Health: Eye-tracking app can diagnose children with autism from 16 months old

An app that can diagnose autism in children as young as 16 months old by tracking eye movement has been developed by researchers from the United States. A tell-tale sign of autism in youngsters is the tendency to focus attention more on objects than people -- a habit which can be revealed by analysing gaze patterns. The team's app uses the camera on iPads/iPhones, combined with machine learning, to track and analyse such eye movements while children watch special videos. In one, for example, a man who blows bubbles occupies the left side of the screen, while the other side features his bottle of bubble mixture and a toy on a shelf. While eye-tracking has been used to diagnose autism before, this is the first time it has been done without special hardware and an expert to interpret gaze patterns.