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Gaze patterns have been proposed as a potential biomarker for autism. This study aims to conduct an exploratory analysis of the eye-tracking data collected during a virtual reality-based intervention for social cognition in autistic children. Specifically, we evaluated the variations in social orientation toward social stimuli, the association of gaze patterns with autistic traits, theory of mind (ToM) and task performance, and the mediating effect of attentional mechanisms on the relationship between social cognition performance and autism symptomatology. Our findings identified an increase in social orientation time toward social stimuli, but eye-tracking measures did not significantly predict autism symptom severity or ToM ability. The mediation analysis also failed to find a significant mediating effect of gaze patterns on the relationship between task performance and autism severity. This study points to VR as a promising tool for improving social orienting in autistic children, although there is a need to further investigate the potential of eye-tracking measures as a behavioral marker for predicting social cognition performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/21522715261439451","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]],"date-time":"2026-04-11T12:12:23Z","timestamp":1775909543000},"page":"328-336","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["An Exploratory Analysis of Eye-Tracking During a Virtual Reality Social Cognition Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5995-7769","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sara","family":"G\u00e1mez Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Psychologist Hospital Universitari Mutua Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain."},{"name":"Facultat de Psicologia, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gary","family":"Lovat\u00f3n Romero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Psychologist Hospital Universitari Mutua Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mariano","family":"Alca\u00f1iz Raya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Immersive Neurotechnologies (LabLENI) \u2013 Institute Human-Tech, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia, Spain."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amaia","family":"Herv\u00e1s Z\u00fa\u00f1iga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit, Hospital Universitari M\u00fatua de Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain."},{"name":"Institut Global d\u2019Atenci\u00f3 Integral del Neurodesenvolupament (IGAIN), Barcelona, Spain."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_5_2_1","first-page":"135","article-title":"Biomarkers in autism spectrum disorder: Challenges, advances, and the need for biomarkers of relevance to public health","volume":"16","author":"Klin A","year":"2018","unstructured":"1.Klin A. 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