Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 3;10(1):14602. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-71547-0.
Atypical eye contact in communication is a common characteristic in autism spectrum disorders. Autistic traits vary along a continuum extending into the neurotypical population. The relation between autistic traits and brain mechanisms underlying spontaneous eye contact during verbal communication remains unexplored. Here, we used simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging and eye tracking to investigate this relation in neurotypical people within a naturalistic verbal context. Using multiple regression analyses, we found that brain response in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and its connectivity with the fusiform face area (FFA) during eye contact with a speaker predicted the level of autistic traits measured by Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ). Further analyses for different AQ subclusters revealed that these two predictors were negatively associated with attention to detail. The relation between FFA-pSTS connectivity and the attention to detail ability was mediated by individuals' looking preferences for speaker's eyes. This study identified the role of an individual eye contact pattern in the relation between brain mechanisms underlying natural eye contact during verbal communication and autistic traits in neurotypical people. The findings may help to increase our understanding of the mechanisms of atypical eye contact behavior during natural communication.
在交流中，非典型的眼神接触是自闭症谱系障碍的一个常见特征。自闭症特征沿着延伸到神经典型人群的连续体变化。自闭症特征与言语交流中自发性眼神接触的大脑机制之间的关系尚未得到探索。在这里，我们使用同步功能磁共振成像和眼动追踪技术，在自然的言语环境中研究了神经典型个体中这种关系。使用多元回归分析，我们发现，在与说话者进行眼神接触时，后上颞叶回（pSTS）的大脑反应及其与梭状回面孔区（FFA）的连接，预测了自闭症特质量表（AQ）测量的自闭症特征水平。对不同 AQ 亚群的进一步分析表明，这两个预测因子与对细节的关注呈负相关。FFA-pSTS 连接与关注细节能力之间的关系，受到个体对说话者眼睛注视偏好的中介。这项研究确定了个体眼神接触模式在言语交流中自然眼神接触的大脑机制与神经典型个体自闭症特征之间的关系中的作用。这些发现可能有助于我们增加对自然交流中异常眼神接触行为的机制的理解。
