Abstract
It has been established that typically developing individuals have a bias to attend to facial information in the left visual
field (LVF) more than in the right visual field. This bias is thought to arise from the right hemisphere’s advantage for processing
facial information, with evidence suggesting it to be driven by the configural demands of face processing. Considering research
showing that individuals with autism have impaired face processing abilities, with marked deficits in configural processing,
it was hypothesized that they would not demonstrate a LVF bias for faces. Eye-tracking technology was used to show that individuals
with autism were not spontaneously biased to facial information in the LVF, in contrast to a control group, while discriminating
facial gender.
field (LVF) more than in the right visual field. This bias is thought to arise from the right hemisphere’s advantage for processing
facial information, with evidence suggesting it to be driven by the configural demands of face processing. Considering research
showing that individuals with autism have impaired face processing abilities, with marked deficits in configural processing,
it was hypothesized that they would not demonstrate a LVF bias for faces. Eye-tracking technology was used to show that individuals
with autism were not spontaneously biased to facial information in the LVF, in contrast to a control group, while discriminating
facial gender.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original Paper
- Pages 1-8
- DOI 10.1007/s10803-011-1354-2
- Authors
- Eva M. Dundas, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Catherine A. Best, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Nancy J. Minshew, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Mark S. Strauss, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Journal Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Online ISSN 1573-3432
- Print ISSN 0162-3257