High autistic trait individuals do not modulate gaze behaviour in response to social presence but look away more when actively engaged in an interaction.
Elisabeth A H von dem Hagen, Naomi Bright
PMID 27434050WHAT IT FOUND
Typical adults looked less at a video person they thought was live, but adults with high autistic traits did not change looking for this belief.
During a live conversation, high autistic traits were linked to looking away more from the other person.
Key findings
01Participants looked less at the experimenter in the video they believed was live than in the video they believed was pre-recorded.
02Participants with high autistic traits did not change how long they looked at the eyes when they believed the video was live versus pre-recorded.
03During the live conversation, participants with low autistic traits spent more time looking at the experimenter's eyes and mouth than participants with high autistic traits.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The participants were typical adults without an ASD diagnosis, so the results are about autistic traits, not diagnosed autism. The high and low autistic-trait groups were small, which makes the trait comparisons less reliable. Autistic traits were correlated with anxiety and social phobia scores, so the looking patterns may reflect broader anxiety or social discomfort rather than autistic traits alone. The interaction was through a video feed rather than face-to-face, so it may not match real therapy settings. No treatment was tested, so the study does not show what to do clinically.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that therapy should train eye contact in autistic people. The study was in adults without an ASD diagnosis, and it shows a lab pattern, not a treatment effect.