Brief Report: Pupillometry, Visual Perception, and ASD Features in a Task-Switching Paradigm

We assessed the association between dynamic changes in pupil response in the context of visual perception and quantitative measures of the autism phenotype in healthy adults. Using Navon stimuli in a task-switching paradigm, participants were instructed to identify global or local information based on a cue. Multiple pupil response trajectories across conditions were identified. We combined trajectory patterns for global and local conditions and used data-driven methods to identify three distinct pupil trajectory sub-groups. We report higher scores on quantitative measures of autism features in individuals who demonstrated an increased change in pupil diameter across both conditions. Results demonstrate the use of individualized pupil response trajectories in order to quantitatively characterize visual perception associated with the broader autism phenotype (BAP).