Impaired Recognition of Negative Facial Expressions Is Partly Related to Facial Perception Deficits in Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://link.springer.com/

Y

11

Recognition (Psychology); Visual Perception; Human Body; Adolescents; Autism; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Males; Nonverbal Communication; Emotional Response

10.1007/s10803-019-03915-3

0162-3257

Accumulating studies have reported facial emotion recognition or facial perception impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To clarify the specificity of the emotion recognition impairment, this study examined the relationships between facial emotion recognition and facial perception abilities in ASD. Twenty-two adolescents with high-functioning ASD (20 males) and 22 typically developing (TD) adolescents (16 males) aged 11-18 years undertook a facial emotion labeling task and a facial perception test. We found that adolescents with ASD had deficits in recognizing negative facial expressions, which correlated with both facial perception deficits and severity of social impairment. In addition, the emotion recognition deficits remained after adjusting for facial perception performance. Thus, our findings suggest an emotion-specific impairment in facial emotion recognition in ASD.

As Provided

2020

EJ1252872