Visual orienting to eye gaze in individuals with high and low levels of autistic traits

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders have a tendency to avoid eye contact and show a lack of voluntary and spontaneous gaze following behaviour. Research using gaze cueing paradigms has suggested that although individuals with autism can and do reflexively orient to gaze cues, this is done using atypical strategies. Consistent with the notion that autism is a spectrum disorder on a broad continuum which extends to the typically developing population, this study aimed to investigate whether similar atypical strategies for gaze cueing tasks found in autism would be apparent in typical individuals with high levels of autistic traits. To explore this possibility, typically developing individuals with high and low levels of autistic traits were compared on their performance of pro-saccade and anti-saccade cueing tasks with gaze and arrow distracters. Eye movements to these tasks were recorded. Results indicated no differences in orienting between the high and low group. This suggests that the atypical cueing effects found in those with autism do not extend to the typical population as a function of autistic trait. Furthermore, error rates on the anti-saccade task suggest a speed accuracy trade off specific to gaze cues. This supports the notion that gaze modulates attention in a uniquely social way.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

mres

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters-pg

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Strathclyde

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Little, Gillian

DOI

10.48730/cqm5-r438

Identifier

T13185

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:strathclyde:0r9673780