Gaze direction detection in autism spectrum disorder.

Detecting where our partners direct their gaze is an important aspect of social interaction. An atypical gaze processing has been reported in autism. However, it remains controversial whether children and adults with autism spectrum disorder interpret indirect gaze direction with typical accuracy. This study investigated whether the detection of gaze direction toward an object is less accurate in autism spectrum disorder. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (n = 33) and intelligence quotients-matched and age-matched controls (n = 38) were asked to watch a series of synthetic faces looking at objects, and decide which of two objects was looked at. The angle formed by the two possible targets and the face varied following an adaptive procedure, in order to determine individual thresholds. We found that gaze direction detection was less accurate in autism spectrum disorder than in control participants. Our results suggest that the precision of gaze following may be one of the altered processes underlying social interaction difficulties in autism spectrum disorder.

Atypical Social Judgment and Sensitivity to Perceptual Cues in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Evaluation of faces is an important dimension of social relationships. A degraded sensitivity to facial perceptual cues might contribute to atypical social interactions in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study investigated whether face based social judgment is atypical in ASD and if so, whether it could be related to a degraded sensitivity to facial perceptual cues. Individuals with ASD (n = 33) and IQ- and age-matched controls (n = 38) were enrolled in this study. Watching a series of photographic or synthetic faces, they had to judge them for "kindness". In synthetic stimuli, the amount of perceptual cues available could be either large or small. We observed that social judgment was atypical in the ASD group on photographic stimuli, but, contrarily to the prediction based on the degraded sensitivity hypothesis, analyses on synthetic stimuli found a similar performance and a similar effect of the amount of perceptual cues in both groups. Further studies on perceptual differences between photographs and synthetic pictures of faces might help understand atypical social judgment in ASD.

Are 3-to-8-year-old children with Williams syndrome good word-learners?

This study investigated the phonetic processing of new words in 3-to-8-year-old children with Williams syndrome (WS). Word-learning abilities were evaluated with a task involving the learning of two phonetically similar words for two different objects. Overall, children with WS were able to process fine phonetic details while establishing new word-object links. Their performance pattern was predicted by their mental age and was characterized by an asymmetrical processing of consonant and vowel information to the advantage of consonants found with this task in younger, typically developing, children. These results show delayed but relatively preserved word-learning abilities in WS, and this trajectory is discussed in comparison with typical development.