Autistic and non-autistic people evaluate eye contact cues in context to identify communicative opportunities

Effective gaze-based joint attention requires people to distinguish between communicative and private gaze. Eye contact and repeated averted gaze shifts are key cues for gaze-based communication and joint attention, but it remains unclear how the temporal and perceptual dynamics of these gaze cues combine to signal an interlocutor's intention to communicate. This study examines three key perceptual properties of dynamic eye gaze displays, and the extent to which they influence the perception of communicative intent. Both autistic (n = 126) and non-autistic (n = 118) participants completed a semi-interactive task with an on-screen agent that displayed dynamic eye movements on each trial searching for a target among three objects. Participants had to decide whether the agent was privately inspecting the objects or requesting the participant to ‘give’ them one of the blocks (i.e., attempting to communicate). Across trials, we manipulated whether the agent displayed eye contact and made repeated averted gaze shifts at the same object and the duration of gaze displays. We measured the frequency of ‘give’ responses (indexing perceived communicative intent) and reaction times (indexing response certainty). Participants were most likely to perceive communicative intent when the agent displayed eye contact and repeated averted gaze shifts. Gaze duration was a less potent signal of communicative intent. However, longer gaze durations increased perceptions of communicative intent in the absence of eye contact and repeated averted gaze displays. Autistic and non-autistic participants exhibited similar overall patterns, challenging the traditional view of autism as a condition in which people have a reduced tendency to understand the social meaning of gaze cues.