Eye movements reveal atypical complex cognitive processing of social information in autistic children

Autistic people often experience difficulties in complex cognitive processing, particularly when real-time social information is involved. Given the mixed evidence regarding the interplay between social factors and task complexity, the current study investigated how these factors jointly influence cognitive processing in young autistic children. A total of 65 Chinese children aged 5-8 years participated, including 32 autistic and 33 neurotypical children. Children were asked to view a picture depicting a Chinese traditional cultural event several times, each time with a different inspection instruction. Instructions were either social (simple and complex) or non-social (simple and complex) in nature. The results showed that, for the non-social tasks, autistic children adjusted their gaze patterns based on task complexity in a similar way to neurotypical children. However, in social tasks, unlike neurotypical children, autistic children did not adjust their gaze patterns based on task complexity. These findings suggest that the cognitive processing differences in young autistic children are influenced not only by task complexity but also by social demands, with such differences particularly pronounced under social tasks.