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Oomen D, Cracco E, Brass M, Wiersema JR. EEG frequency tagging evidence of intact social interaction recognition in adults with autism. Autism Res 2023. [PMID: 37040541 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023]
Abstract
To explain the social difficulties in autism, many studies have been conducted on social stimuli processing. However, this research has mostly used basic social stimuli (e.g., eyes, faces, hands, single agent), not resembling the complexity of what we encounter in our daily social lives and what people with autism experience difficulties with. Third-party social interactions are complex stimuli that we come across often and are also highly relevant for social functioning. Interestingly, the existing behavioral studies point to altered social interaction processing in autism. However, it is not clear whether this is due to altered recognition or altered interpretation of social interactions. Here, we specifically investigated the recognition of social interaction in adults with and without autism. More precisely, we measured neural responses to social scenes depicting either social interaction or not with an electroencephalogram frequency tagging task and compared these responses between adults with and without autism (N = 61). The results revealed an enhanced response to social scenes with interaction, replicating previous findings in a neurotypical sample. Crucially, this effect was found in both groups, with no difference between them. This suggests that social interaction recognition is not atypical in adults with autism. Taken together with the previous behavioral evidence, our study thus suggests that individuals with autism are able to recognize social interactions, but that they might not extract the same information from those interactions or that they might use the extracted information differently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danna Oomen
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- EXPLORA, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Emiel Cracco
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- EXPLORA, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marcel Brass
- EXPLORA, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- School of Mind and Brain/Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jan R Wiersema
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- EXPLORA, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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2
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Ho FC, Lam CSC, Lo SK. Differences Between Students With Comorbid Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder and Those With Intellectual Disability Alone in the Recognition of and Reaction to Emotions. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:593-605. [PMID: 32761303 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04630-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates whether students with intellectual disability (ID) alone differ from students with combined individual disability and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their recognition of emotions. The ability to recognise emotions does not mean that students automatically know how to react to these emotions. Differences in performance on recognition and reaction tasks are examined. Participants were 20 primary 6 students who had ID with ASD and 20 primary 6 students who had ID without ASD from four special schools. The testing and training materials were adapted from a local teaching package. The results showed that both groups exhibited similar performance patterns in recognition tasks. Students with comorbid ASD exhibited inferior performance in tasks requiring reactions to complex emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuk-Chuen Ho
- The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
| | | | - Sing-Kai Lo
- The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong
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Bagherzadeh-Azbari S, Lau GKB, Ouyang G, Zhou C, Hildebrandt A, Sommer W, Lui M. Multimodal Evidence of Atypical Processing of Eye Gaze and Facial Emotion in Children With Autistic Traits. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:733852. [PMID: 35242018 PMCID: PMC8886727 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.733852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the shared signal hypothesis (SSH) the impact of facial expressions on emotion processing partially depends on whether the gaze is directed toward or away from the observer. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD) several aspects of face processing have been found to be atypical, including attention to eye gaze and the identification of emotional expressions. However, there is little research on how gaze direction affects emotional expression processing in typically developing (TD) individuals and in those with ASD. This question is investigated here in two multimodal experiments. Experiment 1 required processing eye gaze direction while faces differed in emotional expression. Forty-seven children (aged 9-12 years) participated. Their Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) scores ranged from 0 to 6 in the experiment. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were sensitive to gaze direction and emotion, but emotion processing did not depend on gaze direction. However, for angry faces the gaze direction effect on the N170 amplitude, as typically observed in TD individuals, diminished with increasing ADOS score. For neutral expressions this correlation was not significant. Experiment 2 required explicit emotion classifications in a facial emotion composite task while eye gaze was manipulated incidentally. A group of 22 children with ASD was compared to a propensity score-matched group of TD children (mean age = 13 years). The same comparison was carried out for a subgroup of nine children with ASD who were less trained in social cognition, according to clinician's report. The ASD group performed overall worse in emotion recognition than the TD group, independently of emotion or gaze direction. However, for disgust expressions, eye tracking data revealed that TD children fixated relatively longer on the eyes of the stimulus face with a direct gaze as compared with averted gaze. In children with ASD we observed no such modulation of fixation behavior as a function of gaze direction. Overall, the present findings from ERPs and eye tracking confirm the hypothesis of an impaired sensitivity to gaze direction in children with ASD or elevated autistic traits, at least for specific emotions. Therefore, we conclude that multimodal investigations of the interaction between emotional processing and stimulus gaze direction are promising to understand the characteristics of individuals differing along the autism trait dimension.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gilbert Ka Bo Lau
