Article

Quality of remotely-collected gaze data in autistic and non-spectrum children

Authors

• Rhiannon Luyster,  Emerson College (opens in new tab)  
• Taylor Boyd,  New York University (opens in new tab)  
• Amelia Steele,  Emerson College (opens in new tab)  
• Thuy Buonocore, Communication Sciences and Disorders,  Emerson College (opens in new tab)  
• Catherine Sancimino, Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment,  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (opens in new tab)  
• Sudha Arunachalam, sudha@nyu.edu(compose email, opens in email app.), Communicative Sciences and Disorders,  New York University (opens in new tab)  

Abstract

Many developmentalists have shifted to remote research. This project uses secondary data to evaluate the quality of eye-gaze data from 30 autistic children and a language-matched sample of 30 nonspectrum children (mean ages 48 and 27 months, respectively). All children completed an experimenter-moderated preferential looking paradigm via Zoom. Frequency of co-occurring child and household events, rates of missing data, and percent agreement between gaze coders were assessed. Results indicated that co-occurring events were minimal, with no diagnostic group differences. Missing data rates were low overall and were unrelated to diagnostic group, age, or language level of participants; however, higher rates of co-occurring child behaviors were associated with higher rates of missing data. Agreement between coders for eye gaze data was comparable to in-lab studies. Results affirm the usefulness of remote, experimenter-moderated gaze-based research with autistic and nonspectrum children.

Keywords:

autism, preferential looking, online research, methodology

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