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Self-Monitoring of Gaze in High Functioning Autism

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Abstract

Atypical visual behaviour has been recently proposed to account for much of social misunderstanding in autism. Using an eye-tracking system and a gaze-contingent lens display, the present study explores self-monitoring of eye motion in two conditions: free visual exploration and guided exploration via blurring the visual field except for the focal area of vision. During these conditions, thirteen students with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (HFASD) and fourteen typical individuals were presented naturalistic and interactive social stimuli using virtual reality. Fixation data showed a weaker modulation of eye movements according to the conditions in the HFASD group, thus suggesting impairments in self-monitoring of gaze. Moreover, the gaze-contingent lens induced a visual behaviour whereby social understanding scores were correlated with the time spent gazing at faces. The device could be useful for treating gaze monitoring deficiencies in HFASD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from La Fondation de France and La Fondation Adrienne et Pierre Sommer (Project #2007 005874). We are particularly thoughtful of Noëlle Carbonell, one of the project’s initiator, who passed away before the project was completed. We are very thankful to the staff and students of “La Maison pour les Personnes Autistes” in Chartres.

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Correspondence to Ouriel Grynszpan.

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Grynszpan, O., Nadel, J., Martin, JC. et al. Self-Monitoring of Gaze in High Functioning Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 1642–1650 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1404-9

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