Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non‐autistic adults

Abstract Background: It is unclear whether atypical patterns of facial expression production metrics in autism reflect the dynamic and nuanced nature of facial expressions or a true diagnostic difference. Further, the heterogeneity observed across autism symptomatology suggests a need for more adaptive and personalized social skills programs. For example, it would be useful to have a better understanding of the different expressiveness profiles within the autistic population and how they differ from neurotypicals to help develop systems that train facial expression production and reception. Methods:We used automated facial coding and an unsupervised clustering approach to limit inter-individual variability in facial expression production that may have otherwise obscured group differences in previous studies, allowing an "apples-to-apples" comparison between autistic and neurotypical adults. Specifically, we applied k-means clustering to identify subtypes of facial expressiveness in an autism group (N=27) and a neurotypical control group (N=57) separately. The two most stable clusters from these analyses were then further characterized and compared on the basis of their expressiveness and emotive congruence to emotionally charged stimuli. Results: Our main finding was that autistic adults show heightened spontaneous facial expressions in response to negative emotional images. The group effect did not extend to positive emotional images, and we did not find evidence for greater incongruous (i.e., inappropriate) facial expressions in autism. Conclusion: These findings build on previous work suggesting valence-specific effects of autism on emotional empathy and suggest the need for intervention programs to focus on social skills in the context of both negative and positive emotions.

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Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non-autistic adults

10.31234/osf.io/mq53a ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Connor Tom Keating ◽

Sophie Sowden ◽

Jennifer Cook

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Internal Representation ◽

Expression Recognition ◽

Internal Representations ◽

Dynamic Stimuli ◽

Facial Motion ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Autistic Adults ◽

Point Light ◽

Full Face

Recent developments suggest that autistic individuals may require static and dynamic angry expressions to be of higher emotional intensity in order for them to be successfully identified. In the case of dynamic stimuli, autistic individuals require angry facial motion to have a higher speed. Therefore, it is plausible that autistic individuals do not have a ‘deficit’ in angry expression recognition, but rather their internal representation of these expressions is characterized by very high-speed movement. In this (pre-registered) study, 25 autistic and 25 non-autistic adults matched on age, gender, non-verbal reasoning and alexithymia completed a novel emotion-based task which employed dynamic displays of happy, angry and sad point light facial (PLF) expressions. On each trial, participants moved a slider to manipulate the speed of a PLF stimulus such that it moved at a speed that, in their ‘mind’s eye’, was typical of happy, angry or sad expressions. Results showed that participants attributed the highest speeds to angry, then happy, then sad, facial motion. Participants increased the speed of angry and happy expressions by 41% and 27% respectively and decreased the speed of sad expressions by 18%. This suggests that participants have ‘caricatured’ internal representations of emotion, wherein emotion-related kinematic cues are over-emphasized. There were no differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals in the speeds attributed to full-face and partial-face (those only showing the eyes or mouth) angry, happy and sad facial motion respectively. Consequently, we find no evidence that autistic adults possess atypical fast internal representations of angry expressions.

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Chronic negative mood affects internal representations of negative facial expressions – An internet study

10.7287/peerj.preprints.622 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Jacob Jolij ◽

Sophia C. Wriedt ◽

Annika Luckmann

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Emotional State ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Negative Mood ◽

Internal Representation ◽

Reverse Correlation ◽

Internal Representations ◽

Classification Image ◽

Internet Study

Facial expressions are an important source of information in social interactions, as they effectively communicate someone’s emotional state. Not surprisingly, the human visual system is highly specialized in processing facial expressions. Interestingly, processing of facial expressions is influenced by the emotional state of the observer: in a negative mood, observers are more sensitive to negative emotional expression than when they are in a positive mood, and vice versa. Here, we investigated the effects of chronic negative mood on perception of facial expressions by means of an online reverse correlation paradigm. We administered a depression questionnaire assessing chronic negative mood over the last two weeks. We constructed a classification image for negative emotion for each participant by means of an online reverse correlation task, which were rated for intensity of expression by an independent group of observers. Here we found a strong correlation between chronic mood and intensity of expression of the internal representation: the more negative chronic mood, the less intense the negative expression of the internal representation. This experiment corroborates earlier findings that the perception of facial expression is affected by an observer’s mood, and that this effect may be the result of altered top-down internal representations of facial expression. Equally importantly, though, our results demonstrate the feasibility of applying a reverse correlation paradigm via the Internet, opening up the possibility for large-sample studies using this technique.

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Chronic negative mood affects internal representations of negative facial expressions – An internet study

10.7287/peerj.preprints.622v1 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Jacob Jolij ◽

Sophia C. Wriedt ◽

Annika Luckmann

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Emotional State ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Negative Mood ◽

Internal Representation ◽

Reverse Correlation ◽

Internal Representations ◽

Classification Image ◽

Internet Study

Facial expressions are an important source of information in social interactions, as they effectively communicate someone’s emotional state. Not surprisingly, the human visual system is highly specialized in processing facial expressions. Interestingly, processing of facial expressions is influenced by the emotional state of the observer: in a negative mood, observers are more sensitive to negative emotional expression than when they are in a positive mood, and vice versa. Here, we investigated the effects of chronic negative mood on perception of facial expressions by means of an online reverse correlation paradigm. We administered a depression questionnaire assessing chronic negative mood over the last two weeks. We constructed a classification image for negative emotion for each participant by means of an online reverse correlation task, which were rated for intensity of expression by an independent group of observers. Here we found a strong correlation between chronic mood and intensity of expression of the internal representation: the more negative chronic mood, the less intense the negative expression of the internal representation. This experiment corroborates earlier findings that the perception of facial expression is affected by an observer’s mood, and that this effect may be the result of altered top-down internal representations of facial expression. Equally importantly, though, our results demonstrate the feasibility of applying a reverse correlation paradigm via the Internet, opening up the possibility for large-sample studies using this technique.

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