Analyzing Behavioral Markers of Autistic Children Using Eye Tracking Data

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs in the early years of life and is characterized by social impairment, verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties as well as stereotypical behaviors. Rehabilitating autistic children at the early stages of growth, in which their brain is highly flexible, yields to enhanced treatment process and provides the chance of utilizing their talents. On the other hand, late detection and treatment lead to delay in normal development of the children’s behavior. Considering the role of eyes, as one of the most valuable sources of information in social interactions and the different patterns of eye behaviors in autistic children in response to social stimuli, the non-invasive eye tracking technique is an appropriate approach to early diagnosis of this disorder. It is possible to investigate how visual stimuli are processed in people with ASD at different ages. Conclusion: To this end, this study provides a review of the studies in the field of eye-tracking data analytics conducted with the aim of identifying and discriminating the autistic and normal children eye movement patterns in response to social stimuli. The results of published investigations confirm that eye tracking is an effective approach for identifying the different patterns of eye movements in autistic children compared to normal subjects. These differences can be assumed as the basis for developing intelligent ASD screening systems.