The possible use of precision tinted lenses to improve social cognition in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

A masked randomised control design compared the effectiveness of precision ophthalmic tints in improving the recognition of emotion in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Fourteen children aged 10–14 with ASD and 14 control children matched on verbal and non-verbal IQ, wore spectacles with coloured lenses to complete two tasks that involved the observation of coloured video sequences in which social interactions were depicted. On one occasion (randomly first or second) the coloured lenses provided light of a colour that the child had one month previously selected as optimal for the clarity of text. On the other occasion the lenses differed in CIE UCS chromaticity by 0.077. Performance in the ASD group was superior in both social interaction tasks with the lenses that provided the optimal colour of light.