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. 2015 Jan-Feb;86(1):37-47.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.12273. Epub 2014 Jul 31.

Eye contact modulates cognitive processing differently in children with autism

Terje Falck-Ytter  1 , Christoffer Carlström, Martin Johansson
Affiliations

Eye contact modulates cognitive processing differently in children with autism

Terje Falck-Ytter et al. Child Dev. 2015 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

In humans, effortful cognitive processing frequently takes place during social interaction, with eye contact being an important component. This study shows that the effect of eye contact on memory for nonsocial information is different in children with typical development than in children with autism, a disorder of social communication. Direct gaze facilitated memory performance in children with typical development (n = 25, 6 years old), but no such facilitation was seen in the clinical group (n = 10, 6 years old). Eye tracking conducted during the cognitive test revealed strikingly similar patterns of eye movements, indicating that the results cannot be explained by differences in overt attention. Collectively, these findings have theoretical significance and practical implications for testing practices in children.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Stimuli and results. (a) On each trial of the digit-span test, the experimenter looked either at the child (direct gaze trials, top) or downward to the test protocol (averted gaze trials, bottom; note that camera angle deviates slightly from child's point of view). (b) The experimenter's gaze direction affected cognitive performance differently in the two groups. In children with typical development (TD), digit-span performance was worse in the averted gaze condition than the direct gaze condition. The children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed equally well in the two conditions. The two groups differed only in the averted gaze condition. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. *p < .05. **p < .01.
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