Eye saccades smaller in ASD in response to non-social situations

A new study reports that people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit abnormalities in gaze-shifting when viewing non-social as well as social stimuli—a finding that indicates that the gaze anomalies are not simply due to low social motivation. 

Previous studies revealed abnormalities in rapid eye movements, called saccades, when people with ASD viewed social situations. In the new study, Nico Bast and colleagues tracked saccades in 142 participants with ASD and 142 matched neurotypical controls as they viewed naturalistic scenes with or without people in them. The researchers found that the individuals with ASD had smaller and briefer saccades jumps than controls, whether they viewed natural scenes or people. 

Bast says, “Maybe people with autism just have basic perception difficulties to perceive stimuli—any stimuli—that are far away from the direct focus of attention.” 

Bast and his colleagues say a brain region called the pontocerebellar network, which controls eye movements, may play a role in the altered saccades in autism. They conclude, “We propose altered pontocerebellar motor modulation as [an] underlying mechanism that contributes to atypical oculo-motor coordination and attention function in ASD.” 

Citations

“Saccade dysmetria indicates attenuated visual exploration in autism spectrum disorder,” Nico Bast, Luke Mason, Christine M. Freitag, Tim Smith, Ana Maria Portugal, Luise Poustka, Tobias Banaschewski, and Mark Johnson, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, May 25, 2020 (epub prior to print publication). Address: Nico Bast, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, [email protected]. 

—and— 

“Eye ‘jumps’ in autistic people may be especially fleeting,” Jonathan Moens, Spectrum News, July 9, 2020.