title: No Evidence of Emotional Dysregulation or Aversion to Mutual Gaze in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Pupillometry Study.
abstract: The 'gaze aversion hypothesis', suggests that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) avoid mutual gaze because they experience it as hyper-arousing. To test this hypothesis we showed mutual and averted gaze stimuli to 23 mixed-ability preschoolers with ASD (M Mullen DQ = 68) and 21 typically-developing preschoolers, aged 2-5 years, using eye-tracking technology to measure visual attention and emotional arousal (i.e., pupil dilation). There were no group differences in attention to the eye region or pupil dilation. Both groups dilated their pupils more to mutual compared to averted gaze. More internalizing symptoms in the children with ASD related to less emotional arousal to mutual gaze. The pattern of results suggests that preschoolers with ASD are not dysregulated in their responses to mutual gaze.
authors.affiliation: Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia. h.nuske@latrobe.edu.au.|Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. h.nuske@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Heather J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Nuske
authors.affiliation: Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia. g.vivanti@latrobe.edu.au.|The Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia. g.vivanti@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vivanti
authors.affiliation: Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia. c.dissanayake@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dissanayake
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Autism; Direct eye contact; Emotional regulation; Eye-tracking pupillometry; Gaze aversion hypothesis; Mutual gaze