RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT06925308

Course of Face-to-face Interactions in Adults With Autism

Course of Face-to-face Interactions in Adults With Autism: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Experimental Design

Sponsor

UMC Utrecht

Enrollment

54 participants

Start Date

Feb 3, 2025

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)Neurotypical

Summary

This research explores how adults with autism make eye contact during formal and informal interactions; to what extent the nature of a conversation influences how eye contact is made in terms of length, frequency and overall presentation. Also what physiological responses to eye contact are, in order to determine to what extent eye contact leads to an increased, decreased or unchanged stress level. In addition, to gain insight into the similarities and differences in how people with ASD respond to eye contact of others compared to their own eye contact.

Eligibility

Min Age: 18 YearsMax Age: 65 Years

Inclusion Criteria3

Neurotypical adults and adults with an ASD, determined according to an internationally recognized classification system.
Able to understand the instructions.
Motivation to participate in research.

Exclusion Criteria4

No good command of the Dutch language.
Use of alcohol and/or recreational drugs during the research.
Mentally too unstable to participate in the research.
Familiarity with treatment in the VGZ.

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Interventions

BEHAVIORALConversation

The design consists of two parts. In the first part, the researcher will have a conversation (with a formal and informal phase, where the subject will be given the idea that only the formal part is part of the study) with an adult with ASD during which covert recordings of the subject's eye behavior will be made, and in addition skin conductance and duration/frequency of eye contact of the subject will be recorded, without the subject knowing that this is intended for the purpose of studying eye contact. In the second part, the researcher and subject will watch the covert recording of the subject's eye behavior, during which the subject's skin conductance will be recorded and details of the subject's behavior as seen by the researcher.