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The use of eye-tracking to explore social difficulties in cognitively able students with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot investigation

Hanley, M.; Riby, D.M.; Carty, C.; Melaugh McAteer, A.; Kennedy, A.; McPhillips, M.

The use of eye-tracking to explore social difficulties in cognitively able students with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot investigation Thumbnail


Authors

C. Carty

A. Melaugh McAteer

A. Kennedy

M. McPhillips



Abstract

in understanding the social world. Even for those who are cognitively able, autism-related difficulties continue into adulthood. Atypicalities attending to and interpreting communicative signals from others can provide barriers to success in education, employment and relationships. In the current study, we use eye-tracking during real social interaction to explore attention to social cues (e.g. face, eyes, mouth) and links to social awareness in a group of cognitively able University students with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing students from the same University. During the interaction, students with autism spectrum disorder showed less eye fixation and more mouth fixation than typically developing students. Importantly, while 63% of typically developing participants reported thinking they were deceived about the true nature of the interaction, only 9% of autism spectrum disorder participants picked up this subtle social signal. We argue that understanding how these social attentional and social awareness difficulties manifest during adulthood is important given the growing number of adults with autism spectrum disorder who are attending higher level education. These adults may be particularly susceptible to drop-out due to demands of coping in situations where social awareness is so important.

Citation

Hanley, M., Riby, D., Carty, C., Melaugh McAteer, A., Kennedy, A., & McPhillips, M. (2015). The use of eye-tracking to explore social difficulties in cognitively able students with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot investigation. Autism, 19(7), 868-873. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315580767

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 16, 2015
Online Publication Date May 6, 2015
Publication Date Oct 1, 2015
Deposit Date May 1, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Autism
Print ISSN 1362-3613
Electronic ISSN 1461-7005
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 19
Issue 7
Pages 868-873
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315580767
Keywords Autism spectrum disorders, Eye-tracking, High functioning, Social attention, Social awareness, Social interaction

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Copyright Statement
Hanley, M. and Riby, D.M. and Carty, C. and Melaugh McAteer, A. and Kennedy, A. and McPhillips, M. (2015) 'The use of eye-tracking to explore social difficulties in cognitively able students with autism spectrum disorder : a pilot investigation.', Autism., 19 (7). pp. 868-873. Copyright © 2015 The Author(s). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.





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