Reduced social attention is characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It has been suggested to result from an early onset and excessive influence of circumscribed interests (CIs) on gaze behaviour, compared to typically developing (TYP) individuals. To date, these findings have been mixed. The current eye-tracking study utilised a visual…

The relationship between emotion regulation, social interaction and different types of restricted and repetitive behaviors is poorly understood. In the present study, structural equation modeling based on information about 239 individuals with autism was used to examine whether emotion regulation and social communication were associated with…

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterised by impaired social communication and restricted repetitive behaviours. Researchers posit that these core features may be underpinned by disrupted structural connectivity. A tract based spatial statistical analysis of diffusion MRI data was performed to investigate white matter organisation (an…

The social communicative deficits and repetitive behaviours seen in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be affected by altered stimulus salience and reward attribution. The present study used eye tracking and a behavioural measure to index effort expenditure, arousal, and attention, during viewing of images depicting social scenes and…

This investigation examined communication patterns between high functioning children with autism and their families and typically developing children and their families within traditional dinner time conversation. Twenty families with a child with autism (3.5-7 years.) and ten families with typically developing children (3.5-6 years) were video…

The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part, eleven high-functioning adults with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) participated and were videotaped with a concealed camera while having an initial conversation with a typically developing stranger. Analyses revealed some significant differences with regard to the dyad members'…

The effectiveness of fenfluramine with hyperserotonergic autistic individuals (n=28 and ages 6-30) was evaluated. Evaluation of videotape recordings of individual behaviors suggested that fenfluramine failed to increase communicative behaviors or decrease stereotypic behaviors and inappropriate behaviors although a serotonergic effect was found in…

Ten parents of preschoolers with autism and 10 parents of typical preschoolers were given the Detection of Autism by Infant Sociability Interview, which elicits reports on 19 aspects of social engagement characteristics. Findings indicate that infants with autism had marked limitations in both person-to-person and person-person-object social…