Sensorimotor Behavior in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Unaffected Biological Parents.
Quick eye-jerk errors may flag autism risk in both the child and the unaffected parent.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tracked eye and hand movements in the families. Each family had one child with autism and both birth parents.
They split parents into two groups: those with broader autism traits (BAP+) and those without (BAP-).
Tiny cameras and motion sensors measured how fast and how steady each person moved during simple games.
What they found
Fast eye jumps were off-beat only in BAP- families. Slow hand moves were shaky in BAP+ kids and in BAP- parents.
The two motor glitches showed up in different family lines, hinting at separate genetic tracks.
How this fits with other research
Hatton et al. (2004) showed autism can be spotted by age 2. K et al. now add a possible early marker: rapid eye wobble that parents can also show.
Gastgeb et al. (2009) found autistic people struggle to see the “average” face. Both papers point to quirky visual processing, but K et al. link the quirks to inherited motor timing.
Chen et al. (2019) saw Chinese preschoolers with autism read characters faster. That strength looks opposite to the rapid-eye deficit here. The difference is domain: one is fast naming, the other is fast aiming. Together they map an uneven profile—some swift skills, some swift glitches.
Why it matters
You can add a 30-second eye-tracking game to your intake. If Mom or Dad also shows jerky fast eye moves, the child’s autism risk feels more genetic than environmental. This can guide referral for earlier screening and help you explain to families why little movements matter.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Sensorimotor impairments are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and evident in unaffected first-degree relatives, suggesting that they may serve as endophenotypes associated with inherited autism likelihood. We tested the familiality of sensorimotor impairments in autism across multiple motor behaviors and effector systems and in relation to parental broader autism phenotypic (BAP) characteristics. Fifty-seven autistic individuals (probands), 109 parents, and 89 neurotypical control participants completed tests of manual motor and oculomotor control. Sensorimotor tests varied in their involvement of rapid, feedforward control and sustained, sensory feedback control processes. Subgroup analyses compared families with at least one parent showing BAP traits (BAP+) and those in which neither parent showed BAP traits (BAP-). Results show that probands with BAP- parents (BAP- probands) showed atypical control of rapid oculomotor behaviors, while BAP+ probands showed impairments of sustained manual motor and oculomotor behaviors compared to controls. BAP- parents showed impaired rapid oculomotor and sustained manual motor abilities relative to BAP+ parents and controls. Rapid oculomotor behaviors were highly intercorrelated among probands and their biological parents. These findings indicate that rapid oculomotor behaviors are selectively impacted in BAP- probands and their parents and may reflect a familial likelihood for autism independent of parental autistic traits. In contrast, sustained sensorimotor behaviors were affected in BAP+ probands and BAP- parents, suggesting separate familial pathways associated with autism. Finally, atypical saccade dynamics may serve as strong endophenotypes for autism. These findings provide new evidence that rapid and sustained sensorimotor alterations represent strong but separate familial pathways of inherited likelihood for autism.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2025 · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12499