December 17, 2024, 2:54 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
One of the best-known characteristics of autism is reduced social awareness. Even as children, those affected stand out because they seem to take less notice of their surroundings. But what exactly distinguishes the way they look at others from the way children with normal neurological development do? Researchers may have gained valuable insights into this in a recent study.
Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), represents a range of complex neurodevelopmental conditions that can manifest in diverse ways. Among other things, those affected can stand out due to repetitive patterns of behavior. It is also typical for people with autism to have problems establishing or maintaining personal relationships. These challenges in interpersonal interactions begin with how those affected make eye contact. However, the underlying causes of this peculiarity and its development have been largely unknown until now. A study has now investigated this.1 This study has shed light on valuable insights regarding the eye movements of children with autism.
Overview
Autism Apparently Recognizable by Eye Movements
The primary objective of the study was to comprehend the visual response of children with autism to faces in comparison to that of neurotypical children. The research team wanted to find out whether differences in specific eye movements could be identified. The results of their study suggest that they lack “visual sensitivity.” In other words, children affected by autism pay less attention to facial information, which is generally considered important. Let’s start from the beginning.
Details of the Study
The study was conducted under the direction of Jason W. Griffin, a renowned psychology researcher in the field of autism spectrum disorders. The team used a special mathematical model to analyze the eye movements of 399 children between the ages of 6 and 11. Of these, 280 were diagnosed with autism, while 119 of the young test subjects showed no signs of neurodevelopmental disorders. In a total of three tests – once at the beginning of the study, then after six weeks, and a final time after 24 weeks – the children were asked to look at pictures of common social situations. Their eye movements were meticulously recorded.
The researchers classified the observed eye movements into two distinct patterns: focused and exploratory. The focused pattern was characterized by the fact that the children focused their eyes specifically on parts of faces, for example, specifically on the mouth. Their gaze also remained fixed on the detail in question. The exploratory pattern, on the other hand, was characterized by a broader view of faces. Here, no individual features were fixated, and the gaze increasingly wandered to other objects in the background.
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Results and Their Significance
Griffin and his team observed the exploratory pattern significantly more frequently in children with autism than with normal neurological development. These striking differences were evident in all three tests carried out over the entire study period. As the researchers explained, the observed reduced ability to (quickly) fixate faces is associated with various behavioral abnormalities that are typical of autism. For instance, it is well-documented that individuals with autism frequently struggle with interpreting facial expressions, thereby impacting their understanding of social and emotional cues.
In practice, the findings could bring various advantages for both the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism. Understanding the unique characteristics of eye movements in affected individuals could facilitate swifter identification of the disorder. It could also serve as a basis for further research.