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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Comparing Eye-tracking Data of Children with High-functioning ASD, Comorbid ADHD, and of a Control Watching Social Videos

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Published on: December 7, 2018

The link between basic visual processing and higher-level social cognition: Eye gaze perception as a bridge in a

Kelly Mathis¹, Scott D Blain¹, Laura Locarno¹

¹Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, https://ror.org/00rs6vg23The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.

Psychological Medicine

|May 14, 2026

Summary

Poor basic visual processing, including contrast sensitivity and visual integration, is linked to deficits in social cognition across psychiatric disorders in youth. This impacts gaze perception, emotion recognition, and theory of mind abilities.

Keywords:

contrast sensitivity emotion recognition gaze perception social cognition theory of mind transdiagnostic vision visual integration

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychiatry
Cognitive Science

Background:

Social cognitive deficits are prevalent in psychiatric conditions, impacting overall social functioning.
Altered basic visual processing is a potential mechanism disrupting social cue perception and cognition.
This study investigates the link between basic visual processing and social cognition in a diverse youth sample.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine the relationship between basic visual processing and various levels of social cognition in youth.
To determine if visual processing deficits predict social cognitive impairments across different diagnostic groups.

Main Methods:

148 youth (healthy to neuropsychiatric diagnoses) completed visual processing (contrast sensitivity, visual integration) and social cognition tasks (gaze perception, emotion recognition, theory of mind).
A four-level path model was employed to assess predictive relationships between visual processing and social cognition levels.

Main Results:

Poorer contrast sensitivity and visual integration correlated with less accurate gaze perception.
Impaired gaze perception was associated with worse emotion recognition.
Worse emotion recognition predicted poorer theory of mind abilities, with the model showing good fit.

Conclusions:

Basic visual processing deficits appear to impair the perception of fundamental social cues, affecting complex social inference.
These findings extend to a transdiagnostic youth sample, suggesting altered visual processing is a common mechanism underlying social cognitive deficits in psychiatric disorders.