Social development is an important part of early development. By 6 weeks after birth the majority of infants will fixate preferentially on the face of caregivers; follow faces with their gaze and have displayed a social smile. Interruption of these early signs of social development can be important indicators of altered developmental trajectory. Such alterations can be seen in any conditions which have affected brain development and can be the first signs of altered development, which can be picked up by experienced paediatricians.
Current methods of assessment of young children is difficult and cognitive assessment is unreliable prior to school, except in those most severely affected. Even mild deficits in cognitive development can have far-reaching consequences for the academic and emotional outcome of the child. Early gaze behaviour can also be specifically altered in children who progress to autism spectrum disorder.
We seek to investigate if artificial intelligence could be applied to the measurement of gaze fixation in early infancy in healthy infants with normal development. Research has recently shown that eye fixation correlates specifically with the cognitive and language development of young children, measured using eye tracking technology at 18 of age. We wish to expand this work by looking at earlier measurements of gaze fixation, using smart glasses and video recordings of infant interactions.
The first step will be to assess the feasibility of gaze recordings using smart glasses in healthy term infants where parents and caregivers have no developmental concerns.
The aim of this study is to examine whether short recordings of infant/adult interaction can be used to grade early gaze behaviour. Specifically, we will look at inter-observer reliability in grading of recorded gaze behaviour. Infants will be scored by two expert reviewers on gaze fixation, gaze following, object fixation, response to voice and social smile.
