![]() This expected increase in neural coupling was not observed in ASD, and is consistent with the differences in social interactions. Neural activity in these regions was synchronous between typical participants during real eye-to-eye contact but not during gaze at a video face. The investigators found that during eye contact, participants with ASD had significantly reduced activity in the dorsal parietal cortex compared to those without ASD.įurther, social features of ASD, as measured by ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition) scores, were associated with activity in this brain region. The researchers, led by Hirsch and James McPartland, a professor at the Yale Child Study Center, analyzed brain activity during brief social interactions between pairs of adults-each including a typical participant and one with ASD-using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a non-invasive optical neuroimaging method.īoth participants were fitted with caps with many sensors that emitted light into the brain and also recorded changes in light signals with information about brain activity during face gaze and eye-to-eye contact. “Our brains are hungry for information about other people, and we need to understand how these social mechanisms operate in the context of a real and interactive world in both typically developed individuals as well as individuals with ASD,” says co-corresponding author Joy Hirsch, professor of psychiatry, comparative medicine, and of neuroscience at Yale University. The study in the journal PLOS ONE finds that these neural responses to live face and eye contact may provide a biological index relevant to clinical classification and assessment of autism. However, using an innovative technology that enables imaging of two individuals during live and natural conditions, the researchers have identified specific brain areas in the dorsal parietal region of the brain associated with the social symptomatology of autism. Although eye contact is a critically important part of everyday interactions, scientists have been limited in studying the neurological basis of live social interaction with eye contact in ASD because of the inability to image the brains of two people simultaneously. Once your dog becomes a touchscreen expert, we can then show her new and interesting events to see how these events affect her decisions.Researchers may have found an explanation for reduced eye contact among people with autism.Ī common feature of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, is reduced eye contact with others in natural conditions. In this type of study, we’d teach your dog to make choices using their nose on a touchscreen. One final game we play with our dog scientists involves learning to use a touchscreen computer. From your dog’s choices, we can tell whether she can distinguish between different kinds of objects and learn more about her understanding of number. In a typical choice game, your dog will get to choose between two different boxes that have different numbers of food, balls, or other toys. Dogs’ decisions reflect how they process the world. Using techniques like this, researchers have learned that dogs are sometimes better at understanding human cues than we often expect.Īnother way we can learn more about how your dog thinks and makes decisions is to study which option she picks when given a choice of multiple options. We’ll then give your dog a chance to search for the food and see what types of cues he naturally uses. In a typical game, your dog will see one of our staff cueing the location of hidden food treats. By using simple pointing and looking gestures, we can see if you dog understands our intentions and goals. ![]() ![]() We are also interested in whether dogs can understand human social cues. In this way, we can see what dogs know simply by measuring how long they look at certain events. Research has shown that when dogs detect the violation, they will look longer at the display as if they were “surprised” - just like a human watching a magic trick. ![]() Sometimes one of these events will involve something that’s unexpected - an event that appears to violate physical or social principles. In “looking” games, we will ask your dog to sit while we show her a small stage and a series of events. Scientists have used these “looking measures” to discover what dogs know. One way we can learn more about how your dog thinks is to watch what she looks at. By presenting dogs with simple games, we can learn more about how they solve problems and understand how the world works. Our studies explore what dogs know about the physical and social world. At the Center for Canine Cognition at Yale, we’re interested in how dogs think. ![]()
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