Ocular motor disturbances in autism spectrum disorders: Systematic review and comprehensive meta-analysis. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnson, Beth P.; Lum, Jarrad A.G.; Rinehart, Nicole J.; Fielding, Joanne
• Is Part Of: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Volume 69(2016)
• Page Start: 260
• Page End: 279
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; Human behavior -- Periodicals; Animal behavior -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Behavior -- Periodicals; Ethology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychophysiologie -- Périodiques; Comportement humain -- Périodiques; Animaux -- Mœurs et comportement -- Périodiques; Neurologie -- Périodiques; Animal behavior; Human behavior; Neurology; Psychophysiology; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 573.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-7634

Abstract

Highlights: Control of saccades, pursuit eye movements and fixation in ASD were assessed. ASD was associated with saccade dysmetria (overshooting/undershooting visual targets). ASD had difficulty inhibiting reflexive saccades when performing antisaccades. Tracking of moving targets (pursuit eye movements) was significantly impaired in ASD. No difficulties with initiating saccades or engaging/disengaging from visual targets. Abstract: There has been considerable focus placed on how individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) visually perceive and attend to social information, such as facial expressions or social gaze. The role of eye movements is inextricable from visual perception, however this aspect is often overlooked. We performed a series of meta-analyses based on data from 28 studies of eye movements in ASD to determine whether there is evidence for ocular motor dysfunction in ASD. Tasks assessed included visually-guided saccade tasks, gap/overlap, anti-saccade, pursuit tasks and ocular fixation. These analyses revealed evidence for ocular motor dysfunction in ASD, specifically relating to saccade dysmetria, difficulty inhibiting saccades and impaired tracking of moving targets. However there was no evidence for deficits relating to initiating eye movements, or engaging and disengaging from simple visual targets. Characterizing ocular motor abnormalities in ASD may provide insight into the functional integrity of brain networks in ASD across development, and assist our understanding of visual and social attention in ASD.