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Atypical Head Movement during Face‐to‐Face Interaction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Author(s) -
Zhao Zhong,
Zhu Zhipeng,
Zhang Xiaobin,
Tang Haiming,
Xing Jiayi,
Hu Xinyao,
Lu Jianping,
Peng Qiongling,
Qu Xingda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
autism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.656
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1939-3806
pISSN - 1939-3792
DOI - 10.1002/aur.2478
Subject(s) - autism spectrum disorder , autism , movement (music) , psychology , stereotypy , face to face interaction , head (geology) , eye movement , developmental psychology , communication , neuroscience , philosophy , amphetamine , geomorphology , dopamine , geology , aesthetics
The present study implemented an objective head pose tracking technique—OpenFace 2.0 to quantify the three dimensional head movement. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD) were engaged in a structured conversation with an interlocutress while wearing an eye tracker. We computed the head movement stereotypy with multiscale entropy analysis. In addition, the head rotation range (RR) and the amount of rotation per minute (ARPM) were calculated to quantify the extent of head movement. Results demonstrated that the ASD group had significantly higher level of movement stereotypy, RR and ARPM in all the three directions of head movement. Further analyses revealed that the extent of head movement could be significantly explained by movement stereotypy, but not by the amount of visual fixation to the interlocutress. These results demonstrated the atypical head movement dynamics in children with ASD during live interaction. It is proposed that head movement might potentially provide novel objective biomarkers of ASD. Lay Summary Our study used an objective tool to quantify head movement in children with autism. Results showed that children with autism had more stereotyped and greater head movement. We suggest that head movement tracking technique be widely used in autism research.