Eye-tracking studies suggest that visual encoding is important for social processes such as socio-moral reasoning. Alterations to the visual encoding of faces, for example, have been linked to the social phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and are associated with social and communication impairments. Yet, people with ASD often perform similarly to neurotypical participants on measures of moral reasoning, supporting the hypothesis of differential mechanisms of moral reasoning in ASD. The objective of this study was to document visual encoding and moral reasoning in ASD and neurotypical individuals using a visual, ecological, sociomoral reasoning paradigm paired with eye-tracking. Two groups (ASD, Control) matched for age and IQ completed the SoMoral task, a set of picture situations describing everyday moral dilemmas, while their eye movements and pupil dilation were recorded. Moral understanding, decision-making, and justification were recorded. Participants with ASD presented a longer time to first fixation on faces. They also understood fewer dilemmas and produced fewer socially adaptive responses. Despite a similar average level of moral maturity, the justifications produced by participants with ASD were not distributed in the same way as the neurotypical participants. Visual encoding was a significant predictor of moral decision-making and moral justification for both groups. The results are discussed in the context of alternative mechanisms of moral reasoning in ASD.

As the first step of social information processing, visual encoding underlies the interpretation of social cues. Faces, in particular, convey a large amount of affective information, which can be subsequently used in the planning and production of adaptive social behaviors. Sociomoral reasoning is a specific social skill that is associated with engagement in appropriate social behaviors when faced with dilemmas. Previous studies using eye tracking suggest that visual encoding may play an important role in decision-making when individuals are faced with extreme moral dilemmas, but it is not known if this is generalizable to everyday situations. The main objective of this study was to assess the contribution of visual encoding to everyday sociomoral reasoning using eye tracking and ecological visual dilemmas. Participants completed the SocioMoral Reasoning Aptitude Level (SoMoral) task while their eye movements and pupil dilation were recorded. While visual encoding was not a predictor of sociomoral decision-making, sociomoral maturity was predicted by fixation count. Thus, in an ecological context, visual encoding of social cues appears to be associated with sociomoral maturity: the production of a justification is associated with volitional encoding strategies. Implications with regards to the dual-process theory of sociomoral reasoning and social information processing are discussed.