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September 2, 2026Journal of Neurodevelopmental DisordersOpen Access

Using eye tracking to explore the relationship between autism traits, joint attention, cognition and adaptive functioning in preschool children

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Authors

ASAnthea A. StylianakisHPHannah PinchamSCSparsh Chawla

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Overview

Interventional study reveals that eye-tracking gaze accuracy correlates with baseline cognition and predicts early intervention gains in autistic preschoolers, highlighting targets for support.

Key Points

  • To evaluate baseline eye-tracking measures of joint attention alongside cognitive and adaptive profiles, and to determine phenotypic predictors of early intervention outcomes in autistic preschool children.
  • Assessed N = 67 autistic preschool children (aged 2–7 years) receiving early intervention.
  • Measured gaze accuracy during a joint attention task using eye tracking alongside clinical assessments of social affect, adaptive functioning, language, and motor skills.
  • Evaluated changes in autism traits and developmental profiles following intervention with the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM).
  • Higher baseline gaze accuracy during joint attention was linked to better social affect, higher adaptive functioning, stronger expressive and receptive language, and superior fine motor and visual reception skills.
  • Predictors of greater post-intervention improvement in autism traits included older entry age and higher baseline developmental functioning.
  • Improvements in social affect post-ESDM intervention paralleled cognitive gains, specifically in receptive language, visual reception, and fine motor abilities.

Cite This Study

Stylianakis et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e2eac562ede874ec7545https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-026-09714-z
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1An Exploratory Analysis of Eye-Tracking During a Virtual Reality Social Cognition Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders2026
  2. 2Eye Tracking as a Treatment Monitoring Tool for Autism: A Multilevel Meta‐Analysis2025
  3. 3A New Hope: Can we estimate a clinical diagnosis by using eye-tracking technology?2025
  4. 4Mapping the landscape of joint attention assessment in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review of tools, techniques, and gaps2026
  5. 5Eye Tracking Screening for ASD in Nursery: Is Early Diagnosis Possible? A Large-scale Real-life Experiment2025 · 1 citations