Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been associated with facial affect recognition (FAR) alterations. Methods: This study examined accuracy and response times for general and specific FAR in whole face and eye-region stimuli. FAR was...

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Main Authors: Berggren, S., Engström, A., Bölte, Sven
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59487
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author Berggren, S.
Engström, A.
Bölte, Sven
author_facet Berggren, S.
Engström, A.
Bölte, Sven
author_sort Berggren, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been associated with facial affect recognition (FAR) alterations. Methods: This study examined accuracy and response times for general and specific FAR in whole face and eye-region stimuli. FAR was assessed in matched samples of children and adolescents with ASD (n = 35), ADHD (n = 32), and typical development (TD) (n = 32) aged 8.6–15.9 years (M = 11.6; SD = 2.0). Results: Compared to TD, the ASD group performed less accurate and showed longer response times for general and specific FAR, mostly driven by problems in neutral and happy face identification. The ADHD group responded faster than the ASD group for global FAR. No differences between ADHD and TD were found. Attentional distractibility had a significant effect on FAR performance in ASD and ADHD. Conclusions: Findings confirm FAR alterations in ASD, but not ADHD, and endorse effects of attentional distractibility on FAR in ASD and ADHD. FAR and attention function training is clinically meaningful in ASD. Future studies should include control for visual attention and facial configuration skills, use naturalistic FAR material and also investigate implicit FAR.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-594872018-03-13T01:38:30Z Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development Berggren, S. Engström, A. Bölte, Sven Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been associated with facial affect recognition (FAR) alterations. Methods: This study examined accuracy and response times for general and specific FAR in whole face and eye-region stimuli. FAR was assessed in matched samples of children and adolescents with ASD (n = 35), ADHD (n = 32), and typical development (TD) (n = 32) aged 8.6–15.9 years (M = 11.6; SD = 2.0). Results: Compared to TD, the ASD group performed less accurate and showed longer response times for general and specific FAR, mostly driven by problems in neutral and happy face identification. The ADHD group responded faster than the ASD group for global FAR. No differences between ADHD and TD were found. Attentional distractibility had a significant effect on FAR performance in ASD and ADHD. Conclusions: Findings confirm FAR alterations in ASD, but not ADHD, and endorse effects of attentional distractibility on FAR in ASD and ADHD. FAR and attention function training is clinically meaningful in ASD. Future studies should include control for visual attention and facial configuration skills, use naturalistic FAR material and also investigate implicit FAR. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59487 10.1080/13546805.2016.1171205 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Berggren, S.
Engström, A.
Bölte, Sven
Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title_full Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title_fullStr Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title_full_unstemmed Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title_short Facial affect recognition in autism, ADHD and typical development
title_sort facial affect recognition in autism, adhd and typical development
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59487