Autistic Children Quickly Orient Away from Both Eyes and Mouths During Face Observation

Studies have supported two different hypotheses of reduced eye gaze in people with ASD; gaze avoidance and gaze indifference, while less is known about the role of anxiety. We tested these hypotheses using an eye-tracking paradigm that cued the eyes or mouth of emotional faces. Autistic children (n ...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jónsdóttir, Lilja Kristín, Neufeld, Janina, Falck-Ytter, Terje, Kleberg, Johan Lundin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2022
Materias:
Brief Communication
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9889486/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35138557
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05378-x
Descripción
Sumario:Studies have supported two different hypotheses of reduced eye gaze in people with ASD; gaze avoidance and gaze indifference, while less is known about the role of anxiety. We tested these hypotheses using an eye-tracking paradigm that cued the eyes or mouth of emotional faces. Autistic children (n = 12, mean age 7 years) looked faster away from both eyes and mouths than controls (n = 22). This effect was not explained by anxiety symptoms. No difference was found in latency towards either area. These results indicate that attentional avoidance of autistic children is not specific to eyes, and that they do not show attentional indifference to eyes compared to controls. Atypicalities in visual scanning in ASD are possibly unrelated to specific facial areas. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10803-021-05378-x.

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