Autistic people tend to have trouble shifting their gaze to take in all the details of a scene.

Children with autism have trouble learning that faces convey information, which may explain their tendency to miss social cues.

Doctors often conflate autism and intellectual disability, and no wonder: The biological distinction between them is murky. Scientific progress depends on knowing where the conditions intersect — and part ways.

Understanding how gaze differs in autistic people may help improve their lives.

Researchers have created an animated monkey avatar that makes realistic facial expressions — and that may yield insight into how autistic people interpret facial expressions.

Marmosets exposed to a mock infection in the womb have altered vocal development and diminished social interest; exposed macaques show changes in brain structure and function.

The social brain has a sweet spot that activates when people look each other in the eyes but not when they look at eyes in a video.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, have developed a new autism detection technique that distinguishes among different eye-gaze patterns to help doctors more quickly and accurately detect autism in children.

At 10 months of age, infants later diagnosed with autism show key differences in joint attention, a behavior in which two people focus on the same object or event.

The relatives of autistic people often have mild traits of the condition. Studying these family members could broaden our understanding of autism.