The role of eye contact in young children’s judgments of others’ visibility: A comparison of preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorder

•Preschoolers with and without ASD were asked if they could see a person whose eyes were covered.•Both groups denied seeing the person.•Preschoolers with ASD judged that they could see partially covered objects.•It is argued that preschoolers with and without ASD are sensitive to social reciprocity. Typically-developing (TD) children under age 5 often deny that they can see a person whose eyes are covered (e.g., Moll & Khalulyan, 2017). This has been interpreted as a manifestation of their preference for reciprocal interactions. We investigated how 3- to 4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 12) respond in this situation. Because a lack of interpersonal connectedness and reciprocal communication are core features of this disorder, we predicted that young children with ASD will not make mutual regard a condition for seeing another person and therefore acknowledge being able to see her. Against this prediction, children with ASD gave the same negative answers as a group of TD (n = 36) age-mates. Various interpretations are discussed, including the possibility that some children with ASD are capable of relating to others as second persons.