Using mobile eye-tracking to spot early attention differences in babies and toddlers
Atypical Development in Infants and Toddlers: Computational Attentional Signatures through Mobile Eye Tracking
This project uses mobile eye-tracking and computer analysis to find attention patterns in infants and toddlers that may signal autism risk.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Seattle Children's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11237147 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you take part, your child would look at short videos or play while a lightweight, mobile eye tracker records where they look, and researchers will use computer algorithms to turn those recordings into attention patterns. The team aims to make the equipment and software easy to use outside a lab so more families can participate and researchers can collect much larger datasets. They plan to include very young children, including siblings of children with autism, and compare attention over early ages to find reliable signals tied to development. The goal is to build a scalable way to capture attention signatures that could work across diverse homes and communities.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are infants and toddlers (early childhood), including children with developmental concerns and younger siblings of children with autism.
Not a fit: Children who cannot tolerate eye-tracking equipment or whose medical conditions make eye-tracking data unreliable may not benefit or be eligible.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help detect attention differences earlier and make screening and monitoring for autism more accessible and accurate.
How similar studies have performed: Previous lab-based eye-tracking work has shown promise as an autism biomarker, but mobile, home-friendly approaches are newer and less tested.
Where this research is happening
Seattle, United States
- Seattle Children's Hospital — Seattle, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Shic, Frederick — Seattle Children's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Shic, Frederick
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.