Patterns of Visual Attention and Gaze to Human and Animal Faces in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

\ud The aim of the study is to investigate the patterns of visual attention and gaze to familiar female/male faces and animal faces in high-functioning children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Seven children with ASD and ten (10) typically developing (TD) children participated in this study. To collect data, an eye-tracking system was used while participants looked at visual stimuli. According to the results of the study, high-functioning children with ASD have deficiency in getting relevant social information from the eyes though faces familiar to them, but they use information from the eye region in face exploration more than from the other parts of the faces. In addition, children with ASD seem to present gaze patterns similar to those of TD children during face exploration