Gaze direction detection in autism spectrum disorder

What is it about?

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often show unusual eye contact and tend to follow gaze less. In this study, we investigated whether the direction of gaze towards an object was perceived less accurately in people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Thirty-three children and adults with ASD, as well as 38 non-autistic children and adults (of a similar age and level of ability) took part in this study. They were asked to watch a series of faces looking at objects, and decide which object (out of two) was being looked at. Crucially, the distance between the two target objects decreased from trial to trial until it was unable for the person to distinguish which object was being looked at. We found that the ASD group were less accurate in detecting the direction of gaze, compared to the non-autistic group. Our results suggest that gaze following may be part of social interaction difficulties in children and adults with ASD.

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Why is it important?

Autism is highly heterogeneous and multiple differences are likely to contribute to the diverse phenotypes. Identifying and objectively measuring basic aspects of the phenotype will help us undersand autism. Detection of gaze direction is of particular importance because it allows understanding what our partners refer to. Our result suggests that an altered precision in the detection of gaze direction is associated with autism, especially in males.

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