Aspies For Freedom

Brain tests at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest that children with autism shy from eye contact because they perceive even the most familiar face as an uncomfortable threat. The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may one day inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact with their autistic students.

Tracking the correlation between eye movements and brain activity, the researchers found that in autistic subjects, the amygdala -- an emotion center in the brain associated with negative feelings -- lights up to an abnormal extent during a direct gaze upon a non-threatening face. Writing in the March 6 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists also report that because autistic children avert eye contact, the brain's fusiform region, which is critical for face perception, is less active than it would be during a normally developing child's stare.

"This is the very first published study that assesses how individuals with autism look at faces while simultaneously monitoring which of their brain areas are active," says lead author Kim Dalton, an assistant scientist at UW-Madison's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior. Dalton measured eye movements in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a sophisticated technology that allows researchers to "see" a brain in action.

Notably, the UW-Madison study overturns the existing notion that autistic children struggle to process faces because of a malfunction in the fusiform area. Rather, in autistic children the fusiform "is fundamentally normal" and shows only stunted activity because over-aroused amygdalas make autistic children want to look away, says senior author Richard Davidson, a UW-Madison psychiatry and psychology professor who has earned international recognition for his work on the neural underpinnings of emotion.

"Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks at you as a threat, even the face of your own mother," Davidson adds. Scientists have in the past speculated that the amygdala -- which has been implicated in certain anxiety and mood disorders -- plays a role in autism, but the study directly supports that idea for the first time.

An increasingly publicized developmental disability, autism greatly weakens the capacity to socialize and communicate normally. The tendency to avoid eye contact is one of the most pervasive traits among autistic children, says Dalton. The characteristic is a problem because eyes, in particular, are a crucial source of "subtle cues that are critical for normal social and emotional development," Dalton says.

Dalton's work comprised two studies. In the first, researchers placed autistic children inside an MRI scanner and showed them pictures of faces with both emotional and neutral expressions. The children had to press one of two buttons to indicate whether a face showed a blank or expressive face. Throughout the process, the researchers used precise eye-tracking technology to measure exactly which parts of the face study participants were looking at and for how long. Normally developing children far outpaced the autistic study participants in identifying expressions correctly.

During the second study, the researchers again placed subjects in MRI machines and showed them photographs of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. They monitored eye movements and brain activity, and once again, autistic subjects performed considerably more poorly than normally developing participants.

In the future, the findings could help scientists "train autistic children to look at a person's eye region in a more strategic way, like when the person may not be looking directly at them," says Davidson. Researchers eventually could assess whether such approaches improve the ability to make eye contact and whether they might even induce positive developmental changes in the brain.

Because autism is more inheritable than any other psychiatric condition, researchers also could start to explore the genetic mechanisms underlying hyperactive amygdalas -- "a completely uncharted research territory," says Davidson. And if the autistic amygdala is found to be overactive from infancy, the knowledge could help doctors implement intervention approaches right from an early age.
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I think this is an interesting article, and follows closely with my own experience, both with myself, my husband and my child. I'm more comfortable with eye contact now than as a child or young adult, but I still have that feeling of panic when I look in someone's eyes, even at the age of 40.

I've had a great deal of experience with young children and babies, and noticed my son's discomfort with eye contact at 6 weeks. Most babies at that age are learning to engage in eye contact, but will become overwhelmed after a couple of minutes...look away by turning their head to the side...and then re-engage eye contact after a break of a few seconds. My son, on the other hand, could only maintain eye contact for a few seconds...then would look away for a couple of minutes before re-engaging. I brought this to the attention of family members and doctors, and no one seemed to think it was terribly important at the time. I learned to wait until he was ready to re-engage, rather than forcing the issue with a lot of babbling to get him to look at me. It just made sense to wait til he was ready.

Thanks for posting the article, Amy. Its very interesting, especially as I'm trying to feel my way through how much 'forced' interaction is really good for my son at the moment.

Mine also.  I don't have much discomfort with eye contact when I consciously initiate it, but if someone unexpectedly looks at me and makes eye contact, my instinctive reaction is to feel threatened and to look away immediately.

Greetings,

My main reason is because of the inability to judge or regulate facial expressions and just the inability to interact on that basic level - I worry about how I might come across to them - or I have a fear of thinking something about them that could show in my facial expression (ocd type anxiety there)

I've been saying this all along.  When people look at me in the eye, their eyes look too agressive, almost animal like.  NT's deny they have that look though.  I told this to a friend and he hasn't spoken to me since.  I'm thinking of maybe not bringing it up anymore.

