Does decreased visual attention to faces underlie difficulties interpreting eye gaze cues in autism?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Shifts in eye gaze communicate social information that allows people to respond to another's behavior, interpret motivations driving behavior, and anticipate subsequent behavior. Understanding the social communicative nature of gaze shifts requires the ability to link eye movements and mental state information about objects in the world. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by atypical sensitivity to eye gaze cues, which impacts social communication and relationships. We evaluated whether reduced visual attention to faces explains this difficulty in ASD.

Methods

We employed eye-tracking technology to measure visual attention to faces and gazed-at objects in a 4-alternative forced choice paradigm in adolescents with ASD and typically developing (TD) adol

SUBMITTER: Griffin JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7374971 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature