Increasing audiovisual speech integration in autism through enhanced attention to mouth

Shuyuan Feng; Qiandong Wang; Yixiao Hu; Haoyang Lu; Tianbi Li; Ci Song; Jing Fang; Lihan Chen; Li Yi

doi:10.1111/desc.13348

Increasing audiovisual speech integration in autism through enhanced attention to mouth

Dev Sci. 2023 Jul;26(4):e13348. doi: 10.1111/desc.13348. Epub 2022 Dec 1.

Authors

Shuyuan Feng^{1

2}, Qiandong Wang³, Yixiao Hu², Haoyang Lu^{2

4

5}, Tianbi Li², Ci Song², Jing Fang⁶, Lihan Chen^{2

7}, Li Yi^{2

8}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Applied Linguistics, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁵ Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁶ Qingdao Autism Research Institute, Qingdao, China.
⁷ National Engineering Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Applications, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁸ IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Peking University, Beijing, China.

PMID: 36394129
DOI: 10.1111/desc.13348

Abstract

Autistic children (AC) show less audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task, which correlates with their reduced mouth-looking time. The present study examined whether AC's less audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task could be increased by increasing their mouth-looking time. We recruited 4- to 8-year-old AC and nonautistic children (NAC). In two experiments, we manipulated children's mouth-looking time, measured their audiovisual speech integration by employing the McGurk effect paradigm, and tracked their eye movements. In Experiment 1, we blurred the eyes in McGurk stimuli and compared children's performances in blurred-eyes and clear-eyes conditions. In Experiment 2, we cued children's attention to either the mouth or eyes of McGurk stimuli or asked them to view the McGurk stimuli freely. We found that both blurring the speaker's eyes and cuing to the speaker's mouth increased mouth-looking time and increased audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC. In addition, we found that blurring the speaker's eyes and cuing to the speaker's mouth also increased mouth-looking time in NAC, but neither blurring the speaker's eyes nor cuing to the speaker's mouth increased their audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task. Our findings suggest that audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC could be increased by increasing their attention to the mouth. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of relations between face attention and audiovisual speech integration, and provide insights for the development of professional supports to increase audiovisual speech integration in AC. HIGHLIGHTS: The present study examined whether audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC could be increased by increasing their attention to the speaker's mouth. Blurring the speaker's eyes increased mouth-looking time and audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC. Cuing to the speaker's mouth also increased mouth-looking time and audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC. Audiovisual speech integration in the McGurk task in AC could be increased by increasing their attention to the speaker's mouth.

Keywords: McGurk effect; attention to mouth; audiovisual speech integration; autism; eye movements.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Autistic Disorder*
Child
Child, Preschool
Eye Movements
Humans
Mouth
Speech
Speech Perception*
Visual Perception