ABSTRACT
Forty-one high-functioning individuals with autism between the ages of 7 and 36 and an age and intelligence matched comparison group were investigated in their ability to recognized emotions in photographs. A colour identification task served as control condition. The autistic group was significantly impaired on the emotions task only. There was no substantial difference between groups in the structures underlying their emotional concepts (pleasantness and arousal). However, there is a trend for the autistic group to rely on other strategies in the recognition of emotions than the comparison group. These strategies may be insufficient in the appreciation of facial expressions.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/psychology , Concept Formation , Emotions , Adolescent , Adult , Arousal , Autistic Disorder/diagnosis , Child , Facial Expression , Female , Humans , Intelligence , Male , Mental Recall , Problem SolvingABSTRACT
There is evidence that autistic persons are deficient both in the expression and recognition of emotion. Emotions are viewed here as in part genetically determined, inborn behaviours with great importance for social regulations. Both in phylogenetic and in ontogenetic development there is a transgression from emotion-bound or signal-reflex-like behaviour chains towards an experience-based coupling of emotional signals with events lying outside emotional exchanges. We conjecture that in childhood autism there is a deficit in linking biologically based emotional signals to emotional experiences and/or a deficit in linking these signals to a third element. Mesocortical areas with close connections to the limbic systems appear to be involved.
Subject(s)
Affective Symptoms/psychology , Autistic Disorder/psychology , Adolescent , Affect/physiology , Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Affective Symptoms/physiopathology , Animals , Autistic Disorder/diagnosis , Autistic Disorder/physiopathology , Brain/physiopathology , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Saimiri , Verbal Behavior/physiology , Vocalization, Animal/physiologyABSTRACT
The human face provides important cues for recognition of both individuals and emotions. A card-sorting test was devised for assessing which aspects of a face are attended to primarily. The subjects were 21 5-year-old children and 18 psychology students. The task required a choice between person identity and an irrelevant aspect (hairstyle); person identity and facial expression (emotions); and as a control condition, complex visual stimuli without social meaning (form and colour). No group differences emerged with the non-social stimuli, ruling out differences between children and adults in general sorting strategies. The two groups processed non-emotional facial stimuli differently, with the children showing "mixed" sorting behaviour, and the students usually making choices based on person identity. This can be explained by different processing strategies. However, when person identity and facial expressions were the competing dimensions in the card-sorting task, both groups showed a preference for the facial expression. It is argued that this reflects the great importance of emotional signals for both children and adults. The relevance of this finding for disturbed development is discussed.