The salience of competing nonsocial objects reduces gaze toward social stimuli, but not the eyes, more in typically developing than autistic boys

Abstract

Decreased attention to social information is considered an early emerging symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), although the underlying causes remain controversial. Here we explored the impact of nonsocial object salience on reduced attention to social stimuli in male ASD compared with typically developing (TD) children. Correlations with blood concentrations of neuropeptides linked with social cognition were also investigated. Eye‐tracking was performed in 102 preschool‐aged boys (50 ASD, 52 TD) using a paradigm with social (faces) versus nonsocial (objects) stimuli presented in pairs in two conditions where nonsocial stimulus salience was varied. Basal oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin concentrations were measured in blood. Compared with TD boys those with ASD viewed social stimuli less only when they were paired with low‐salience nonsocial objects. Additionally, boys with ASD spent less time than TD ones viewing facial features, particularly the eyes. In TD boys, OXT concentrations and cognitive development scores were positively associated with time spent viewing the eye region, whereas for boys with ASD associations with time spent viewing faces were negative. Reduced gaze toward social stimuli in ASD relative to TD individuals may therefore be influenced by how salient the paired nonsocial objects are for the latter. On the other hand, reduced interest in the eyes of faces in boys with ASD is not influenced by how salient competing nonsocial stimuli are. Basal OXT concentrations and cognitive development scores are predictive of time spent viewing social stimuli in TD boys (eyes) and those with ASD (faces) but in the opposite direction. Lay Summary Children with autism exhibit reduced attention to social paired with nonsocial stimuli compared to typically developing children. Using eye‐tracking we show this difference is due to typically developing rather than autistic boys being more influenced by how interesting competing nonsocial objects are. On the other hand, reduced time looking at the eyes in autistic relative to typically developing boys is unaffected by nonsocial object salience. Time spent viewing social stimuli is associated with cognitive development and blood levels of oxytocin.