Erin Niehaus

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The present study investigated the intersection between autism spectrum disorder (ASD), animated figures and eye contact. Additionally, the data collection attempted to measure differences in visual perception between autistic and allistic populations. There were a total of 14 autistic participants and 13 allistic participants. All participants were tested with eye tracking technology in the presence of animated and realistic figures. It was hypothesized that the autistic participants would view the eyes of both faces less in comparison to the allistic population. Autistic participants were predicted to be more likely to engage in eye contact with animated faces compared to realistic faces. Findings did not show a significant difference between the performance of autistic and allistic individuals. The amount of time allistic participants spent viewing both animated and realistic stimuli was shown to be higher than that of autistic participants. The type of stimuli did not have an observable effect on the performance of participants. It could not be concluded from the data provided that autistic participants had increased engagement with animated figures. This study is important for the purpose of contributing to research that studies both eye contact and response to stimuli types in autistic participants. The implications for research include knowledge on how autistic and allistic individuals alike respond to different types of facial stimuli.

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