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    Presence of contagious yawning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Usui, S. and Senju, Atsushi and Kikuchi, Y. and Akechi, H. and Tojo, Y. and Osanai, H. and Hasegawa, T. (2013) Presence of contagious yawning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research and Treatment 2013 , pp. 1-8. ISSN 2090-1925.

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    Abstract

    Most previous studies suggest diminished susceptibility to contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it could be driven by their atypical attention to the face. To test this hypothesis, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children were shown yawning and control movies. To ensure participants' attention to the face, an eye tracker controlled the onset of the yawning and control stimuli. Results demonstrated that both TD children and children with ASD yawned more frequently when they watched the yawning stimuli than the control stimuli. It is suggested therefore that the absence of contagious yawning in children with ASD, as reported in previous studies, might relate to their weaker tendency to spontaneously attend to others' faces.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Brain and Cognitive Development, Centre for (CBCD)
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 17 Mar 2015 12:26
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:15
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/11838

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