The Amygdala's Role in Atypical Gaze in Participants with Autism

Eye contact in those with autism (ASD) is a frequent discussion, including in our office. Often, it is parents asking the questions, often wanting their child to give them more eye contact, "because that's what I had to do as a kid." It's well known that those with ASD typically have difficulty with both eye contact as well as identifying emotions displayed on another's face.

We've written at least one other blog with research about this topic, which you can find here.

It is important to note that this study was very small ... only 16 individuals with ASD and 17 individuals who are neurotypical (NT), as a control. They were also all male and this study was completed in Germany.

This study was looking at the amygdala's role in atypical gaze in participants with autism, compared to neurotypical participants, as well as if/how that relates to the ASD participant's ability to correctly identify the emotion on the photo of a face they were shown.

Where is the amygdala? It's here, deep inside your brain, one on the left side and one on the right side ...

What is the amygdala? It's a small, almond shaped part of your brain, often referred to when we're talking about emotions, particularly fear, but it also has a part in our fight-or-flight response, as well as our memory!

In the study, the participants were shown photos of faces expressing emotions, like this ...

The participants had to identify the emotion as "happy" or "fearful" or "neutral." While they were doing this, the movements of the participant's eyes were studied - were they moving their eyes toward or away from the eyes and/or the mouth on the photo they were shown.

The study showed that those with ASD tended to initially fixate on the eyes of the person in the photo, more often than those considered NT, and vice versa for fixation on the mouth.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the study noted that those with ASD tended to avert their gaze away from the eyes of the person in the photo with an increase in amygdala activity while doing this; whereas the NT individuals did not avert their gaze away from the eyes in the photo and did not have the increase in amygdala activity like those with ASD.

In this study (and multiple studies have shown differing results), it seemed as though just the presence of a face caused the participants with ASD to divert their gaze, as opposed to the emotion on the face.

Those who were identified as NT correctly identified the emotion 97.3% of the time, whereas those with ASD correctly identified the emotion 93.8% of the time. These percentages are likely closer than many would expect.

For ALL participants (NT & ASD), the more they looked away from the eyes and mouth of the face they were to look at, the more likely they were to incorrectly identify the emotion on the face.

This study seems to support the idea that various parts of the brains of those with ASD function significantly different, maybe even dysfunctional, compared to those considered to be NT.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that eye contact is managed and influenced by many different parts of the brain, it is not as easy as it may seem to some, it is a complex system which is receiving input from many areas of the brain and body.

It is never okay or healthy to force someone to give eye contact, that forces people to do masking, which has significant and negative impacts on the person's mental health and quality of life.

Blog sponsored by One More Step Foundation

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6622276/

This is not medical advice, always ask a chiropractor if chiropractic care is appropriate for you, and your preferred healthcare provider before making dietary, supplement, or lifestyle changes