Social COgnition Screening

Evaluation of Social Cognition: A New Screening Approach for Autism

Social cognition refers to the mental processes involved in social interactions, including social perception, motivation, communication, emotion recognition, and theory of mind. Face perception plays a key role in children's social development, but children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to look less at social stimuli, especially faces, than typically developing (TD) peers. Eye-tracking studies highlight these visual exploration differences, linked to difficulties in joint attention, emotion recognition, and theory of mind, as well as in executive and memory functions. Standard diagnostic tests often require active participation and sufficient language, which makes assessment challenging for children with ASD and additional cognitive or language impairments.

This research project investigates how visual activity supports social cognition depending on cognitive and language levels, hypothesizing that eye-tracking can provide useful indicators for ASD screening and diagnosis.

Inclusion Criteria:

• ASD Group:
• Boys or girls diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (based on clinical tools and observations)
• Aged between 4 and 10 years old
• Affiliation with a social security scheme
• Informed consent of those with parental authority
• DT Group:
• Boys or girls
• Aged between 4 and 10
• Attending school in the Hauts-de-France region
• Affiliation with a social security scheme
• Consent of those with parental authority

Exclusion Criteria:

• For ASD: Uncorrected visual or auditory impairments.
• For DT: Intellectual disability, neurological or genetic disorders, autistic traits reported by teachers. The discrepancy between actual age and abilities calculated on the basis of standardised test scores