title: The role of alexithymia in reduced eye-fixation in Autism Spectrum Conditions.
abstract: Eye-tracking studies have demonstrated mixed support for reduced eye fixation when looking at social scenes in individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). We present evidence that these mixed findings are due to a separate condition-alexithymia-that is frequently comorbid with ASC. We find that in adults with ASC, autism symptom severity correlated negatively with attention to faces when watching video clips. However, only the degree of alexithymia, and not autism symptom severity, predicted eye fixation. As well as potentially resolving the contradictory evidence in this area, these findings suggest that individuals with ASC and alexithymia may form a sub-group of individuals with ASC, with emotional impairments in addition to the social impairments characteristic of ASC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK. g.bird@bbk.ac.uk
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bird
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Press
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Richardson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012938:Social Perception