This Optical Illusion Could Help Scientists Detect Autism Traits

For most people who observe the GIF, it will look like a 3D cylinder of dots moving in rotation But the way that people come to that conclusion differs.

Some people need to focus on the white dots to observe the phenomenon, others the black dots, others can see the image in its entirety and observe the whole GIF and all its dots at once. As your eyes try and decipher the image your pupils are doing different things.

Study uses questionnaire to support hypothesis

For those that examine the dots separately, changing from looking at the black dots to the white dots will make their pupils expand and contract rapidly. If you are looking at the image for a while though, your pupils will remain a more consistent size.

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As part of the autistic screening, test subjects were first asked to complete a questionnaire, a higher score on the form meant respondents were more likely to show autistic traits. Following the questionnaire, the subjects were presented with the GIF and their pupil's responses were measured.

The researchers found that the people whose pupils oscillated when they looked at the rotating cylinder had also scored higher on the questionnaire making them more likely to display autistic tendencies.

Autistic people inclined to be more detailed orientated

One theory about this is that autistic minds are more detail orientated and so will examine the image as a combination of dots rather than a whole image. The researchers are keen to continue their research to see if similar pupil fluctuations occur in people already diagnosed with autism.

The authors of the study believe that the pupil changes will be even starker in people who have clinically diagnosed autism. They believe that with the further study, this test could become an important tool for assisting the diagnosis of people with autism.

The research was published in eLife.