Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits
Individuals on the autism spectrum are reported to show impairments in the processing of social information, including aspects of eye-movements towards faces. Abnormalities in basic-level visual processing are also reported. In the current study, we sought to determine if the latency of saccades mad...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00470/full |
| _version_ | 1818049332207681536 |
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| author | Robin Laycock Robin Laycock Kylie Wood Andrea Wright Sheila G. Crewther Melvyn A. Goodale |
| author_facet | Robin Laycock Robin Laycock Kylie Wood Andrea Wright Sheila G. Crewther Melvyn A. Goodale |
| author_sort | Robin Laycock |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Individuals on the autism spectrum are reported to show impairments in the processing of social information, including aspects of eye-movements towards faces. Abnormalities in basic-level visual processing are also reported. In the current study, we sought to determine if the latency of saccades made towards social targets (faces) in a natural scene as opposed to inanimate targets (cars) would be related to sub-clinical autism traits (ATs) in individuals drawn from a neurotypical population. The effect of stimulus inversion was also examined given that difficulties with processing inverted faces are thought to be a function of face expertise. No group differences in saccadic latency were established for face or car targets, regardless of image orientation. However, as expected, we found that individuals with higher autism-like traits did not demonstrate a saccadic face inversion effect, but those with lower autism-like traits did. Neither group showed a car inversion effect. Thus, these results suggest that neurotypical individuals with high autism-like traits also show anomalies in detecting and orienting to faces. In particular, the reduced saccadic face inversion effect established in these participants with high ATs suggests that speed of visual processing and orienting towards faces may be associated with the social difficulties found across the broader autism spectrum. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:35:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4be36ab1f144479a90b3b0d0a939ad1b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:35:54Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-4be36ab1f144479a90b3b0d0a939ad1b2022-12-22T01:52:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612020-01-011310.3389/fnhum.2019.00470485908Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism TraitsRobin Laycock0Robin Laycock1Kylie Wood2Andrea Wright3Sheila G. Crewther4Melvyn A. Goodale5School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaThe Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, CanadaIndividuals on the autism spectrum are reported to show impairments in the processing of social information, including aspects of eye-movements towards faces. Abnormalities in basic-level visual processing are also reported. In the current study, we sought to determine if the latency of saccades made towards social targets (faces) in a natural scene as opposed to inanimate targets (cars) would be related to sub-clinical autism traits (ATs) in individuals drawn from a neurotypical population. The effect of stimulus inversion was also examined given that difficulties with processing inverted faces are thought to be a function of face expertise. No group differences in saccadic latency were established for face or car targets, regardless of image orientation. However, as expected, we found that individuals with higher autism-like traits did not demonstrate a saccadic face inversion effect, but those with lower autism-like traits did. Neither group showed a car inversion effect. Thus, these results suggest that neurotypical individuals with high autism-like traits also show anomalies in detecting and orienting to faces. In particular, the reduced saccadic face inversion effect established in these participants with high ATs suggests that speed of visual processing and orienting towards faces may be associated with the social difficulties found across the broader autism spectrum.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00470/fullautismface processingface inversionsaccadeeye-movements |
| spellingShingle | Robin Laycock Robin Laycock Kylie Wood Andrea Wright Sheila G. Crewther Melvyn A. Goodale Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits Frontiers in Human Neuroscience autism face processing face inversion saccade eye-movements |
| title | Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits |
| title_full | Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits |
| title_fullStr | Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits |
| title_full_unstemmed | Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits |
| title_short | Saccade Latency Provides Evidence for Reduced Face Inversion Effects With Higher Autism Traits |
| title_sort | saccade latency provides evidence for reduced face inversion effects with higher autism traits |
| topic | autism face processing face inversion saccade eye-movements |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00470/full |
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