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Learn about me & my missionFebruary 23rd, 2008 | On My Internship Project at Caltech
This text was fully written by a human.
- Today, I’m delving into my research project on why autistic individuals often avoid direct eye contact. The topic might lead to an internship abroad. The focus is on how autism and related conditions, like Asperger’s syndrome, influence social interaction perceptions.
- Current theories suggest that autistic people look at the speaker’s lips rather than their eyes. Either the moving mouth provides more useful information, or they respond more to movement, much like pets.
- My research will test a different theory. It proposes that eye contact avoidance relates to the increased stress and anxiety of social interactions. I’ll use an eyetracker to study how autistic individuals view human and animal faces to investigate this hypothesis.
Why Do Autistics Avoid Eye Contact?
And today, let’s switch to something a bit more serious—my research project, which could also lead to an internship abroad. I don’t know if they’ve accepted me yet, but the topic is fascinating. It turns out that people with autism, along with some other neurological conditions like Asperger’s syndrome, have a unique way of perceiving social interactions.
I’m focusing on why autistic individuals often avoid direct eye contact. Instead, they tend to look at the speaker’s lips rather than their eyes. And the reason behind this is still unclear.
What Do Current Theories Say?
One theory compares this to a “photocell” mechanism. Autistic individuals may get more information from the moving mouth during speech, while the relatively still eyes are harder to read.
According to Klin, Jones, Schultz, Volkmar, and Cohen (2002), individuals with autism often fixate more on a speaker’s mouth than on the eyes.
Another theory compares autistic individuals to pets: they respond more to movement, which draws their attention to the lips. According to Senju and Johnson (2009), no single model yet fully explains atypical eye contact in autism.
What Will My Study Test Instead?
My approach will test a different theory. Avoiding eye contact may stem from the stress and anxiety autistic individuals feel during social interactions. Notably, this stress might make it harder for them to keep eye contact.
According to Kylliäinen and Hietanen (2006), children with autism show stronger physiological arousal to direct gaze than to averted gaze. In fact, according to Dalton and colleagues (2005), eye fixation in autism drives stronger amygdala activation. Then, to investigate this question, I’ll use an eyetracker to study how people with autism view human and animal faces.
Please cite as:
Bielczyk, N.
(2008, February 23rd). On My Internship Project at Caltech. Retrieved from: https://nataliabielczyk.com/on-my-internship-project-at-caltech/
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