DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study is designed to provide a comprehensive characterization of gesture comprehension in high functioning autism, through quantitative analyses of performance on gesture recognition tasks, and eye-fixations during gesture and speech processing. The design of the study will test hypotheses which target underlying features of the communicative situation that may enhance or impede gesture comprehension abilities in autism (i.e., integration of gestures with speech, degree of symbolic representation in gesture). This will be accomplished by comparing gesture comprehension performance across tasks with three distinct classes of representational gestures (i.e., iconic gestures, pantomime, emblems). Hypotheses concerning the relationship between gesture comprehension abilities and social outcomes will also be examined. The findings of this study will have important implications for the broader understanding of communication and social impairments in autism and also for treatment and interventions focused on improving social competence and communication in autism.