Social COgnition Screening (ECoS-A)

Evaluation of Social Cognition: A New Screening Approach for Autism

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Diagnosis; Social Cognition; Eye-tracking
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: eye-tracking; Other: cognitive assessments

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 128
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Federica Cilia, MD; Phone Number: 33+3 22 66 75 40; Email: Cilia.Federica-ext@chu-amiens.fr

Study Locations

• France
  • Amiens, France, 80000
    • Amiens Hospital
    • Contact: Federica Cilia, MD; Phone Number: 33+3 22 66 75 40; Email: Cilia.Federica-ext@chu-amiens.fr
    • Sub-Investigator: Sébastien Garny De La Rivière, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• ASD Group:
• Boys or girls diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (based on clinical tools and observations)
• Aged between 4 and 10 years old
• Affiliation with a social security scheme
• Informed consent of those with parental authority
• DT Group:
• Boys or girls
• Aged between 4 and 10
• Attending school in the Hauts-de-France region
• Affiliation with a social security scheme
• Consent of those with parental authority

Exclusion Criteria:

• For ASD: Uncorrected visual or auditory impairments.
• For DT: Intellectual disability, neurological or genetic disorders, autistic traits reported by teachers. The discrepancy between actual age and abilities calculated on the basis of standardised test scores

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Autism Spectrum Disorder	Other: eye-tracking; eye-tracking; Other: cognitive assessments; cognitive assessments
Active Comparator: typically developing peers; typically developing (TD) peers	Other: eye-tracking; eye-tracking; Other: cognitive assessments; cognitive assessments

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
differences in visual exploration patterns between both groups	Differences in visual exploration patterns between both groups Visual exploration patterns are determined with TOM Test Battery, PPVT-5, Raven's 2 and FEE tests	2 years
Classification performance of machine learning algorithms in distinguishing ASD from TD	Classification performance of machine learning algorithms in distinguishing ASD from TD	2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Correlations between eye-tracking measures and cognitive scores	Eye-tracking patterns are determined with TOM Test Battery, PPVT-5, Raven's 2 and FEE tests	2 years
Developmental trajectory analysis in TD children		2 years
Identification of cognitive subgroups within ASD group		2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): February 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 17, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): January 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 4, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Social Cognition; Eye-tracking
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: PI2025_843_0181

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No