Ketelaars Mieke P, In't Velt Anne, Mol Audrey, Swaab Hanna, Bodrij Fenne, van Rijn Sophie
Leiden University, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands.
Centrum Autisme Rivierduinen, Sandifortdreef 19, 2333 ZZ Leiden, The Netherlands.
Res Dev Disabil. 2017 May;64:78-86. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2017.03.005. Epub 2017 Apr 1.
Research has suggested a different, less visible, clinical manifestation of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in females. There is, however, limited research into possible underlying mechanisms explaining the female phenotype.
This study investigates social attention in females with ASD.
26 women diagnosed with ASD and 26 typical female controls were shown three video clips containing intense emotions. Social attention was assessed by measuring eye fixation patterns during the video clips. Autism symptoms were assessed using the informant reported Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS).
Results show normal time to first fixation to the face, but lower fixation duration to the face in women with ASD. Analyzing the visual patterns further, there were similar impairments in fixation to mouth, eyes and other facial areas. Relating social attention to autism symptoms revealed several significant correlations within the ASD group.
Women with ASD show abnormalities in social attention and these abnormalities are related to level of autism symptoms. In contrast to other studies which investigate male dominated ASD samples, a hyperfocus to the mouth area could not be found.
研究表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）在女性中存在不同的、不太明显的临床表现。然而，对于解释女性表型的潜在机制的研究有限。
本研究调查患有ASD的女性的社会注意力。
向26名被诊断患有ASD的女性和26名典型女性对照展示三个包含强烈情绪的视频片段。通过测量视频片段期间的眼动注视模式来评估社会注意力。使用信息提供者报告的社会反应量表（SRS）评估自闭症症状。
结果显示，首次注视面部的时间正常，但患有ASD的女性对面部的注视持续时间较短。进一步分析视觉模式，对嘴巴、眼睛和其他面部区域的注视存在类似损伤。将社会注意力与自闭症症状相关联，发现ASD组内存在若干显著相关性。
患有ASD的女性在社会注意力方面表现异常，这些异常与自闭症症状水平相关。与其他研究男性为主的ASD样本的研究不同，未发现对嘴巴区域的过度关注。
