Social attention and autism symptoms in high functioning women with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Background: Research has suggested a different, less visible, clinical manifestation of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in females. There is, however, limited research into possible underlying mechanisms explaining the female phenotype.

Aims: This study investigates social attention in females with ASD.

Methods and procedures: 26 women diagnosed with ASD and 26 typical female controls were shown three video clips containing intense emotions. Social attention was assessed by measuring eye fixation patterns during the video clips. Autism symptoms were assessed using the informant reported Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS).

Outcome and results: Results show normal time to first fixation to the face, but lower fixation duration to the face in women with ASD. Analyzing the visual patterns further, there were similar impairments in fixation to mouth, eyes and other facial areas. Relating social attention to autism symptoms revealed several significant correlations within the ASD group.

Conclusions and implications: Women with ASD show abnormalities in social attention and these abnormalities are related to level of autism symptoms. In contrast to other studies which investigate male dominated ASD samples, a hyperfocus to the mouth area could not be found.

Keywords: ASD; Autism symptoms; Fixation duration; Social attention; Women.