Accelerated time course of saccadic inhibition of return in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

The inhibition of return (IOR) refers the observer's slower response time when the target stimulus appears on the previously attended location. In the present study, we examined the time course of saccadic IOR by using five stimuli onset asynchronies (SOAs) in a group of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and a comparison group. The results showed that the IOR effect occurred earlier (300 ms SOA) in participants with ASDs, relative to the comparison participants (500 and 700 ms SOAs). The ASD group also committed a greater number of anticipatory saccades, which positively correlated with scores on restricted and repetitive behaviors, as assessed by the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R; Lord et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 24:659-685, 1994). These findings reveal an accelerated time course for saccadic IOR along with diminished volitional oculomotor control in participants with ASDs. We discussed these results with reference to the atypical and the superior visual search abilities often reported in this population.

Reduced saccadic inhibition of return to moving eyes in autism spectrum disorders.

Inhibition of Return (IOR) refers to slower reaction time to a target presented at the same location as a preceding stimulus. Here, we examine reflexive attention orienting via the saccadic IOR using a shift in gaze direction (i.e. from averted to direct) in faces presented as a peripheral cue, in upright and inverted orientations, in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developed comparison participants. While both groups showed an IOR in the inverted face condition, this effect was reduced in participants with ASD in the upright face condition, as compared to comparison participants, suggesting that moving eyes do not trigger reflexive exogenous orienting in individuals with ASD. Impaired reflexive orienting to eye gaze might severely compromise the later development of social functions in ASD, such as joint attention, face emotion recognition and mindreading.

Altered pre-reflective sense of agency in autism spectrum disorders as revealed by reduced intentional binding.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental conditions that severely affect social interaction, communication and several behavioural and cognitive functions, such as planning and monitoring motor actions. A renewed interest in intrapersonal cognition has recently emerged suggesting a putative dissociation between impaired declarative processes, such as autobiographical memory, and spared implicit processes, such as the sense of agency (SoA) in ASDs. However, so far only a few studies have investigated the integrity of SoA using tasks exclusively tapping reflective mechanisms. Since pre-reflective processes of SoA are based on the same predictive internal models that are involved in planning and monitoring actions, we hypothesized that pre-reflective aspects of SoA, as measured by the intentional binding effect, would be altered in adults with high functioning autism spectrum disorders, relative to volunteers with typical development. Here, in accordance with our hypothesis, we report reduced IB in participants with ASDs.