Alterations in looking at face-pareidolia images in autism

Face tuning is vital for adaptive and effective social cognition and interaction. This capability is impaired in a wide range of mental conditions including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet the origins of this deficit are largely unknown. Here, an eye-tracking methodology had been implemented in adolescents with high-functioning ASD and in typically developing (TD) matched controls while administering a face-pareidolia task. The spatial distributions of eye fixation in five regions of interest [face, eyes, mouth, CFA (complementary face area, a face area beyond eyes and mouth) and non-face area (a screen area outside a face)] were recorded during spontaneous recognition of a set of Arcimboldo-like Face-n-Food images presented in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. Individuals with ASD gave significantly fewer face responses and looked more often at the mouth, CFA, and non-face areas. By contrast, TD controls mostly fixated the face and eyes areas. The atypical visual scanning strategies could, at least partly, account for the lower face tuning in ASD, supporting the eye avoidance hypothesis, according to which ASD individuals concentrate less on the eyes because the eyes represent a source of emotional information that may make them feel uncomfortable.