Autism spectrum traits predict the neural response to eye gaze in typical individuals

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterised by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviours. The severity of these characteristics are posited to lie on a continuum extending into the typical population, and typical adults' performance on behavioural tasks that are impaired in ASD is correlated with the extent to which they display autistic traits (as measured by Autism Spectrum Quotient, AQ). Individuals with ASD also show structural and functional differences in brain regions involved in social perception. Here we show that variation in AQ in typically developing individuals is associated with altered brain activity in the neural circuit for social attention perception while viewing others' eye gaze. In an fMRI experiment, participants viewed faces looking at variable or constant directions. In control conditions, only the eye region was presented or the heads were shown with eyes closed but oriented at variable or constant directions. The response to faces with variable vs. constant eye gaze direction was associated with AQ scores in a number of regions (posterior superior temporal sulcus, intraparietal sulcus, temporoparietal junction, amygdala, and MT/V5) of the brain network for social attention perception. No such effect was observed for heads with eyes closed or when only the eyes were presented. The results demonstrate a relationship between neurophysiology and autism spectrum traits in the typical (non-ASD) population and suggest that changes in the functioning of the neural circuit for social attention perception is associated with an extended autism spectrum in the typical population.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  NeuroImage

• Publication date

  2012-02-15

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Computer Science, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.10.075PMID 22062191PMCID 3315678
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Personality influences the neural responses to viewing facial expressions of emotion

  2011cited by this paper
• Oxford Handbook of Face Perception

  2011cited by this paper
• Does Facial Identity and Facial Expression Recognition Involve Separate Visual Routes

  2011cited by this paper
• Autism Spectrum Traits in the Typical Population Predict Structure and Function in the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

  2010influential reference
• Structural and functional MRI correlates of Stroop control in benign MS

  2009cited by this paper
• Functional brain correlates of social and nonsocial processes in autism spectrum disorders: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.

  2009influential reference
• Connectivity Analysis Reveals a Cortical Network for Eye Gaze Perception

  2009influential reference
• Neural mechanisms of social attention.

  2009influential reference
• Mirroring of attention by neurons in macaque parietal cortex

  2009cited by this paper
• Sensitivity to eye gaze in autism: Is it normal? Is it automatic? Is it social?

  2008cited by this paper
• Functional abnormalities of the default network during self- and other-reflection in autism.

  2008cited by this paper
• The reorienting system of the human brain: from environment to theory of mind.

  2008cited by this paper
• The Role of the Right Temporoparietal Junction in Social Interaction: How Low-Level Computational Processes Contribute to Meta-Cognition

  2007cited by this paper
• Self-Referential Cognition and Empathy in Autism

  2007influential reference
• Gaze cueing of attention: visual attention, social cognition, and individual differences.

  2007cited by this paper
• Facial expression and gaze-direction in human superior temporal sulcus.

  2007cited by this paper
• Predictive Gaze Cues and Personality Judgments

  2006cited by this paper
• Autism, the superior temporal sulcus and social perception.

  2006influential reference
• Failing to deactivate: resting functional abnormalities in autism.

  2006cited by this paper
• Autism and the development of face processing.

  2006cited by this paper
• Human MT/V5 activity on viewing eye gaze changes in others: A magnetoencephalographic study.

  2006cited by this paper
• Neural correlates of eye-gaze detection in young children with autism.

  2005influential reference
• Understanding the recognition of facial identity and facial expression

  2005cited by this paper
• Gaze and arrow cueing of attention reveals individual differences along the autism spectrum as a function of target context.

  2005cited by this paper
• Neural basis of eye gaze processing deficits in autism.

  2005influential reference
• Deviant gaze processing in children with autism: an ERP study.

  2005cited by this paper
• Portraits or People? Distinct Representations of Face Identity in the Human Visual Cortex

  2005cited by this paper
• Making sense of another mind: the role of the right temporo-parietal junction.

  2005cited by this paper
• Cortical adaptation in patients with MS: a cross-sectional functional MRI study of disease phenotypes.

  2005cited by this paper
• Theory of mind.

  2005cited by this paper
• Grasping the Intentions of Others: The Perceived Intentionality of an Action Influences Activity in the Superior Temporal Sulcus during Social Perception

  2004cited by this paper
• White matter structure in autism: preliminary evidence from diffusion tensor imaging.

  2004cited by this paper
• When Strangers Pass

  2004cited by this paper
• Intact Covert Orienting to Peripheral Cues Among Children with Autism

  2004cited by this paper
• A region of right posterior superior temporal sulcus responds to observed intentional actions.

  2004cited by this paper
• Brain networks for analyzing eye gaze.

  2003influential reference
• An automated method for neuroanatomic and cytoarchitectonic atlas-based interrogation of fMRI data sets

  2003cited by this paper
• People thinking about thinking people. The role of the temporo-parietal junction in "theory of mind".