I feel discomfort when initiating. I feel better about someone else initiate it because I know it's okay to do so.

I usually avoid eye contact because I haven't got the heart to tell them. I'm sure if I met someone with a mutual perspective on things, eye contact wouldn't be a problem.  We'd both get it. It would probably be kind of a joke.

The research findings are spot-on with my own personal theories about autism and eye contact,but I have some reservations about the conclusions that the researchers have drawn from those findings. Personally, I would not describe the feeling that I get from prolonged eye contact as a threat, I would only say it feels too emotional, too intense.

Have we all noticed how close the boffins are to finding some kind of "cure" for autism? One would only have to dull-down the functioning of the amygdala with a drug or electrodes or chop a bit off it and voila! you might have a patient who no longer avoids eye contact. To your average hysterical cureby NT parent that would look like a miracle cure. If we don't want this kind of therapy to be enforced upon autistic people we need to take decisive action now.

Yes, that must be what I get from prolonged eye contact.  It's very unnerving in a way I cannot explain.  I have always had a thing for gazing into my own eyes in a reflection or mirror though, since I was a young girl, as far back as I can remember...it's as if I just drift away or something.  

My autistic grandson, when no one else is in the room with us, will very often come up and sit on my lap, put a little hand on each side of my face and study my face even looking directly into my eyes for a minute or so.  I cannot tell you how intense these moments are - I wish to look away because of the intensity, but I force myself to endure this "inspection".  It's as if he is searching my eyes for something, but I don't know for what.  I'm always glad when we get back to the other stuff such as playing.

I have noticed that when I look directly into a neurotypicals eyes, they become kind of unnerved, too.  If they are talking, and I happen to look at their eyes, they begin to loose their train of thought or get clumsey or stammer on the words they are speaking, until I look away.  Maybe it's the way I stare or something as I don't really know what the eye contact thing is for, I begin to watch their pupil and gaze at the streaks or specks of colors in their iris - not really looking at them I guess but trying to look through them into their essence or something - My mother used to say that the eyes were the windows to a persons heart, so I suppose I am trying to be a bit of a peeping tom  :lol:

Close but not quite it.  Some time ago this came up on a list among Aspies I met IRL.  One summed my experience up poetically: "I don't feel much of a connection, it's like their eyes are just lumps of flesh and not "windows to the soul".

I don't believe that threat quite describes it, Lili is closer with "intensity".
The thing which would calm and dissipate that intensity would be if that feeling of "connection " my list pal mentioned.  What is that feeling of connection you might wonder-- I suggest it is mediated my mirror neurons.

And this effect is not restricted to eye contact.  It operates in disembodied forms of communication as well; yes, that means right her on-line.

Why else would one Aspie put another on moderated status, accusing them of perceived and unsubstantiated anger, resentment, aggression and vindictiveness - when Aspies are supposed to be crap at reading emotions in others!!

I think aspies feel panicked if focused on visually or verbally/textually and this accounts for withdrawal or accusations of attack.  So threat does come into it really.

The wording is probably that of a journalist or science writer, but this seems to be backward.  Do the eyes go off on their own, looking for faces without the area that can process faces, or is the fusiform region less active in the first place.?

I don't reckon it does overturn that notion.  The amygdala is over-aroused because the data is not being shunted onto the next stage in the process: fusiform gyrus or mirror neurons.

This is true. If I look indirectly or partially with peripheral vision, this 'siphons off' some of the discomfort of the direct gaze.

I also feel that this description matches my own experiences.  I see a face looking at me, any face, and I want to be in a different room.  different house.  just SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Ooh, I feel that too.

I avoid eye contact for a few reasons.  

If I try and keep eye contact with someone while they're talking, whatever they're saying goes straight past me, and I haven't heard a thing they've said, which ends up seeming more rude to them than not looking at them while they're talking.  

Also, I never know how much eye contact is appropriate, in case it looks like I'm staring at them, so I tend not to do it at all, or only a little bit when I have to.  

And, of course, it makes me very uncomfortable.

I also like looking at my own eyes in the mirror, monastic, and I love looking at my pets' eyes.

The other day I was in an interview type situation with strangers (never met in person before) and I reckon I did really well with eye contact. I broke off some of the eye contact by taking written notes as we were talking. I don't know what kind of impression my taking notes gave, but for my sake I think taking notes is a good idea as I tend to forget verbal input. Maybe it was easier because we were talking about something that I am interested in and we were agreeing most of the time.