TY - JOUR
T1 - A Unique Visual Attention Profile Associated With the FMR1 Premutation
AU - Winston, Molly
AU - Nayar, Kritika
AU - Landau, Emily
AU - Maltman, Nell
AU - Sideris, John
AU - Zhou, Lili
AU - Sharp, Kevin
AU - Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth
AU - Losh, Molly
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the many individuals who participated in this study. We would like to acknowledge Michelle Lee, Abigail L. Hogan, and Daniel Hamburger for their initial efforts related to the management and processing of the data. We would also like to thank Faraz Farzin for sharing of her eye tracking stimuli and assistance in creation of the protocol for collection of data pertaining to the NimStim task. Funding. This work was funded through the National Institutes of Health (R01DC010191, R01MH091131, P30HD03110) and the National Science Foundation (BCS-0820394).
Funding Information:
This work was funded through the National Institutes of Health (R01DC010191, R01MH091131, P30HD03110) and the National Science Foundation (BCS-0820394).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Winston, Nayar, Landau, Maltman, Sideris, Zhou, Sharp, Berry-Kravis and Losh.
PY - 2021/2/9
Y1 - 2021/2/9
N2 - Atypical visual attention patterns have been observed among carriers of the fragile X mental retardation gene (FMR1) premutation (PM), with some similarities to visual attention patterns observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and among clinically unaffected relatives of individuals with ASD. Patterns of visual attention could constitute biomarkers that can help to inform the neurocognitive profile of the PM, and that potentially span diagnostic boundaries. This study examined patterns of eye movement across an array of fixation measurements from three distinct eye-tracking tasks in order to investigate potentially overlapping profiles of visual attention among PM carriers, ASD parents, and parent controls. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether variables constituting a PM-specific looking profile were able to effectively predict group membership. Participants included 65PM female carriers, 188 ASD parents, and 84 parent controls. Analyses of fixations across the eye-tracking tasks, and their corresponding areas of interest, revealed a distinct visual attention pattern in carriers of the FMR1 PM, characterized by increased fixations on the mouth when viewing faces, more intense focus on bodies in socially complex scenes, and decreased fixations on salient characters and faces while narrating a wordless picture book. This set of variables was able to successfully differentiate individuals with the PM from controls (Sensitivity = 0.76, Specificity = 0.85, Accuracy = 0.77) as well as from ASD parents (Sensitivity = 0.70, Specificity = 0.80, Accuracy = 0.72), but did not show a strong distinction between ASD parents and controls (Accuracy = 0.62), indicating that this set of variables comprises a profile that is unique to PM carriers. Regarding predictive power, fixations toward the mouth when viewing faces was able to differentiate PM carriers from both ASD parents and controls, whereas fixations toward other social stimuli did not differentiate PM carriers from ASD parents, highlighting some overlap in visual attention patterns that could point toward shared neurobiological mechanisms. Results demonstrate a profile of visual attention that appears strongly associated with the FMR1 PM in women, and may constitute a meaningful biomarker.
AB - Atypical visual attention patterns have been observed among carriers of the fragile X mental retardation gene (FMR1) premutation (PM), with some similarities to visual attention patterns observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and among clinically unaffected relatives of individuals with ASD. Patterns of visual attention could constitute biomarkers that can help to inform the neurocognitive profile of the PM, and that potentially span diagnostic boundaries. This study examined patterns of eye movement across an array of fixation measurements from three distinct eye-tracking tasks in order to investigate potentially overlapping profiles of visual attention among PM carriers, ASD parents, and parent controls. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether variables constituting a PM-specific looking profile were able to effectively predict group membership. Participants included 65PM female carriers, 188 ASD parents, and 84 parent controls. Analyses of fixations across the eye-tracking tasks, and their corresponding areas of interest, revealed a distinct visual attention pattern in carriers of the FMR1 PM, characterized by increased fixations on the mouth when viewing faces, more intense focus on bodies in socially complex scenes, and decreased fixations on salient characters and faces while narrating a wordless picture book. This set of variables was able to successfully differentiate individuals with the PM from controls (Sensitivity = 0.76, Specificity = 0.85, Accuracy = 0.77) as well as from ASD parents (Sensitivity = 0.70, Specificity = 0.80, Accuracy = 0.72), but did not show a strong distinction between ASD parents and controls (Accuracy = 0.62), indicating that this set of variables comprises a profile that is unique to PM carriers. Regarding predictive power, fixations toward the mouth when viewing faces was able to differentiate PM carriers from both ASD parents and controls, whereas fixations toward other social stimuli did not differentiate PM carriers from ASD parents, highlighting some overlap in visual attention patterns that could point toward shared neurobiological mechanisms. Results demonstrate a profile of visual attention that appears strongly associated with the FMR1 PM in women, and may constitute a meaningful biomarker.
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - eye tracking
KW - fragile X mental retardation gene
KW - fragile X syndrome
KW - pragmatic language
KW - social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101640718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85101640718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fgene.2021.591211
DO - 10.3389/fgene.2021.591211
M3 - Article
C2 - 33633778
AN - SCOPUS:85101640718
SN - 1664-8021
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Genetics
JF - Frontiers in Genetics
M1 - 591211
ER -