Research Alert
Researchers at the Yale Child Study Center find social anxiety impacts the way both autistic and non-autistic adolescents visually process emotional faces, in a new study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Their results could help tailor future interventions for people with autism.
"In this study, we asked autistic and non-autistic children about their social anxiety symptoms," said James C. McPartland, PhD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and senior author of the study. "We also used a special camera, called an eye-tracker, to measure where they looked on a screen while we showed them pictures of faces."
Researchers say, consistent with previous research, children with autism spent significantly less time overall looking at the faces. They also say that for both autistic and non-autistic children, subjects with higher self-reported social anxiety scores spent less time looking at the eyes.
"This shows us that social anxiety affects autistic and non-autistic children in similar ways," McPartland added. "Based on this information, addressing emotional feelings in social situations may be a beneficial support for people with anxiety, both on and off the autism spectrum."
Researchers say their findings pave the way for more effective interventions and treatment for people with autism and social anxiety. "It suggests that strategies developed to support anxious people in these situations might also be useful in autism," McPartland said. "For example, very different supports would be useful for people who do not appreciate the importance of eye contact, versus those who understand its importance but cannot tolerate it."
The lead author of the study was Cassandra J. Franke. Other study authors included Jason W. Griffin, Adam J. Naples, and Julie M. Wolf.
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