Course of Face-to-face Interactions in Adults With Autism

April 10, 2025 updated by: Jos Boer, UMC Utrecht

Course of Face-to-face Interactions in Adults With Autism: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Experimental Design

This research explores how adults with autism make eye contact during formal and informal interactions; to what extent the nature of a conversation influences how eye contact is made in terms of length, frequency and overall presentation. Also what physiological responses to eye contact are, in order to determine to what extent eye contact leads to an increased, decreased or unchanged stress level. In addition, to gain insight into the similarities and differences in how people with ASD respond to eye contact of others compared to their own eye contact.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This research explores how adults with autism make eye contact during formal and informal interactions; to what extent the nature of a conversation influences how eye contact is made in terms of length, frequency and overall presentation. Also what physiological responses to eye contact are, in order to determine to what extent eye contact leads to an increased, decreased or unchanged stress level. In addition, to gain insight into the similarities and differences in how people with ASD respond to eye contact of others compared to their own eye contact.

The research design chosen is an exploratory mixed methods study, which was developed in co-design with an expert by experience. The design consists of two parts. In the first part, the researcher will have a conversation (with a formal and informal phase, in which the subject will be given the idea that only the formal part is part of the research) with an adult with ASD, during which hidden recordings of the subject's eye behavior will be made, and in addition, skin conductance and duration/frequency of the subject's eye contact will be recorded, without the subject knowing that this is intended for research into eye contact. In the second part, the researcher and subject watch the hidden recording of the subject's eye behavior, during which the subject's skin conductance will be recorded and special features of the subject, as seen by the researcher. Both the arrangement of the subjects and researcher, as well as the physiological measurements, will be tested in advance.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

54

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Netherlands
    • Overijssel
      • Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands, 7416 SB
        • Recruiting
        • Dimence Groep
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
          • Jos Boer, MSc

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion criteria

  • Neurotypical adults and adults with an ASD, determined according to an internationally recognized classification system.
  • Able to understand the instructions.
  • Motivation to participate in research.

Exclusion criteria

  • No good command of the Dutch language.
  • Use of alcohol and/or recreational drugs during the research.
  • Mentally too unstable to participate in the research.
  • Familiarity with treatment in the VGZ.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social interaction
Received intervention is a social interaction on which is reflected afterwards, in adults with and without autism, living in The Netherlands.
Behavioral: Conversation
The design consists of two parts. In the first part, the researcher will have a conversation (with a formal and informal phase, where the subject will be given the idea that only the formal part is part of the study) with an adult with ASD during which covert recordings of the subject's eye behavior will be made, and in addition skin conductance and duration/frequency of eye contact of the subject will be recorded, without the subject knowing that this is intended for the purpose of studying eye contact. In the second part, the researcher and subject will watch the covert recording of the subject's eye behavior, during which the subject's skin conductance will be recorded and details of the subject's behavior as seen by the researcher.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Frequency of eye contact in adults with autism, measured with video, audio and push button.
Time Frame: Baseline

The research consists of two parts. During the first part, the conversation, the frequency of eye contact will be investigated. This will be measured by video recordings of the eye region combined with the pressing of a push button by the researcher at moments when eye contact is present.

Data will be analyzed using software programs Observer XT and Matlab for the integration of push button, video recordings and audio recordings.
Baseline
Duration of eye contact in adults with autism, measured with video, audio and push button.
Time Frame: Baseline
The research consists of two parts. During the first part, the conversation, the duration of eye contact will be investigated. This will be measured by video recordings of the eye region combined with the pressing of a push button by the researcher at moments when eye contact is present. Data will be analyzed using software programs Observer XT and Matlab for the integration of push button, video recordings and audio recordings.
Baseline
Arousal during eye contact in adults with autism, measured with skin conductance
Time Frame: Baseline
The research consists of two parts. During the first part, the arousal during eye contact will be investigated. This will be measured by a skin conductance meter and analysed with the software program VSRRP.
Baseline
Arousal during reflection on ones own eye contact in adults with autism, measured with skin conductance
Time Frame: Baseline
During the second part, the reflection on video recordings of ones own eye contact in aduls with autism, the degree of arousal to seeing their own eye contact will be investigated. For this, skin conductance meter will be used and analysed with the software program VSRRP.
Baseline
Reflection on ones own eye contact in adults with autism, measured with video and audio
Time Frame: Baseline
During the second part, reflection first part, it will be investigated how subjects respond with words. For this, audio and video recordings will be used. Data analysis will be conducted with use of thematic analysis and software programs Atlas.ti, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

UMC Utrecht

Collaborators

Dimence Groep

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Nynke Boonstra, Professor, UMC Utrecht

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 3, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 30, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 28, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2025

Last Verified

April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 559902

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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