Examining the Link Between Social Affect and Visual Exploration of Cute Stimuli in Autistic Children

Article Article scientifique Article Examining the Link Between Social Affect and Visual Exploration of Cute Stimuli in Autistic Children eng 2024-08-22 author Zaharia Alexandra 0000-0001-7023-5700 Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland. alexandra.zaharia@unifr.ch.,Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. alexandra.zaharia@unifr.ch.,Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. alexandra.zaharia@unifr.ch. 734861 author Kojovic Nada 0000-0003-0116-2485 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 776933 Département de psychiatrie (PSYAT) author Rojanawisut Tara Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 837134 author Sander David 0000-0003-1266-9361 Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 558712 Section de psychologie (PSICO) author Schaer Marie 0000-0001-8479-6365 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Fondation Pôle Autisme, Unité de Recherche, Geneva, Switzerland. 510515 Département de psychiatrie (PSYAT) author Samson Andrea Christiane 0000-0001-6807-3132 Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland.,Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.,Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 834953 10.1007/s10803-024-06504-1 39172201 0162-3257 https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10803-024-06504-1 Baby schema refers to physical features perceived as cute, known to trigger attention, induce positive emotions, and prompt social interactions. Given the reduced visual attention to social stimuli observed in individuals on the autism spectrum, the current study examines whether the sensitivity to baby schema is also affected. We expected that the looking time towards cute-featured stimuli would vary with symptom severity levels and would be associated with social affect. Ninety-four children (31 typically developing; 63 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder - ASD) aged 20-83 months (M = 49.63, SD = 13.59) completed an eye-tracking visual exploration task. Autistic participants were separated into two groups based on symptom severity: children with high autism severity symptoms (HS ASD; N = 23) and low-moderate autism symptoms (LMS ASD; N = 40). Animals and neutral objects were simultaneously presented on the screen along with either human babies (condition 1) or adults (condition 2). The results indicated that visual attention oriented to cute-featured stimuli varied with autism symptom severity: only LMS and TD groups spend more time looking at cute-featured stimuli (babies; animals) than neutral objects. Moreover, children with higher severity in the social affect domain spent less time on the stimuli depicting cute than non-cute stimuli. These findings suggest that autism symptom severity and social skills are linked to variations in visual attention to cute stimuli. Implications of baby schema sensitivity are discussed in relation to the development of social competencies and play, responsiveness to robot-based interventions, as well as appraised relevance in autistic children. Autism spectrum disorder Baby schema Cuteness Eye-tracking Social affect Dewey 128.37 Dewey 616.89 Dewey 150 Swiss National Science Foundation Measuring trajectories of cerebral development associated with autism in the first years of life 163859 CH Careers Swiss National Science Foundation Measuring trajectories of cerebral development associated with autism in the first years of life 190084 CH Careers Swiss National Science Foundation Exploring common mechanisms for social and non-social autism symptoms: a longitudinal study in the Geneva Autism Cohort 212653 CH Projects Swiss National Science Foundation The Differential Roles of Positive Emotions and Emotion Regulation for Socio-Emotional Processes in Developmental Disabilities: Insights for Future Interventions 176722 CH Careers Swiss National Science Foundation NCCR 'SYNAPSY - The synaptic bases of mental diseases' (phase III) 185897 CH Programmes Fondation Pôle Autisme 15 Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives 0D8 108 Section de psychologie 71 60 Département de psychiatrie 225 false 1360 Autism Brain and Behavior Lab 1033 https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/CA8VU Journal of autism and developmental disorders 4d7524fc-425f-4792-8527-fb6854f12e4c Article (Published version) Public Article_scientifique_from_crossref.pdf 2261158 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 232da577bfdf03374ba3fafec0c6ba5edccd56f426affad63c0eacea2c93a79f 3cab01e2-dc45-475c-9187-7e7c59c7753c Appendix Public 10803_2024_6504_MOESM1_ESM.docx 294976 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 4646714d08efadc3b3e4c019b68a1e881233d244240f39a0b01392553ea04e23 openAccess Centres et instituts / Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l'éducation / Section de psychologie Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de psychiatrie

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Examining the Link Between Social Affect and Visual Exploration of Cute Stimuli in Autistic Children	Journal of autism and developmental disorders			2024	82	536

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