Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Timely and accurate detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is essential for early intervention and improved patient outcomes. This study aims to harness the power of machine learning (ML) techniques to improve ASD detection by incorporating temporal eye-tracking data. We developed a novel ML model to leverage eye scan paths, sequences of distances of eye movement, and a sequence of fixation durations, enhancing the temporal aspect of the analysis for more effective ASD identification. METHODS: We utilized a dataset of eye-tracking data without augmentation to train our ML model, which consists of a CNN-GRU-ANN architecture. The model was trained using gaze maps, the sequences of distances between eye fixations, and durations of fixations and saccades. Additionally, we employed a validation dataset to assess the model's performance and compare it with other works. RESULTS: Our ML model demonstrated superior performance in ASD detection compared to the VGG-16 model. By incorporating temporal information from eye-tracking data, our model achieved higher accuracy, precision, and recall. The novel addition of sequence-based features allowed our model to effectively distinguish between ASD and typically developing individuals, achieving an impressive precision value of 93.10% on the validation dataset. CONCLUSION: This study presents an ML-based approach to ASD detection by utilizing machine learning techniques and incorporating temporal eye-tracking data. Our findings highlight the potential of temporal analysis for improved ASD detection and provide a promising direction for further advancements in the field of eye-tracking-based diagnosis and intervention for neurodevelopmental disorders.