Exploring different explanations for performance on a theory of mind task in Williams syndrome and autism using eye movements

• This is the first study to explore looking behaviour of children with ASD and WS during a Theory of Mind task containing dynamic stimuli.
• The WS group have difficulties disengaging from faces rather than just a preference for faces per se.
• The ASD group did not show avoidance of looking at the faces in favour of objects or looking at the background.
• The WS and ASD groups showed similar looking behaviours when viewing social scenes.

The current study explored the looking behaviours of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Williams syndrome (WS), and typically developing (TD) children while they were administered a low-verbal Theory of Mind (ToM) task. Although ToM performance in both clinical groups was impaired, only participants with WS showed small differences in looking behaviour at the start of the video. Furthermore, while TD children who passed the ToM task looked longer at the original hiding place there was no such contrast in the clinical groups. This shows that looking behaviour in ASD and WS is not necessarily atypical when saliency aspects such as language, background, and colour are removed and that differences in looking behaviour cannot explain ToM performance.