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Cited by 209Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchFace Recognition and PerceptionAction Observation and Synchronization

Analysis of face gaze in autism using “bubbles”

Spezio, Michael L., Adolphs, Ralph, Hurley, Robert S.E., Piven, Joseph·2007·Neuropsychologia
DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.04.027
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Abstract

One of the components of abnormal social functioning in autism is an impaired ability to direct eye gaze onto other people's faces in social situations. Here, we investigated the relationship between gaze onto the eye and mouth regions of faces, and the visual information that was present within those regions. We used the "Bubbles" method to vary the facial information available on any given trial by revealing only small parts of the face, and measured the eye movements made as participants viewed these stimuli. Compared to ten IQ- and age-matched healthy controls, eight participants with autism showed less fixation specificity to the eyes and mouth, a greater tendency to saccade away from the eyes when information was present in those regions, and abnormal directionality of saccades. The findings provide novel detail to the abnormal way in which people with autism look at faces, an impairment that likely influences all subsequent face processing.

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  • Static-face eye-tracking studies usually reported reduced looking at the eyes, while mouth looking was more variable.

    “Typically, results indicated less fixation time on the eyes region of the face 10-13, with more variation in fixation on the mouth region; some studies found increased fixation on the mouth region of the face 12 whereas others found no differences in this regard 10,11.”

    From Parsing Heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Visual Scanning of Dynamic Social Scenes in School-Aged Children (2012) · cites this paper as [13]

  • Spezio et al.'s (2007) data reinforces the idea that face scanning is atypical in adults with ASD, which may have a profound influence on social functioning.

    “Spezio et al.'s (2007) data reinforces the idea that face scanning is atypical in adults with ASD, which may have a profound influence on social functioning.”

    From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as Spezio et al. (2007)

  • There is evidence that individuals with ASD tend to process the eye region of faces less effectively than typical individuals, and that this difficulty may arise from a tendency not to look at the eye region of faces unless specifically instructed to.

    “There is evidence that individuals with ASD tend to process the eye region of faces less effectively than typical individuals (e.g.Spezio et al., 2007), and that this difficulty may arise from a tendency not to look at the eye region of faces unless specifically instructed to (Dalton et al., 2005;Pehplrey et al., 2002).”

    From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as Spezio et al., 2007

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Authors
Spezio, M. L., Adolphs, R., Hurley, R. S. E., & Piven, J.
Affiliations
  • California Institute of Technology (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Corresponding author
Spezio, Michael L.
ORCID
Venue
Neuropsychologia
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2007
Volume
45
Issue
1
Pages
144-151
ISSN
0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.04.027
OpenAlex
W2078014371
Cited by
209
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 19
FWCI
5.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, gaze behavior, face processing, gaze, saccades, fixation, social cognition
MeSH terms
Adult, Autistic Disorder, Eye, Eye Movements, Face, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Male, Mouth, Photic Stimulation, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Saccades, Social Behavior

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