## 5 Discussion  
In this study, we wanted to test the hypothesis whether the basic ability to disengage visual attention could be associated with the ability to initiate and respond to JA, a more complex dimension of social functioning. Our hypothesis was supported by our findings, as a slower disengagement of attention was correlated with a lower frequency of JA behaviors at 12 months, both in JJA (declarative pointing) and in RJA (responding to distal pointing). Moreover, we found that a slower disengagement of attention at 12 months correlates with a higher impairment of JJA abilities at 24, measured with item B13 of the ADOS-2 Toddler Module, and higher ADOS-2 total scores and ADOS-2 social affect scores. These findings suggested that the association between disengagement of attention and JA, as well as the correlation between disengagement of attention and socio-communicative development, are both concurrent and predictive. Finally, we also detected that a reduced frequency of alternating gaze at 12 months was associated with lower cognitive development at 24 months. These findings are consistent with other studies showing that lower-level attentional processes might interfere with the development of a higher-level cognitive and behavioral domain [23, 53, 54]. Assuming a domain-relevant theoretical model approach, the infant brain is equipped with some basic-level orientations, non-specific but more relevant to the processing of certain class of stimuli, with domain specificity emerging over time across interactions with the environment [55]. According to this view, firstly applied to this topic by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [56], the ability to disengage visual attention might play a key role in the orienting network, which is implied in the goal-directed selection of information from the environment. Of note, the orienting network is not strictly specific for the development of JA but is needed to self-regulate arousal and affect, and it is supposed to be important for appropriate social interactions, like those occurring during a JA act [57]. Consistently with domain-general theories of autism [19, 58, 59, 60], an early impairment in the disengagement \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline
**12-Month Predictors** & **ASD and NO-ASD** & **ADOS-2 JA (Item b13)** & **ADOS-2 SA** & **ADOS-2 RRB** & **ADOS-2 Total** & **GMDS-ER DQ** \\ \hline Disengagement & \(p\) = 0.015 * & F = 5.037 & F = 4.187 & & F = 4.237, & F = 5.870 \\ latency (ms) & B = 1.003 & \(\beta\) = 0.397 & \(\beta\) = 0.345 & ns & \(\beta\) = 0.347 & \(\beta\) = \(-\)0.399 \\  & & \(p\) = 0.033 * & \(p\) = 0.049 * & & \(p\) = 0.048 * & \(p\) = 0.021 * \\ \hline AG-IJA & \(p\) = 0.019 * & & & & & F = 5.525, \\ B = \(-\)0.746 & ns & ns & ns & ns & \(\beta\) = 0.394, \\  & & & & & & \(p\) = 0.026 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Abbreviations: ms, milliseconds; ns, not significant. * \(p\) < 0.05.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: The 12-month predictors of clinical outcome at 24 months. A binary logistic regression was used to test if disengagement latency and alternating gaze-initiation of joint attention (AG-IJA) at 12 months could correlate with clinical outcome at 24 months (ASD/NO-ASD). A linear regression was used to test if disengagement latency and AG-IJA could correlate with the ADOS-2 scores of joint attention (JA), social affect (SA), repetitive restricted behavior (RRB), total score and developmental quotient (DQ) on the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scale (GMDS-ER) at 24 months. of visual attention might interfere with the efficiency of the orienting system, which in turn might reduce the exposure to a certain class of stimuli (like the social ones) that are necessary for the specialization of the social brain areas and for the development of social abilities, such as joint attention.