- Center for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Guang Ouyang
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Changsong Zhou
- Department of Physics, Centre for Nonlinear Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Beijing-Hong Kong-Singapore Joint Centre for Nonlinear and Complex Systems, Institute of Computational and Theoretical Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Andrea Hildebrandt
- Department of Psychology and Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Physics, Centre for Nonlinear Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Ming Lui
- Center for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Song Y, Hakoda Y. Selective Impairment of Basic Emotion Recognition in People with Autism: Discrimination Thresholds for Recognition of Facial Expressions of Varying Intensities. J Autism Dev Disord 2019; 48:1886-1894. [PMID: 29274008 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3428-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by early onset qualitative impairments in reciprocal social development. However, whether individuals with ASD exhibit impaired recognition of facial expressions corresponding to basic emotions is debatable. To investigate subtle deficits in facial emotion recognition, we asked 14 children diagnosed with high-functioning autism (HFA)/AS and 17 typically developing peers to complete a new highly sensitive test of facial emotion recognition. The test stimuli comprised faces expressing increasing degrees of emotional intensity that slowly changed from a neutral to a full-intensity happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, or fear expression. We assessed individual differences in the intensity of stimuli required to make accurate judgments about emotional expressions. We found that, different emotions had different identification thresholds and the two groups were generally similar in terms of the sequence of discrimination threshold of six basic expressions. It was easier for individuals in both groups to identify emotions that were relatively fully expressed (e.g., intensity > 50%). Compared with control participants, children with ASD generally required stimuli with significantly greater intensity for the correct identification of anger, disgust, and fear expressions. These results suggest that individuals with ASD do not have a general but rather a selective impairment in basic emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongning Song
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Yuji Hakoda
- Faculty of Human Development and Education, Kyoto Women's University, Kyoto, Japan
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Ewing L, Pellicano E, King H, Lennuyeux-Comnene L, Farran EK, Karmiloff-Smith A, Smith ML. Atypical information-use in children with autism spectrum disorder during judgments of child and adult face identity. Dev Neuropsychol 2018; 43:370-384. [PMID: 29558171 PMCID: PMC5964451 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2018.1449846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Unusual patterns of fixation behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder during face tasks hint at atypical processing strategies that could contribute to diminished face expertise in this group. Here, we use the Bubbles reverse correlation technique to directly examine face-processing strategies during identity judgments in children with and without autism, and typical adults. Results support a qualitative atypicality in autistic face processing. We identify clear differences not only in the specific features relied upon for face judgments, but also more generally in the extent to which they demonstrate a flexible and adaptive profile of information use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Ewing
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, Great Britain
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Great Britain
| | - Elizabeth Pellicano
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, Great Britain
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - Harriet King
- Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, Great Britain
| | | | - Emily K Farran
- UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, Great Britain
| | | | - Marie L Smith
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, Great Britain
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Song Y, Hakoda Y, Sang B. A selective impairment in extracting fearful information from another's eyes in Autism. Autism Res 2016; 9:1002-11. [PMID: 26777988 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2015] [Revised: 10/05/2015] [Accepted: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yongning Song
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University; China
| | - Yuji Hakoda
- Faculty of Human Development and Education; Kyoto Women's University; Kyoto Japan
| | - Biao Sang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University; China
