Correlação entre habilidades executivas e rastreamento ocular em crianças e jovens com transtorno invasivo do desenvolvimento

• Autor(a) principal: Orsati, Fernanda Tebexreni
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações do Mackenzie
• Texto Completo: http://dspace.mackenzie.br/handle/10899/22524
• topic: autismo; transtorno invasivo do desenvolvimento; avaliação neuropsicológica; movimento ocular; autism; pervasive developmental disorder; neuropsychological assessment; eye tracking; CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::PSICOLOGIA

Autism is part of a spectrum of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). It is characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication and behavior. The diagnosis is based on clinical assessment and behavior observation. New methods have been developed and studied for more precise diagnosis. Among these methods are PET scan, histological, neuropsychological and eye movements markers. Combining some of these methods, such as the neuropsychological assessment of executive functions and eye movement, correlations can establish with neurobiological bases and this way contribute to more precise interventions. The objective is to assess executive functions and correlate them to eye movements abnormalities in PDD participants. METHOD: 10 PDD children and adolescents, mean age 11,9 (SD=3,22)matched with 10 children and adolescents with typical development. The WISC III was used to assess intelligence, Trail Making, Rey Complex Figure and Hanoi Tower were used to assesse the executive functions. The eye movements parameters were assessed with Predictive Saccade Task (SP), Anti-Saccade (AS), Pursuit Eye Movement, and Face Tracking. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between General IQ, Executive IQ, part B of Trail Making Test, memory drawing after 3 and 30 minutes in the Complex Figure Test and the Hanoi Tower. Differences between groups were found in the eye tracking tasks: accuracy and latency in the SP Task; errors followed by correct saccades in the AS Task; numbers of pursuit eye movements and number of fixations on the eye region in faces with eye present or absent in the Face Tracking Task. Significant correlations were also found between measures of IQ, executive functions and eye tracking. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS: A profile of neuropsychological deficits correlated to eye tracking patterns has been found. This profile is characterized by: difficulties on voluntary attention regulation, response inhibition, planning, response initiation and cognitive flexibility; and preserved viso-construction ability. The executive function impairments reflect on the social behavior regulation. The description of the executive profile can contribute to more efficient interventions.