TY - JOUR
T1 - Reduced gaze aftereffects are related to difficulties categorising gaze direction in children with autism
AU - Pellicano, Elizabeth
AU - Rhodes, Gillian
AU - Calder, Andrew J.
PY - 2013/7
Y1 - 2013/7
N2 - Perceptual mechanisms are generally flexible or "adaptive", as evidenced by perceptual aftereffects: distortions that arise following exposure to a stimulus. We examined whether adaptive mechanisms for coding gaze direction are atypical in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition. Twenty-four typical children and 24 children with autism, of similar age and ability, were administered a developmentally sensitive eye-gaze adaptation task. In the pre-adaptation phase, children judged whether target faces showing subtle deviations in eye-gaze direction were looking leftwards, rightwards or straight-ahead. Next, children were adapted to faces gazing in one consistent direction (25° leftwards/rightwards) before categorising the direction of the target faces again. Children with autism showed difficulties in judging whether subtle deviations in gaze were directed to the left, right or straight-ahead relative to typical children. Although adaptation to leftward or rightward gaze resulted in reduced sensitivity to gaze on the adapted side for both groups, the aftereffect was significantly reduced in children with autism. Furthermore, the magnitude of children's gaze aftereffects was positively related to their ability to categorise gaze direction. These results show that the mechanisms coding gaze are less flexible in autism and offer a potential new explanation for these children's difficulties discriminating subtle deviations in gaze direction.
AB - Perceptual mechanisms are generally flexible or "adaptive", as evidenced by perceptual aftereffects: distortions that arise following exposure to a stimulus. We examined whether adaptive mechanisms for coding gaze direction are atypical in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition. Twenty-four typical children and 24 children with autism, of similar age and ability, were administered a developmentally sensitive eye-gaze adaptation task. In the pre-adaptation phase, children judged whether target faces showing subtle deviations in eye-gaze direction were looking leftwards, rightwards or straight-ahead. Next, children were adapted to faces gazing in one consistent direction (25° leftwards/rightwards) before categorising the direction of the target faces again. Children with autism showed difficulties in judging whether subtle deviations in gaze were directed to the left, right or straight-ahead relative to typical children. Although adaptation to leftward or rightward gaze resulted in reduced sensitivity to gaze on the adapted side for both groups, the aftereffect was significantly reduced in children with autism. Furthermore, the magnitude of children's gaze aftereffects was positively related to their ability to categorise gaze direction. These results show that the mechanisms coding gaze are less flexible in autism and offer a potential new explanation for these children's difficulties discriminating subtle deviations in gaze direction.
KW - adaptation
KW - aftereffect
KW - autism
KW - gaze
KW - vision
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879145322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.03.021
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.03.021
M3 - Article
C2 - 23583965
AN - SCOPUS:84879145322
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 51
SP - 1504
EP - 1509
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
IS - 8
ER -