Autistic and Nonautistic People Evaluate Eye Contact Cues in Context to Identify Communicative Opportunities

Effective gaze-based joint attention requires distinguishing between communicative gaze and private gaze. Eye contact and repeated averted gaze shifts to the same location are key cues for gaze-based communication, but the temporal and perceptual dynamics of these cues in signaling communicative intent remain unclear. This study examines three perceptual properties of dynamic eye gaze displays and their influence on the perception of communicative intent. Autistic and nonautistic participants completed a semi-interactive task with an onscreen agent displaying dynamic eye movements searching for an object. Participants decided whether the agent was privately inspecting the objects or requesting the participant to "give" them one (i.e., attempting to communicate). We manipulated whether the agent displayed eye contact, made repeated 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/bias). Participants were most likely to perceive communicative intent following displays comprising eye contact and repeated gaze. Gaze duration was a less potent signal, but increased perceptions of communicative intent in the absence of eye contact and repeated gaze. Autistic and nonautistic participants exhibited similar patterns, challenging the view that autistic people have broad "deficits" in understanding social gaze cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).