Forgeot d'Arc Baudouin, Delorme Richard, Zalla Tiziana, Lefebvre Aline, Amsellem Frédérique, Moukawane Sanaa, Letellier Laurence, Leboyer Marion, Mouren Marie-Christine, Ramus Franck
PSL Research University, France
Hôpital Robert-Debré, France.
Autism. 2017 Jan;21(1):100-107. doi: 10.1177/1362361316630880. Epub 2016 Apr 30.
Detecting where our partners direct their gaze is an important aspect of social interaction. An atypical gaze processing has been reported in autism. However, it remains controversial whether children and adults with autism spectrum disorder interpret indirect gaze direction with typical accuracy. This study investigated whether the detection of gaze direction toward an object is less accurate in autism spectrum disorder. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (n = 33) and intelligence quotients-matched and age-matched controls (n = 38) were asked to watch a series of synthetic faces looking at objects, and decide which of two objects was looked at. The angle formed by the two possible targets and the face varied following an adaptive procedure, in order to determine individual thresholds. We found that gaze direction detection was less accurate in autism spectrum disorder than in control participants. Our results suggest that the precision of gaze following may be one of the altered processes underlying social interaction difficulties in autism spectrum disorder.
察觉我们的伙伴将目光投向何处是社交互动的一个重要方面。已有报道称自闭症患者存在非典型的目光处理方式。然而，自闭症谱系障碍的儿童和成人是否能以正常的准确性解读间接目光方向仍存在争议。本研究调查了自闭症谱系障碍患者对指向物体的目光方向的检测是否准确性较低。研究要求自闭症谱系障碍个体（n = 33）以及智商匹配和年龄匹配的对照组（n = 38）观看一系列看向物体的合成面孔，并判断两张物体图片中哪一个是面孔所看向的。两个可能目标与面孔形成的角度按照自适应程序变化，以确定个体阈值。我们发现，自闭症谱系障碍患者的目光方向检测准确性低于对照组参与者。我们的结果表明，目光追随的精确性可能是自闭症谱系障碍社交互动困难背后发生改变的过程之一。
