子どもにおける人物顔と幾何学図形への選好傾向

–ASD男児，TD男児，TD女児の3群比較–

抄録

A previous study used human face and geometric figure stimuli to compare the gaze behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to that of typically developing (TD) children. Children with ASD gazed at the geometric figure more than the face, whereas, TD children displayed the opposite behavior. There were sex-based differences in gazing behavior toward face stimuli in TD children. Studies specifically report that TD girls gazed longer at the face stimulus compared to TD boys. Therefore, this study measured the gazing behavior of three groups of children; with ASD, TD boys, and TD girls. The participants were exposed to face and geometric figure stimuli side-by-side. We used an eye-tracker and calculated their fixation ratios by measuring gaze fixation time within the face stimulus and the geometric figure stimulus, or outside of these stimuli, and dividing it by the total fixation time. The results indicated that the fixation ratio between ASD and TD boys did not differ significantly. Boys from both groups gazed less at the face stimulus and more at the geometric figure stimulus than TD girls.