Looking at images with human figures: comparison between autistic and normal children.
Autistic kids look at cartoon people the same length of time as typical kids, so skip picture-based social-attention probes and teach skills during real interaction.
01Research in Context
What this study did
van der Geest et al. (2002) tracked where kids looked while they viewed cartoon pictures. Some kids had autism. Some were typical peers.
The team used an eye-tracking camera. They wanted to know if autistic kids avoided looking at people in the pictures.
What they found
Both groups looked at human figures the same amount. They also looked at neutral objects the same amount.
The data showed no sign of a social-looking deficit while kids viewed still images.
How this fits with other research
Bar-Haim et al. (2006) saw the same null result when they measured eye vs mouth fixations in high-functioning boys.
Casey et al. (2009) later added a Williams-syndrome group and still found no people-looking gap in autism, but they did when faces were shown in movies.
Xiao-Farley et al. (2022) seems to disagree: preschoolers with autism looked less at eyes. The clash fades when you note the 2022 kids were younger and the task pulled eye-region data, not whole figures.
Why it matters
If a child with autism stares at a picture of a person, do not assume social avoidance. Save your social-skills teaching for live interaction, not flashcard drills. When you need to assess eye contact, use dynamic or interactive scenes, not static photos, and keep the child’s age in mind.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Based on clinical observations of abnormal gaze behavior of autistic children, it has been suggested that autistic children have a problem in processing social information. Several studies on eye movements have indeed found indications that children with autism show particularly abnormal gaze behavior in relation to social stimuli. However, the methodology used in such investigations did not allow for precise gaze analysis. In the present study, the looking behavior of autistic children toward cartoon-like scenes that included a human figure was measured quantitatively using an infrared eye-tracking device. Fixation behavior of autistic children was similar to that of their age- and IQ-matched normal peers. These results do not support the notion that autistic children have a specific problem in processing socially loaded visual stimuli. Also, there is no indication for an abnormality in gaze behavior in relation to neutral objects. It is suggested that the often-reported abnormal use of gaze in everyday life is not related to the nature of the visual stimuli but that other factors, like social interaction, may play a decisive role.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2002 · doi:10.1023/a:1014832420206