  2003cited by this paper
• Automated Anatomical Labeling of Activations in SPM Using a Macroscopic Anatomical Parcellation of the MNI MRI Single-Subject Brain

  2002cited by this paper
• Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes.

  2002cited by this paper
• Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain

  2002influential reference
• Recognizing moving faces: a psychological and neural synthesis.

  2002cited by this paper
• The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Malesand Females, Scientists and Mathematicians

  2001influential reference
• Mind blindness and the brain in autism.

  2001influential reference
• Seen gaze-direction modulates fusiform activity and its coupling with other brain areas during face processing.

  2001cited by this paper
• The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.

  2001influential reference
• Movement and mind: a functional imaging study of perception and interpretation of complex intentional movement patterns.

  2000cited by this paper
• The distributed human neural system for face perception.

  2000cited by this paper
• Distinct representations of eye gaze and identity in the distributed human neural system for face perception

  2000cited by this paper
• Social perception from visual cues: role of the STS region.

  2000cited by this paper
• The amygdala theory of autism.

  2000cited by this paper
• Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain: an fMRI study

  1999cited by this paper
• Does your gaze direction and head orientation shift my visual attention?

  1999cited by this paper
• The human amygdala plays an important role in gaze monitoring. A PET study.

  1999cited by this paper
• The generality of parietal involvement in visual attention.

  1999cited by this paper
• Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind

  1997cited by this paper
• Autism and Asperger's syndrome.

  1997cited by this paper
• Are children with autism blind to the mentalistic significance of the eyes

  1995cited by this paper
• Organization and functions of cells responsive to faces in the temporal cortex.

  1992cited by this paper
• NeuroImage

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Automatic pupillary responses to pain perception in adults and children: The influence of race and autistic traits.

  2025cites this paper
• Autistic traits modulate neural responses to social signals during natural vision

  2025influential citation
• Metacognition and Cognitive Flexibility in Autistic and Neurotypically‐Developing Populations

  2025cites this paper
• Unconscious and Conscious Gaze-Triggered Attentional Orienting: Distinguishing Innate and Acquired Components of Social Attention in Children and Adults with Autistic Traits and Autism Spectrum Disorders

  2024cites this paper
• Social attention in the wild - fixations to the eyes and autistic traits during a naturalistic interaction in a healthy sample

  2024cites this paper
• Dynamic eye avoidance patterns in the high autistic traits group: An eye-tracking study

  2023cites this paper
• Lack of action–sentence compatibility effect in non-clinical individuals with high autistic traits

  2023cites this paper
• Gaze-Triggered Communicative Intention Compresses Perceived Temporal Duration

  2023cites this paper
• Reduced gamma oscillation during visual processing of the mother's face in children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study

  2023cites this paper
• Peak frequency of the sensorimotor mu rhythm varies with autism-spectrum traits

  2022cites this paper
• Contributions of face processing, social anhedonia and mentalizing to the expression of social autistic-like traits

  2022cites this paper
• Understanding an implicated causality: The brain network for processing concessive relations.

  2022cites this paper
• RELN rs7341475 associates with brain structure in japanese healthy females.

  2022cites this paper
• Patterns of Contagious Yawning and Itching Differ Amongst Adults With Autistic Traits vs. Psychopathic Traits

  2021cites this paper
• Red backgrounds have different effects on electrophysiological responses to fearful faces in groups with low and high autistic tendency

  2021cites this paper
• The Directionality of Fronto-Posterior Brain Connectivity Is Associated with the Degree of Individual Autistic Traits

  2021cites this paper
• Abnormal negative feedback processing in individuals with autistic traits in the Iowa gambling task: Evidence from behavior and event-related potentials.

  2021cites this paper
• Neural basis of interindividual variability in social perception in typically developing children and adolescents using diffusion tensor imaging

  2020cites this paper
• Possibilities of early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, with a special attention to Asperger syndrome: A systematic literature review

  2020cites this paper
• Autistic traits are associated with the functional connectivity of between—but not within—attention systems in the general population

  2020cites this paper
• Brain mechanisms of eye contact during verbal communication predict autistic traits in neurotypical individuals

  2020cites this paper
• Thinking in pictures account of autism: Insights from behavioural and neuroimaging research in adults with autistic-like traits

  2020cites this paper
• Need for closure and cognitive flexibility in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A preliminary study.

  2019cites this paper
• The influence of top-down modulation on the processing of direct gaze.

  2019cites this paper
• Neural and behavioral signature of human social perception

  2019cites this paper
• Specific Functional Connectivity Patterns of Middle Temporal Gyrus Subregions in Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

  2019cites this paper
• Increased grey matter volume of the right superior temporal gyrus in healthy children with autistic cognitive style: A VBM study.

