Social Referencing Gaze Behavior During a Videogame Task: Eye Tracking Evidence from Children With and Without ASD.

Researchers used eye-tracking while kids with and without autism played a video game. They wanted to see if the groups looked at different parts of the screen.

No extra teaching or rewards were given. The game itself was the only task.

Gaze maps were almost identical for both groups. Kids with autism looked at the same game spots just as long as typical kids.

Only one tiny area showed a possible difference. Everything else matched.

Hou et al. (2024) looked at younger children watching real-life clips. They found kids with autism shifted their eyes more and looked less at faces. The 2017 video-game null result may only hold for older kids or game contexts.

Harrop et al. (2018) adds sex to the story. ASD girls kept typical face-looking, while ASD boys did not. If the 2017 sample had more girls, that could hide a male-only deficit.

Mount et al. (2011) and Fletcher-Watson et al. (2008) also found no group difference in simple gaze-cue tasks. The 2017 study repeats this null pattern, but moves it into a fun, fast video game.

If you run social-skills lessons inside video games or apps, you can relax. Attention to the screen is likely equal. Still, check face-looking outside games, especially with boys or younger kids, because other studies show gaps there. Use games for teaching rules, but move to real faces for joint-attention goals.