Autistic individuals often exhibit reduced social attention compared to neurotypical peers. This difference in social attention is thought to contribute to challenges in social communication and interaction.
Key Points
Rationale
However, most evidence for low social interest in autism comes from eye-tracking studies that lack ecological validity (Freeth & Morgan, 2023; Grossman et al., 2019).
This study aims to document social attention and physiological arousal in autistic and neurotypical children within naturalistic settings, exploring the influence of partner familiarity and conversational topics.
Method
The study employed a real-life recreational eye-tracking paradigm, where autistic and neurotypical children engaged in watercolor activities with familiar and unfamiliar adult experimenters.
The experimenters introduced various conversational topics, and children’s gaze behaviors and electrodermal activity were recorded.
Procedure
Children participated in two recreational sessions, one with a familiar experimenter and another with an unfamiliar experimenter.
During each session, the child and experimenter engaged in watercolor activities while discussing three general topics and one topic specific to the child’s interests.
Sample
The study included 18 autistic children (15 boys, 3 girls) aged 6-9 years and 36 neurotypical children (30 boys, 6 girls) aged 6-9 years.
The neurotypical group was divided into two subgroups: one matched on chronological age and the other on mental age to the autistic group.
Measures
Statistical measures
Bayesian modeling was also conducted to support the null hypothesis.
Results
The study found no significant group differences in the proportion of fixations on the experimenter’s eyes.
Both autistic and neurotypical children looked more at the familiar partner’s eyes than the unfamiliar partner’s eyes.
Fixations on the partner’s eyes were less frequent during technical topics compared to common, specific, and personal topics.
Skin conductance responses increased along with fixations on the experimenter’s eyes, and this effect was more pronounced in the chronological age group compared to the mental age group.
Insight
The findings suggest that social attention in autistic and neurotypical children is task- and context-dependent.
The absence of group differences in social attention challenges the characterization of autism as insensitive to social interactions and partners.
The results also highlight the importance of familiarity in shaping social attention in both autistic and neurotypical children.
The study underscores the need for more naturalistic research to better understand the complexities of social functioning in typical and atypical development.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
Limitations
This study also had some methodological limitations, including:
Implications
The results challenge the universality of the social cognitive developmental theory and question the applicability of the social motivation theory to autism.
The findings suggest that factors other than atypical social interactions may contribute to the social behaviors observed in autistic children.
The study highlights the importance of conducting research in naturalistic settings to better understand social functioning in both neurotypical and neurodiverse development.
The findings have implications for designing interventions and support strategies for autistic individuals, emphasizing the role of familiarity and context in shaping social attention and engagement.
References
Primary reference
Clin, E., Miller, E., & Kissine, M. (2024). Similar social attention, physiological arousal, and familiarity effect in autistic and neurotypical children: A real-life recreational eye-tracking paradigm.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(4), 1112–1130.https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001553
Other references
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012). The social motivation theory of autism.Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 231-239.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.02.007
Freeth, M., & Morgan, E. J. (2023). I see you, you see me: The impact of social presence on social interaction processes in autistic and non-autistic people.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1875), Article 20210479.https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0479
Grossman, R. B., Zane, E., Mertens, J., & Mitchell, T. (2019). Facetime vs. screentime: Gaze patterns to live and video social stimuli in adolescents with ASD.Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 12643.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49039-7
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978).Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjf9vz4
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Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
