Atypical eye contact in autism: Models, mechanisms and development

An atypical pattern of eye contact behaviour is one of the most significant symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Recent empirical advances have revealed the developmental, cognitive and neural basis of atypical eye contact behaviour in ASD. We review different models and advance a new ‘fast-t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2009-09, Vol.33 (8), p.1204-1214
Main Authors: Senju, Atsushi, Johnson, Mark H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala
Animals
Autism spectrum disorders
Autistic Disorder - physiopathology
Autistic Disorder - psychology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Child clinical studies
Cognition
Concept Formation
Development
Developmental disorders
Eye contact
Eye Movements
Fixation, Ocular
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gaze
Humans
Infantile autism
Interpersonal Relations
Medical sciences
Nonverbal Communication - psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Social Behavior
Social brain
Social cognition
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Summary:An atypical pattern of eye contact behaviour is one of the most significant symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Recent empirical advances have revealed the developmental, cognitive and neural basis of atypical eye contact behaviour in ASD. We review different models and advance a new ‘fast-track modulator model’. Specifically, we propose that atypical eye contact processing in ASD originates in the lack of influence from a subcortical face and eye contact detection route, which is hypothesized to modulate eye contact processing and guide its emergent specialization during development.
ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.001