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Brief Report: Does Eye Contact Induce Contagious Yawning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

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Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly fail to show contagious yawning, but the mechanism underlying the lack of contagious yawning is still unclear. The current study examined whether instructed fixation on the eyes modulates contagious yawning in ASD. Thirty-one children with ASD, as well as 31 age-matched typically developing (TD) children, observed video clips of either yawning or control mouth movements. Participants were instructed to fixate to the eyes of the face stimuli. Following instructed fixation on the eyes, both TD children and children with ASD yawned equally frequently in response to yawning stimuli. Current results suggest that contagious yawning could occur in ASD under an experimental condition in which they are instructed to fixate on the yawning eyes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the children and their parents for participation, Makiko Maeda for the preparation of the stimuli, and Katarina Begus and Sara Serbin for the help in video coding. This study was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI, B, 19330210) from Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, and A.S. was supported by an ESRC Research Fellowship (RES-063-27-0207).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK

    Atsushi Senju

  2. Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yukiko Kikuchi, Hironori Akechi & Toshikazu Hasegawa

  3. Faculty of Education, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki, Japan

    Yoshikuni Tojo

  4. Musashino Higashi Gakuen, Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroo Osanai

Authors
  1. Atsushi Senju
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  2. Yukiko Kikuchi
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  3. Hironori Akechi
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  4. Toshikazu Hasegawa
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  5. Yoshikuni Tojo
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  6. Hiroo Osanai
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Correspondence to Atsushi Senju.

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Senju, A., Kikuchi, Y., Akechi, H. et al. Brief Report: Does Eye Contact Induce Contagious Yawning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?. J Autism Dev Disord 39, 1598–1602 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0785-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0785-5

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