Abstract
Because atypical eye contact is one of the most prominent
symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), identifying the
underlying social-cognitive mechanism that accounts for atypical
eye contact is key for understanding the neural etiology of ASD.
Two hypotheses, each associated with a specific neural model, have
been proposed: the gaze aversion account suggests that children
with ASD actively avoid the eyes, whereas the gaze indifference
account suggests that children with ASD are insensitive to the
social cues conveyed by the eyes. To differentiate between these
accounts, eye-tracking measures of visual attention were obtained
from two-year- olds with autism and typically-developing peers
during free-viewing of videos of approaching caregivers. Gaze
patterns were examined in response to both physical priming and
social cuing for eyes fixation. Across all analyses, results failed
to provide evidence of gaze aversion and instead supported the gaze
indifference account. These findings indicate that toddlers with
ASD passively omit eye contact due to a broader insensitivity to
social salience and provide guidance for future neural modeling of
the disorder.
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