11
references.pmid: 22958480
references.citation: Child Dev. 1986 Apr;57(2):251-74
references.pmid: 3956312
references.citation: J Child Lang. 1993 Jun;20(2):395-418
references.pmid: 8376476
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2008 Nov;44(6):1691-704
references.pmid: 18999331
references.citation: Child Dev. 1993 Aug;64(4):1191-203
references.pmid: 8404264
references.citation: Dev Sci. 2005 Nov;8(6):535-43
references.pmid: 16246245
references.citation: Science. 1979 Sep 21;205(4412):1289-92
references.pmid: 472746
references.citation: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Apr;161(4):378-83
references.pmid: 17404135
references.citation: Brain Lang. 1982 Sep;17(1):133-45
references.pmid: 7139265
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2008 Jan;45(1):119-29
references.pmid: 17910734
references.citation: Nature. 1975 Jan 24;253(5489):265-6
references.pmid: 1113842
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 1996 Jul;33(4):457-61
references.pmid: 8753946