Emotion recognition in faces and the use of visual context Vo in young people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

We compared young people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) with age, sex and IQ matched controls on emotion recognition of faces and pictorial context. Each participant completed two tests of emotion recognition. The first used Ekman series faces. The second used facial expressions in visual context. A control task involved identifying occupations using visual context. The ability to recognize emotions in faces (with or without context) and the ability to identify occupations from context was positively correlated with both increasing age and IQ score. Neither a diagnosis of ASD nor a measure of severity (Autism Quotient score) affected these abilities, except that the participants with ASD were significantly worse at recognizing angry and happy facial expressions. Unlike the control group, most participants with ASD mirrored the facial expression before interpreting it. Test conditions may lead to results different from everyday life. Alternatively, deficits in emotion recognition in high-functioning ASD may be less marked than previously thought.

Face Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Independent or Interactive Processing of Facial Identity and Facial Expression?

“…In participants with ASD decreased recognition accuracy for emotions is reported not only for basic emotions (Ashwin et al 2006;Wright et al 2008) but also for complex emotions such as smugness, awkwardness and concern (Golan et al 2006): adults with autism performed poorly when they were asked to identify complex emotions and mental states from social interactions in short video scenes (Golan et al 2006). Performance was also impaired when emotions had to be identified in a social context providing only motion cues but no facial expressions, as in computerized animations of geometric figures (Boraston et al 2007).…”

“…Discrepancies were most apparent for fear, disgust, and happiness. In a study with children with autism Wright et al (2008) identified anger and happiness as the most challenging emotions to be recognized from a face.…”

Recognising ‘social’ and ‘non-social’ emotions in self and others: A study of autism

“…In keeping with this suggestion, high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA), who do not have intellectual impairment (i.e., IQs > 70), appear relatively unimpaired in their ability to recognise expressions of non-social emotions in the faces of photographed actors (e.g., Heerey, Keltner, & Capps, 2003;Rutherford & Towns, 2008;van der Geest, Kemner, Verbaten, & Engeland, 2002;Wright et al, 2008; for alternative explanations and findings see e.g., Grossman, Klin, Carter, & Volkmar, 2000;Hobson, 1991;Wallace, Coleman, & Bailey, 2008). Amongst lowfunctioning individuals with autism (LFA), who do have accompanying learning disability (i.e., have IQs of 70 or below), there is greater evidence of deficits in the recognition of non-social emotions (e.g., Braverman et al, 1989;Hobson, 1982Hobson, , 1986.…”

Recognition of Face and Emotional Facial Expressions in Autism

“…[50] Ancak bazı çalışmalarda önceki çalışmaların aksine yaş ve zekâ düzeylerine göre eşleştirilmiş otistik çocukların yüz ifadelerini tanımakta farklılık göstermediği bildirilmiştir. [29,51] Buna rağmen otistik çocuklarda görüldüğü gibi erişkin OSB'li bireylerin de negatif yüz duygularını tanıma zorluklarının sürdüğü bildirilmiştir. [52] Yetişkin OSB'lilerde hem yüz tanıma hem de duyguların yüz ifadelerini tanıma kusurları sürmek-tedir.…”