Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
Published on: March 27, 2012
Eyes are special but not for everyone: the case of autism
Jelena Ristic1, Laurent Mottron, Chris Kelland Friesen
1Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4. jelena.ristic@telus.net
Abstract:
Current research indicates that human gaze direction is a special cue for shifting attention for one of two reasons: (1) it reflects social desires and intentions and (2) its basic perceptual features usually correspond to important events in the environment. This study, conducted with individuals with autism and with age- and IQ-matched typically developing individuals, dissociates these two often-confounded explanations and demonstrates that eyes appear to be special for typically developing individuals because of their social power, whereas gaze effects are mediated by feature correspondence among persons with autism.
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