Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been known to avoid eye contact. Studies have demonstrated that children who eventually receive a diagnosis can display differences in eye contact as early as six months of age. Researchers have hypothesized that this tendency could impact the development of areas in the brain related to social behaviors.

What’s New: On November 19, 2015, the journal Current Biology published a study of sighted children born to blind parents. The researchers used eye-tracking technology to explore how 14 infants between the ages of 6 and 10 months engaged with adult faces, repeating the experiment 6 months later. When compared to a group of infants born to sighted parents, children born to blind parents paid less attention to adults’ eyes – as seen in similarly aged children with ASD. However, the children of blind parents demonstrated otherwise typical development, and even excelled at visual attention and memory.

Why it’s important: This study shows that typical children adjust their behavior as they adapt to their environments and social cues. If a parent uses eye movements, rather than words and gestures, to signal important objects, then a child will focus more on the parent’s eyes. Future studies could address if core ASD traits stem from a child’s inability to adapt to his or her early environment appropriately.

The Social Brain

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