Association between joint attention and autism traits in young adults: A gaze-contingent eye-tracking study

The Interactive Eye Tracking for Joint Attention (IET-JA), a child-focused battery consisting of video-format gaze-contingent eye-tracking tasks featuring a human communication partner, was developed to address gaps in eye-tracking research on JA in autistic children. Although JA research has often concentrated on younger populations due to its early developmental significance, studies indicate that JA difficulties associated with autism persist into adulthood, highlighting the value of examining these traits later in life. Thus, this study adapted the IET-JA for adolescents and adults (IET-JA-A) by incorporating additional attentional demands to introduce controlled attentional variations and explore whether these interactive eye-tracking measures of JA associate with autism traits in adulthood. A total of 81 young adults (M age = 19.32 years, range = 18-24 years), with a broad range of autism traits, completed the IET-JA-A. Generalized and linear mixed modeling were employed to address the aim. The IET-JA-A measures of responding to joint attention and initiating joint attention to comment/reference (protodeclarative) were associated with autism traits, while the IET-JA-A measures of initiating joint attention to request (protoimperative) were not associated with autism traits. Findings advance our understanding of JA linked with autism traits in adulthood and showcase the feasibility of interactive eye-tracking methodologies in JA research. Limitations and implications for research are discussed.