The influence of explicit and implicit visual cues on individual perceptual characteristics and social behaviors and their association with autistic traits

Four groups of Chinese college students participated in the research: Study 1 examined how these cues affect individual perceptual characteristics and their association with autistic traits (n1a=40; n1b=42). Study 2 examined how these cues affect individual dishonest behavior and their association with autistic traits (n2a=43; n2b=43). The results indicate that individuals are more sensitive to faces with direct gaze and larger pupils. Moreover, when faced with social objects exhibiting these cues, individuals' dishonest behavior decreases. We also found that individuals with higher levels of autistic traits are less sensitive to gaze direction in non-social tasks but more affected by gaze direction in social tasks. However, there was no correlation between the level of autistic traits and changes in implicit visual cues.

本研究共招募四组中国大学生作为被试参与实验：实验一考察了此类线索对个体感知特征的影响，以及该特征与自闭症特质（autistic traits）的关联，两组样本量分别为n1a=40、n1b=42；实验二考察了此类线索对个体不诚实行为的影响，以及该行为与自闭症特质的关联，两组样本量分别为n2a=43、n2b=43。研究结果显示，个体对带有直视眼神与更大瞳孔的面孔更为敏感。此外，当面对带有此类线索的社会刺激时，个体的不诚实行为会有所降低。本研究还发现，自闭症特质水平较高的个体在非社会任务中对眼神方向的敏感度更低，但在社会任务中则更容易受到眼神方向的影响。不过，自闭症特质水平与内隐视觉线索的变化之间并未发现显著相关性。