Social COgnition Screening

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.

NCT Number	NCT07377227
Lead Sponsor	Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens
Conditions	Eye-tracking, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Social Cognition, Diagnosis
Enrollment	128 participants
Start Date	2026-02
Primary Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-02-06