The Interpretation of E-Motions in Faces and Bodies Derived from Static Artworks by Individuals with High Functioning Autistic Spectrum

Abstract

E-motions are defined as those affective states the expressions of which—conveyed either by static faces or body posture—embody a dynamic component and, consequently, convey a higher sense of dynamicity than other emotional expressions. An experiment is presented, aimed at testing whether e-motions are perceived as such also by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which have been associated with impairments in emotion recognition and in motion perception. To this aim we replicate with ASD individuals a study, originally conducted with typically developed individuals (TDs), in which we showed to both ASD and TD participants 14 bodiless heads and 14 headless bodies taken from eleven static artworks and four drawings. The Experiment was divided into two sessions. In Session 1 participants were asked to freely associate each stimulus to an emotion or an affective state (Task 1, option A); if they were unable to find a specific emotion, the experimenter showed them a list of eight possible emotions (words) and asked them to choose one from such list, that best described the affective state portrayed in the image (Task 1, option B). After their choice, they were asked to rate the intensity of the perceived emotion on a seven point Likert scale (Task 2). In Session 2 participants were requested to evaluate the degree of dynamicity conveyed by each stimulus on a 7 point Likert scale. Results showed that ASDs and TDs shared a similar range of verbal expressions defining emotions; however, ASDs (i) showed an impairment in the ability to spontaneously assign an emotion to a headless body, and (ii) they more frequently used terms denoting negative emotions (for both faces and bodies) as compared to neutral emotions, which in turn were more frequently used by TDs. No difference emerged between the two groups for positive emotions, with happiness being the emotion better recognized in both faces and in bodies. Although overall there are no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the emotions assigned to the images and the degree of perceived dynamicity, the interaction Artwork x Group showed that for some images ASDs assigned a different value than TDs to perceived dynamicity. Moreover, two images were interpreted by ASDs as conveying completely different emotions than those perceived by TDs. Results are discussed in light of the ability of ASDs to resolve ambiguity, and of possible different cognitive styles characterizing the aesthetical/emotional experience.

Ties between reading faces, bodies, eyes, and autistic traits

“…Moreover, emotion recognition in BM is reported to be not generally impaired in a sample of high-functioning (with IQ within or higher than the normal range) autistic individuals predominated by males: some emotions are recognized much better than others ( Actis-Grosso et al, 2015 ). In ASD, some difficulties are reported also in interpreting E-Motions, i.e., affective expressions conveyed either by static faces or body postures with a high degree of perceived dynamics, forces at work ( Della-Torre et al, 2021 ). Individuals with a high degree of autistic traits expression exhibit deficits in identifying whole-seen own body motion ( Burling et al, 2019 ).…”

Looking Into Mona Lisa’s Smiling Eyes: Allusion to an Illusion

“…However, out of will, or by chance, Leonardo infused in Mona Lisa's facial expression ''motion''. Not the motion that characterizes facial expressions such as anger, fear, joy, or sadness, which can induce an implicit sense of dynamism to the figure represented (Actis-Grosso and Zavagno, 2015;Della Torre et al, 2021), but something much more subtle, elusive, like someone whose gaze is lost in the void while looking in the direction of another person. Is she looking at me?…”