No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm.

ABSTRACT:

Background

With the overarching objective to gain better insights into social attention in autistic adults, the present study addresses three outstanding issues about face processing in autism. First, do autistic adults display a preference for mouths over eyes; second, do they avoid direct gaze; third, is atypical visual exploration of faces in autism mediated by gender, social anxiety or alexithymia?

Methods

We used a novel reinforced preferential looking paradigm with a group of autistic adults (n = 43, 23 women) pairwise matched on age with neurotypical participants (n = 43, 21 women). Participants watched 28 different pairs of 5 s video recordings of a speaking person: the two videos, simultaneously displayed on the screen, were identical except that gaze was directed a

SUBMITTER: Clin E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7672906 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature