Abstract
To date, studies have not established whether autistic and non-autistic individuals differ in emotion recognition from facial motion cues when matched in terms of alexithymia. Here, autistic and non-autistic adults (N = 60) matched on age, gender, non-verbal reasoning ability and alexithymia, completed an emotion recognition task, which employed dynamic point light displays of emotional facial expressions manipulated in terms of speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic participants exhibited significantly lower accuracy for angry, but not happy or sad, facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic, and not alexithymic, traits were predictive of accuracy for angry facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Alexithymic traits, in contrast, were predictive of the magnitude of both correct and incorrect emotion ratings.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1855-1871 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 28 May 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords
- Alexithymia
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Emotion recognition
- Facial expression
- Movement kinematics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology