Oh, those poor ignorant researchers... (minor rant)

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"researchers from the University of Vermont found that children with autism tended to focus more on a speaker’s mouth instead of the eyes when the conversation turned to emotional topics, such as what makes the children sad or scared."

...Ya' think?

“What you talk about really matters for children with ASD [autism spectrum disorder],” said lead author Tiffany Hutchins, an assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders."

...Because up til now, everyone thought we were just room decorations?

http://www.ktva.com/eye-movements-may-hold-clues-to-treating-children-with-autism-311/

To the researchers: Next time, get to know us. Learn from us. Maybe you won't seem so...ignorant about our issues.

This is why slogans like "Nothing about us, without us" are so important.

Decades of autism "awareness" and this is considered cutting edge research Maybe in another 20 years they will figure out we look at the mouth or nose or away as coping mechanism for not only emotional conversations.

Forget the research, get me in touch with the group that provided her the grant. I've got a great hypothesis I could use some fat research money on: I theorize that when a tree falls in the woods and no one's around to hear it, it does indeed make a sound.

Some jack*sses just gave like a million dollars to the neurology department at my university to study autism. I'm the only one in the sociology department studying autism and I am unfunded. Partially because if you take funding, you have to do the type of research that the funders want. That's probably why we keep seeing the same garbage over and over about earlier identification and treatment.

I can answer the question for those researchers for them, simply because I know a lot of autistic people and have also read a ton of OTHER research. Autistic kids don't get much information from eyeballs and also find staring at them unpleasant. They're probably looking at the mouths to see the the expression change. Does this emotion go with a downturned mouth, or an upturned one?

Really? What's the big deal about looking at mouths? Deaf people do that too and anyone when they are hard of hearing or have auditory processing disorders. I look at people faces like their mouths and noses or ears or hair. To me that is good eye contact.

Aristophanes, that was hilarious. Thank you.

Edenthiel, I'm a fan. Whenever I see you on a post, it seems highly likely to contain the complex information I crave, but hate finding.

That being said, why is there no :headdesk: or 'head hitting a wall' emoji on here? If nothing but for this, it seems necessary.

Oddly enough, I look at mouths many times just because it helps me understand words in different environments.

Edit reading through the posted article I was struck by the sheer ignorance of this:
"“You just change a few words by talking about what people do versus how they feel and you can have a profound impact on where eyes go for information,” she said in a university news release."

Ummmm, if others are like me, I am great at describing actions and not feelings. I can recount those things but can't find words or even understand many times when people ask something dealing with feelings. I always got, "Not what your did or going to do, what do you feel?"

So, if a person is like me, maybe the incoming information is being processed the same way.

I'd rather see some research into why the "normal" people in western culture insist on looking into each other's eyes. I'm sure it has something to do with aggression.
Also, why do modern people look right into the camera? They didn't in the distant past. They always looked away.
I don't believe it's natural for anyone, but forced from an early age on those who are more malleable.

1850 and 1900 are pretty distant. If you look at old photos, they are usually looking away.
Anyway, the point is that I don't believe it's natural at all.
And it is considered aggressive or disrespectful in many cultures.

I'd hardly call that cutting edge research.