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document
Analysis of face gaze in autism using " Bubbles " . One of the components of abnormal social functioning in autism is an impaired ability to direct eye gaze onto other people 's faces in social situations . Here , we investigated the relationship between gaze onto the eye and mouth regions of faces , and the visual information that was present within those regions . We used the " Bubbles " method to vary the facial information available on any given trial by revealing only small parts of the face , and measured the eye movements made as participants viewed these stimuli . Compared to ten IQ- and age-matched healthy controls , eight participants with autism showed less fixation specificity to the eyes and mouth , a greater tendency to saccade away from the eyes when information was present in those regions , and abnormal directionality of saccades . The findings provide novel detail to the abnormal way in which people with autism look at faces , an impairment that likely influences all subsequent face processing .
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Intervention_Other
face gaze
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Intervention_Physical
"
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Intervention_Other
Bubbles " method
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Outcome_Mental
gaze onto the eye and mouth regions of faces
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Outcome_Mental
eye movements
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Outcome_Mental
fixation specificity
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Condition
Compared to ten IQ- and age-matched healthy controls , eight participants with autism