Care to elaborate? They didn't cite a bunch of studies in Science Daily (but I'd assume in the article published in Science they would), and the article is taken directly from the University of Washington's press release.
Second, while there is evidence that eye contact is necessary for children under one to recognize phonemes, and that eye contact has an effect on extroversion and other elements of temperament, there is (AFAIK) no evidence that it has any affect on children's ability to acquire academic skills of the sort taught in school.
Furthermore academic skills is not really what the article seem to be after.