First Name:
Sarah
Last Name:
Clarke
Major Department:
Psychology
Thesis Director:
Chris Dickinson
Date of Thesis:
Dec 2013
This thesis examines typical adults' patterns of eye contact while they view faces. Autism spectrum disorder and social perception are discussed. Typically developing adults spend more time making eye contact in comparison to individuals with Autism spectrum disorder. My goal is to look at this question in a more naturalistic-dynamic situation. In this phase of the research, data of how typically developing adults view faces was collected. I hypothesized that consistent with previous research, more time will be spent looking at the eyes rather than the nose, mouth and other regions of the face across the video. Participants watched a video simulating an initial therapy session while eye gaze was recorded. Following videos a questionnaire was administered to evaluate memory. I found that consistent with previous research, overall participants spent more time looking at the eye region. Results revealed a lack of significant difference in duration of inspection and number of inspections between re-inspection of the eyes. The implication of these findings suggest that there is a pattern to how we view faces. In addition, other implications are discussed.