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Tang J, Falkmer M, Horlin C, Tan T, Vaz S, Falkmer T. Face Recognition and Visual Search Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Amending and Extending a Recent Review by Weigelt et al. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0134439. [PMID: 26252877 PMCID: PMC4529109 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2014] [Accepted: 07/07/2015] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this review was to build upon a recent review by Weigelt et al. which examined visual search strategies and face identification between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing peers. Seven databases, CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, ERIC, Medline, Proquest, PsychInfo and PubMed were used to locate published scientific studies matching our inclusion criteria. A total of 28 articles not included in Weigelt et al. met criteria for inclusion into this systematic review. Of these 28 studies, 16 were available and met criteria at the time of the previous review, but were mistakenly excluded; and twelve were recently published. Weigelt et al. found quantitative, but not qualitative, differences in face identification in individuals with ASD. In contrast, the current systematic review found both qualitative and quantitative differences in face identification between individuals with and without ASD. There is a large inconsistency in findings across the eye tracking and neurobiological studies reviewed. Recommendations for future research in face recognition in ASD were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Tang
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Marita Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Education and Communication, CHILD programme, Institution of Disability Research Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
- Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Chiara Horlin
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Tele Tan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Sharmila Vaz
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Torbjörn Falkmer
- School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University & Pain and Rehabilitation Centre, UHL, County Council, Linköping, Sweden
- Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- * E-mail:
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Guarnera M, Hichy Z, Cascio MI, Carrubba S. Facial Expressions and Ability to Recognize Emotions From Eyes or Mouth in Children. EUROPES JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 11:183-96. [PMID: 27247651 PMCID: PMC4873105 DOI: 10.5964/ejop.v11i2.890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2014] [Accepted: 02/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
This research aims to contribute to the literature on the ability to recognize anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust and neutral emotions from facial information. By investigating children’s performance in detecting these emotions from a specific face region, we were interested to know whether children would show differences in recognizing these expressions from the upper or lower face, and if any difference between specific facial regions depended on the emotion in question. For this purpose, a group of 6-7 year-old children was selected. Participants were asked to recognize emotions by using a labeling task with three stimulus types (region of the eyes, of the mouth, and full face). The findings seem to indicate that children correctly recognize basic facial expressions when pictures represent the whole face, except for a neutral expression, which was recognized from the mouth, and sadness, which was recognized from the eyes. Children are also able to identify anger from the eyes as well as from the whole face. With respect to gender differences, there is no female advantage in emotional recognition. The results indicate a significant interaction ‘gender x face region’ only for anger and neutral emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Guarnera
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Enna "KORE", Enna, Italy
| | - Zira Hichy
- Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Maura I Cascio
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Enna "KORE", Enna, Italy
| | - Stefano Carrubba
- School of Psychology, Social Work and Human Sciences, University of West London, London, United Kingdom
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Using Other Minds as a Window Onto the World: Guessing What Happened from Clues in Behaviour. J Autism Dev Disord 2014; 44:2430-9. [PMID: 24710812 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2106-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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Charbonneau G, Bertone A, Lepore F, Nassim M, Lassonde M, Mottron L, Collignon O. Multilevel alterations in the processing of audio-visual emotion expressions in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:1002-10. [PMID: 23462241 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2012] [Revised: 01/27/2013] [Accepted: 02/13/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The abilities to recognize and integrate emotions from another person's facial and vocal expressions are fundamental cognitive skills involved in the effective regulation of social interactions. Deficits in such abilities have been suggested as a possible source for certain atypical social behaviors manifested by persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the present study, we assessed the recognition and integration of emotional expressions in ASD using a validated set of ecological stimuli comprised of dynamic visual and auditory (non-verbal) vocal clips. Autistic participants and typically developing controls (TD) were asked to discriminate between clips depicting expressions of disgust and fear presented either visually, auditorily or audio-visually. The group of autistic participants was less efficient to discriminate emotional expressions across all conditions (unimodal and bimodal). Moreover, they necessitated a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the discrimination of visual or auditory presentations of disgust versus fear expressions. These results suggest an altered sensitivity to emotion expressions in this population that is not modality-specific. In addition, the group of autistic participants benefited from exposure to bimodal information to a lesser extent than did the TD group, indicative of a decreased multisensory gain in this population. These results are the first to compellingly demonstrate joint alterations for both the perception and the integration of multisensory emotion expressions in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geneviève Charbonneau
- Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition-CERNEC, Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada
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