Eye-tracking Joint Attention Tasks in Autistic Children: A Review

This review provides an overview of eye-tracking tasks used to investigate joint attention (JA) in autistic children by examining key methodological dimensions, including the structure of the JA probe, design of the JA task, and gaze metrics derived to quantify JA. A systematic search was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 26 studies were included in this review. The findings highlight a heavy focus on responding to joint attention (RJA), with limited emphasis on initiating joint attention (IJA). There was a clear preference for dynamic yet non-interactive social stimuli without environmental context, accompanied by variability in deictic cues for RJA and prompts for IJA tasks. Nine gaze metrics were identified, showing variability in their computation and prerequisites. These findings have implications for the conceptualization, design, and refinement of JA eye-tracking tasks and their applications for autistic children.