Heightened gaze responsiveness and mutual gaze instability at close distances characterize dyadic coordination in a marmoset model of autism
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with differences in social interaction, including alterations in gaze behavior and interpersonal distance. Although most assessments of ASD remain individual-centric, emerging human studies indicate that social difficulties may arise from atypical dyadic coordination rather than from reduced social interest alone. We examined dyadic coordination in a non-human primate model of ASD, focusing on gaze and inter-individual distance during minimally constrained first encounters between prenatal valproic acid-exposed marmosets (VPA) and unexposed conspecifics (UE). Markerless pose estimation quantified frame-by-frame gaze direction and spacing, comparing VPA–UE with UE–UE dyads. VPA–UE pairs exhibited a higher proportion of mutual-gaze events than UE–UE pairs. VPA individuals showed more rapid looks in response to the partner’s gaze, yet exhibited a lower proportion of one-sided looking events. VPA–UE dyads maintained shorter inter-individual distances than UE–UE dyads, and closer spacing was associated with decreased stability of mutual gaze. These findings reveal a dyadic coordination pattern in VPA–UE pairs, with rapid responsiveness coupled with a distance-dependent reduction in time spent in mutual gaze, paralleling features reported in human ASD. Our dyad-centric, markerless framework yields ecologically grounded readouts and potential intervention targets that leverage intact social responsiveness while accommodating altered spatial coordination.
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BibTeX
@article{nakamura2026heightened,
title = {{Heightened gaze responsiveness and mutual gaze instability at close distances characterize dyadic coordination in a marmoset model of autism}},
author = {Madoka Nakamura and Tomoko Sato and Tohru Kurotani and Kazuhisa Sakai and Anna Hadjiev and Shuntaro Sasai and Koki Mimura and Nobuyuki Kawai and Tsuyoshi Shimmura and Noritaka Ichinohe},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-76138-z},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-76138-z},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Heightened gaze responsiveness and mutual gaze instability at close distances characterize dyadic coordination in a marmoset model of autism
AU - Madoka Nakamura
AU - Tomoko Sato
AU - Tohru Kurotani
AU - Kazuhisa Sakai
AU - Anna Hadjiev
AU - Shuntaro Sasai
AU - Koki Mimura
AU - Nobuyuki Kawai
AU - Tsuyoshi Shimmura
AU - Noritaka Ichinohe
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-76138-z
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-76138-z
AB - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with differences in social interaction, including alterations in gaze behavior and interpersonal distance. Although most assessments of ASD remain individual-centric, emerging human studies indicate that social difficulties may arise from atypical dyadic coordination rather than from reduced social interest alone. We examined dyadic coordination in a non-human primate model of ASD, focusing on gaze and inter-individual distance during minimally constrained first encounters between prenatal valproic acid-exposed marmosets (VPA) and unexposed conspecifics (UE). Markerless pose estimation quantified frame-by-frame gaze direction and spacing, comparing VPA–UE with UE–UE dyads. VPA–UE pairs exhibited a higher proportion of mutual-gaze events than UE–UE pairs. VPA individuals showed more rapid looks in response to the partner’s gaze, yet exhibited a lower proportion of one-sided looking events. VPA–UE dyads maintained shorter inter-individual distances than UE–UE dyads, and closer spacing was associated with decreased stability of mutual gaze. These findings reveal a dyadic coordination pattern in VPA–UE pairs, with rapid responsiveness coupled with a distance-dependent reduction in time spent in mutual gaze, paralleling features reported in human ASD. Our dyad-centric, markerless framework yields ecologically grounded readouts and potential intervention targets that leverage intact social responsiveness while accommodating altered spatial coordination.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -