Eye gaze discomfort: Associations with autistic traits, alexithymia, face recognition, and emotion recognition.

Varying levels of traits associated with autism can be observed in the general population. One key feature associated with autism is reduced eye contact with others. Eye contact is often described as uncomfortable by autistic individuals, yet little is still known about how reduced eye contact impacts social cognition, and to what extent eye contact difficulties are specific to autism. For example, difficulties in recognizing emotions in facial expressions have been reported in autism, but it has not been established whether they are associated with reduced eye contact. Here, using a large sample of participants tested online, drawn from the general public and varying along different symptom scales, we examined self-reported eye contact discomfort as a mediating factor in reduced emotion recognition ability associated with autistic traits, while controlling for alexithymia, prosopagnosia, general sensory perception, and gender. Results showed that self-reported eye gaze discomfort was predicted by levels of autistic traits as well as by levels of alexithymic traits. Along with eye gaze discomfort, coping strategies were reported and differed in those with high autistic traits and high alexithymic traits. Furthermore, levels of autistic traits and levels of prosopagnosic traits both predicted slower emotion recognition. However, eye gaze discomfort was not a significant predictor of emotion recognition, resulting in an inconclusive mediating effect. This study was part of the novel trend of research studies conducted online, providing effective and potentially more inclusive data collection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).