Sumner, E;
Hutton, SB;
Hill, E;
(2020)
Subtle Oculomotor Difficulties and their Relation to Motor Skill in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
10.1007/s41252-020-00188-1.
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Abstract
Objectives: Sensorimotor difficulties are often reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Visual and motor skills are linked in that the processing of visual information can help to guide motor movements. The present study investigated oculomotor skill and its relation to general motor skill in ASD by providing a comprehensive assessment of oculomotor control. Methods: Fifty children (25 ASD; 25 typically-developing [TD]), aged 7-10 years, completed a motor assessment (comprising fine and gross motor tasks) and oculomotor battery (comprising fixation, smooth pursuit, prosaccade and antisaccade tasks). Results: No group differences were found for antisaccade errors, nor saccade latencies in prosaccade and antisaccade tasks, but increased saccade amplitude variability was observed in children with ASD, suggesting reduced consistency in saccade accuracy. Children with ASD also demonstrated poorer fixation stability than their peers and spent less time in pursuit of a moving target. Motor skill was not correlated with saccade amplitude variability. However, regression analyses revealed that motor skill (and not diagnosis) accounted for variance in fixation performance and fast smooth pursuit. Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of considering oculomotor paradigms to inform the functional impact of neuropathologies in ASD and also assessing the presentation of co-occurring difficulties to further our understanding of ASD. Avenues for future research are suggested.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Subtle Oculomotor Difficulties and their Relation to Motor Skill in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s41252-020-00188-1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-020-00188-1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Autism, Fixation, Motor skill, Oculomotor, Saccades, Smooth pursuit |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10113068 |
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