Abstract:  Early clinical observational research found that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were less likely to look at others' eyes during social interactions. However, recent eye-tracking studies have found that diminished eye region fixation in face processing of individuals with ASD is gradually appearing along with the age growth, which is associated with face processing impairment. The underlying cognitive neural mechanism may be derived not only originally from the abnormal amygdala activation, but also secondarily from the abnormal social brain development. However, it is not yet clear whether the ASD individual's amygdala is hyperactivated to actively avoid eyes or is hypoactivated to passively overlook eyes. In the future, researchers should conduct the combination studies of vertical comparison and horizontal tracking across different age stages and different research levels by collecting both eye movement and neural physiological data.

Key words: ASD individuals, face processing, diminished eye region fixation, abnormal amygadala activation