Sex-specific patterns in social visual attention among individuals with autistic traits.

Abstract

Background: Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition more prevalent in males, with sex differences emerging in both prevalence and core symptoms. However, most studies investigating behavioral and cognitive features of autism tend to include more male samples, leading to a male-biased understanding. The sex imbalance limits the specificity of these features, especially in female individuals with autism. Hence, it is necessary to explore sex-related differences in behavioral-cognitive traits linked to autism in the general population.

Methods: In this study, we designed a dynamic emotion-discrimination task to investigate sex differences in attention to emotional stimuli among the general population with autistic traits. Behavioral and eye movement data were recorded during the task, and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) was used to assess autistic traits. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze gaze patterns in male and female groups. Additionally, correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between AQ scores and proportion of fixation time in both groups.

Results: Significant sex differences in attention to the eye regions of faces were observed, with females focusing more on the eyes than males. Correlation analyses revealed that, in males, lower eye-looking was associated with higher levels of autistic traits, whereas no such association was found in females.

Conclusions: Overall, these results reveal that attention patterns to emotional faces differed between females and males, and autistic traits predicted the trend of eye-looking in males. These findings suggest that sex-related stratification in social attention should be considered in clinical contexts.