ERIC Number: EJ761906
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 13
Abstractor: Author
Reference Count: 24
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
Face Processing in Children with Autism: Effects of Stimulus Contents and Type
Speer, Leslie L.; Cook, Anne E.; McMahon, William M.; Clark, Elaine
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v11 n3 p265-277 2007
Recent eye tracking studies of face processing have produced differing accounts of how and whether children with autism differ from their typically developing peers. The two groups' gaze patterns appear to differ for dynamic videos of social scenes, but not for static photos of isolated individuals. The present study replicated and extended previous research by comparing the gaze patterns of individuals with and without autism for four types of stimuli: social dynamic, social static, isolated dynamic, and isolated static. Participants with autism differed from their typically developing peers only for social-dynamic stimuli; fixation durations were decreased for eye regions and increased for body regions. Further, these fixation durations predicted scores on a measure of social responsiveness. These findings reconcile differences in previous reports by identifying the specific social and dynamic task components associated with autism-related face processing impairments. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Visual Stimuli, Human Body, Autism, Visual Perception, Photography, Videotape Recordings, Eye Movements, Social Influences, Comparative Analysis, Predictor Variables, Interpersonal Competence
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: N/A

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