Brief Report: Atypical Visual Exploration in Autism Spectrum Disorder Cannot be Attributed to the Amygdala

Prior studies have emphasized thecontribution of aberrantamygdala structure and functionin social aspects ofautism. However, it remains largely unknown whether amygdala dysfunction directly impairsvisual attention and exploration as has beenobserved in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Here, gaze patterns were directly compared between a rare amygdala lesion patient andadults with ASD when they freely viewed static images ofcomplex natural scenes. Theamygdala lesion patient showed a gaze pattern that was more similar tocontrols rather thanthat of theASDgroup, which was independent of image content (social vs. objects)or complexity. This finding was further corroborated by analysisof temporal aspects of the gaze patterns and semantic categoryanalysis. Together, the present results suggest that abnormal visual exploration observed in people with ASD is not likely primarilyattributed to the amygdala.