Effects of eye gaze directions of facial images on looking behaviour and autonomic responses in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

It has been suggested that atypical eye contact of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) arises from an unusually high level of autonomic activity elicited by another person's gaze. The present study investigated visual fixation duration and autonomic reactivity (heart rate, skin conductance response) simultaneously, while adolescents looked towards photographs of neutral faces, with either direct eye gaze, averted eye gaze or closed eyes. Both cognitively able adolescents with ASD (n = 31, mean age = 16 years, mean IQ = 104) and typically developing (TD) adolescents (n = 34, mean age = 16 years, mean IQ = 108) looked significantly longer towards the eye region of faces with direct eye gaze compared with faces with averted eye gaze or closed eyes. The adolescents with ASD did not show higher levels of autonomic activity than TD adolescents while they were instructed to look at the eye region. This suggests that looking at the eye region of static faces does not particularly trigger high autonomic arousal in adolescents with ASD. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.