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

NCT ID: NCT06925308

Last Updated: 2025-04-13

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 54 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-02-03
• Study Completion Date: 2026-04-30

Brief Summary

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.

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.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Neurotypical

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Social interaction

Received intervention is a social interaction on which is reflected afterwards, in adults with and without autism, living in The Netherlands.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Conversation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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.

Interventions

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Dimence Groep

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

UMC Utrecht

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Jos Boer

MSc

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Nynke Boonstra, Professor

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

UMC Utrecht

Locations

Dimence Groep

Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Netherlands

Central Contacts

Jos Boer, MSc

Role: CONTACT

j.c.boer-30@umcutrecht.nl

+31 6 20083507

Nynke Boonstra, Professor

Role: CONTACT

tboonst2@umcutrecht.nl

Facility Contacts

Nynke Boonstra, Professor

Role: primary

tboonst2@umcutrecht.nl

+31 6 22678011

Bram Sizoo, Professor

Role: backup

b.b.sizoo@uva.nl

Other Identifiers

559902

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id