Larger tonic pupil size in young children with autism spectrum disorder

The symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been suggested to manifest from atypical functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), leading to altered arousal and atypical processing of salient stimuli. Coherent with this, persons with ASD show heightened autonomic activity, sleep difficulties, and structural and neurochemical alterations within the ANS. Recently, we observed decreased pupil responses to human faces in children with ASD. In the current study, we found differences in baseline (tonic) pupil size, with the ASD group exhibiting a larger pupil size than age-matched controls. Pupil responses are sensitive and reliable measures of ANS functioning, thus, this finding highlights the role of the ANS, and may provide clues about underlying neuropathology.