  2019cites this paper
• Autistic traits and social anxiety predict differential performance on social cognitive tasks in typically developing young adults

  2018cites this paper
• Relating Attentional Biases for Stimuli Associated with Social Reward and Punishment to Autistic Traits

  2018cites this paper
• USING THE DIAMETRICAL MODEL TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AUTISM AND PSYCHOSIS SPECTRA

  2018cites this paper
• An investigation of non-social cognition across the autism spectrum

  2018cites this paper
• Perception of social interaction compresses subjective duration in an oxytocin-dependent manner

  2018cites this paper
• Access to awareness of direct gaze is related to autistic traits

  2018cites this paper
• Neural Response to Biological Motion in Healthy Adults Varies as a Function of Autistic-Like Traits

  2017cites this paper
• Autism and psychosis expressions diametrically modulate the right temporoparietal junction

  2017cites this paper
• Differential responses of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right posterior superior temporal sulcus to spontaneous mentalizing

  2017cites this paper
• Kinetics and Dose Dependency of Intranasal Oxytocin Effects on Amygdala Reactivity.

  2017cites this paper
• Gaze-Wasserstein: a quantitative screening approach to autism spectrum disorders

  2016cites this paper
• From shared to distinct self–other representations in empathy: evidence from neurotypical function and socio-cognitive disorders

  2016cites this paper
• Interaction matters: A perceived social partner alters the neural processing of human speech

  2016influential citation
• University of Birmingham Autism and psychosis traits diametrically modulate the right temporo-parietal junction

  2016cites this paper
• Individual Differences in Social Cognitive Processes between Neurotypical College Students High and Low in Autistic Traits

  2016influential citation
• Causal attribution in individuals with subclinical and clinical autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study

  2016cites this paper
• Title : Autism and psychosis expressions diametrically modulate the right temporo-parietal junction Running title : Diametric modulation of the rTPJ

  2016influential citation
• Frontal EEG asymmetry to perceived gaze direction of animate and inanimate models in 5- and 7-year-old children

  2015cites this paper
• Gender-specific modulation of neural mechanisms underlying social reward processing by Autism Quotient.

  2015cites this paper
• Alterations of local spontaneous brain activity and connectivity in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

  2015cites this paper
• I just love the attention: implicit preference for direct eye contact

  2015cites this paper
• Investigating perception and attention to emotional expressions in the autism spectrum

  2015cites this paper
• Neurons in the human amygdala encode face identity but not gaze direction

  2015cites this paper
• Is impaired joint attention present in non-clinical individuals with high autistic traits?

  2015cites this paper
• ‘Subtypes’ in the Presentation of Autistic Traits in the General Adult Population

  2015cites this paper
• Is there a bit of autism in all of us? Autism spectrum traits are related to cortical thickness differences in both autism and typical development

  2015cites this paper
• Gaze Direction Modulates the Relation between Neural Responses to Faces and Visual Awareness

  2015cites this paper
• Brief Report: Broad Autism Phenotype in Adults is Associated with Performance on an Eye-Tracking Measure of Joint Attention

  2014cites this paper
• Autisme, sillon temporal supérieur (STS) et perception sociale : études en imagerie cérébrale et en TMS

  2014cites this paper
• Fiber tract associated with autistic traits in healthy adults.

  2014cites this paper
• Emotion regulation: concepts & practice in autism spectrum disorder.

  2014cites this paper
• Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

  2014cites this paper
• Social cognition and neural substrates of face perception: implications for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

  2014cites this paper
• How do shared-representations and emotional processes cooperate in response to social threat signals?

  2014cites this paper
• ‘Subtypes’ in the Presentation of Autistic Traits in the General Adult Population

  2014influential citation
• Learning from social rewards predicts individual differences in self-reported social ability.

  2014cites this paper
• Brief Report: Broad Autism Phenotype in Adults is Associated with Performance on an Eye-Tracking Measure of Joint Attention

  2013cites this paper
• The brains of high functioning autistic individuals do not synchronize with those of others☆

  2013influential citation
• The effectiveness of computer and video modelled social stories on the non-verbal social skills of children with Asperger's Syndrome.

  2013cites this paper
• From gaze cueing to dual eye-tracking: novel approaches to investigate the neural correlates of gaze in social interaction.

  2013cites this paper
• Neural activity in the posterior superior temporal region during eye contact perception correlates with autistic traits.

  2013cites this paper
• Functional MRI in Autism

  2013cites this paper
• Diagnosing autism in neurobiological research studies.

  2013cites this paper
• Autism, social cognition and superior temporal sulcus

  2013cites this paper
• Concepts & Practice in Autism Spectrum Disorder

  2013cites this paper
• UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Are autistic traits in the general population related to global and regional brain differences?

  year unknowncites this paper
• Trinity College Digital Repository Trinity College Digital Repository

  year unknowncites this paper
• Edinburgh Research Explorer Measuring Autistic Traits in the General Population Measuring Autistic Traits in the General Population: a Systematic Review of the Autism-spectrum Quotient (aq) in a Nonclinical Population Sample of 6,900 Typical Adult Males and Females Introduction

  year unknowncites this paper
• Emotion Regulation

  year unknowncites this paper