Gaze

Recent articles

A slice of a cerebellum.

Mutation in top autism-linked gene may alter eye reflex

The discovery could help clinicians diagnose children who carry mutations in the gene, called SCN2A, and gauge their responses to potential therapies.

By Charles Q. Choi
26 February 2024 | 5 min read
A child uses a tablet device

New tablet-based tools to spot autism draw excitement — and questions

Handheld devices promise to bring autism detection home, but many researchers urge caution.

By Charles Q. Choi
4 January 2024 | 8 min read
A hand reaches from above to add a pill to a stack that is resting against the x-axis of a graph.

Looking at eye tracking’s potential for clinical trials

This month’s Going on Trial newsletter explores how eye tracking might be used beyond helping with diagnosis, among other drug development news.

By Calli McMurray
28 September 2023 | 6 min read
Research images from an eye-tracking study.

Tablet-based tool to spot autism validated in two studies

The new tool could help clinicians diagnose autism in children younger than 3, the findings show.

By Charles Q. Choi
5 September 2023 | 5 min read
Illustration of hybrid objects: part light bulb, part lab vial, some in blue and some in red to signify null and replicated results.

Null and Noteworthy: An ineffective therapy and an effective biomarker

In this edition, a strategy to help autistic children adapt their skills to new situations shows no benefit, but an early-life autism biomarker does.

By Laura Dattaro
6 April 2022 | 4 min read
Two people having an intense conversation, one unable to make direct eye contact.

Alexithymia, not autism, may drive eye-gaze patterns

How autistic people look at a face may be linked more to alexithymia, a condition marked by difficulties recognizing one's own emotions, than to autism.

By Laura Dattaro
14 June 2021 | 5 min read
Two women making eye contact while talking with each other.

Social attention shows sex difference in autism

Autistic boys and men are less attuned to social stimuli than autistic girls and women are, according to new unpublished work.

By Angie Voyles Askham
14 May 2021 | 3 min read
Baby in mother's lap watching her mouth move as she talks.

Infant siblings of autistic children miss language-learning clues

So-called ‘baby sibs’ watch adults’ faces just as much as children without autistic siblings do, but they don’t understand spoken language as well.

By Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
6 May 2021 | 3 min read

Virtual-reality system tracks eye gaze in real-world settings

A new eye-tracking program for VR headsets captures nuanced aspects of social attention in autistic people.

By Peter Hess
5 May 2021 | 3 min read

Gaze-tracking app predicts autism diagnosis in toddlers

A mobile phone app that tracks a toddler's gaze as she watches short videos can distinguish between children who later receive an autism diagnosis and those who do not according to a new study.

By Peter Hess
26 April 2021 | 3 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of columns of text with eyes peeking out from behind the central column to look at a bright blue spot.

This paper changed my Life: Bill Newsome reflects on a quadrilogy of classic visual perception studies

The 1970s papers from Goldberg and Wurtz made ambitious mechanistic studies of higher brain functions seem feasible.

By Bill Newsome
21 February 2025 | 6 min read
Interconnected lines form a world map.

Science must step away from nationally managed infrastructure

Scientific data and independence are at risk. We need to work with community-driven services and university libraries to create new multi-country organizations that are resilient to political interference.

By Dan Goodman
20 February 2025 | 7 min read
Illustration of a woman holding a pencil over a map.

Familiar autism-linked genes emerge from first analysis of Latin American cohort

The findings, detailed in a January preprint, suggest autism’s fundamental biology is the same regardless of ancestry. But questions remain.

By Laura Dattaro
20 February 2025 | 5 min read