Facial expressions of emotion are not merely responses indicative of internal states, they are also stimulus patterns that regulate the behavior of others. A series of four studies indicate that, by 12 months of age, human infants seek out and use such facial expressions to disambiguate situations. The deep side of a visual cliff was adjusted to a height that produced no clear avoidance and much referencing of the mother. If a mother posed joy or interest while her infant referenced, most infants crossed the deep side. If a mother posed fear or anger, very few infants crossed. If a mother posed sadness, an intermediate number crossed. These findings are not interpretable as a discrepancy reaction to an odd pose: in the absence of any depth whatsoever, few infants referenced the mother and those who did while the mother was posing fear hesitated but crossed nonetheless. The latter finding suggests that facial expressions regulate behavior most clearly in contexts of uncertainty.

No abstract

No abstract

The burgeoning role of technology in society has provided opportunities for the development of new means of communication for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This paper offers an organizational framework for describing traditional and emerging augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology, and highlights how tools within this framework can support a visual approach to everyday communication and improve language instruction. The growing adoption of handheld media devices along with applications acquired via a consumer-oriented delivery model suggests a potential paradigm shift in AAC for people with ASD.

In two studies, photographs of facial expressions of normal and Down's syndrome infants were viewed by mothers who recognized discrete emotions and reported regularities in caregiving associated with these emotions. Stimulating interactions were reported more frequently for high intensity expressions than for low intensity expressions. While these regularities held for both groups of infants, high intensity expressions were less frequent in the Down's group. The biological mothers of Down's infants seemingly compensated by reporting more stimulating interventions in response to their infants' low intensity expressions. Mothers who were unfamiliar with both groups of infants did not evidence this compensatory adjustment.