The ‘Reading the Mind in the Voice’ Test-Revised: A Study of Complex Emotion Recognition in Adults with and Without Autism Spectrum Conditions

People high in autistic-like traits have been found to have difficulties with recognizing emotions from nonverbal expressions. However, findings on the autism—emotion recognition relationship are inconsistent. In the present study, we investigated whether speeded reasoning ability (reasoning performance under time pressure) moderates the inverse relationship between autistic-like traits and emotion recognition performance. We expected the negative correlation between autistic-like traits and emotion recognition to be less strong when speeded reasoning ability was high. MTurkers (N = 217) completed the ten item version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10), two emotion recognition tests using videos with sound (Geneva Emotion Recognition Test, GERT-S) and pictures (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, RMET), and Baddeley's Grammatical Reasoning test to measure speeded reasoning. As expected, the higher the ability in speeded reasoning, the less were higher autistic-like traits related to lower emotion recognition performance. These results suggest that a high ability in making quick mental inferences may (partly) compensate for difficulties with intuitive emotion recognition related to autistic-like traits.

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Is it avoidance or hypoarousal? A systematic review of emotion recognition, eye-tracking, and psychophysiological studies in young adults with autism spectrum conditions

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

10.1016/j.rasd.2018.07.002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 55 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Hélio Clemente Cuve ◽

Yu Gao ◽

Akiko Fuse

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Young Adults ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽

Adults With Autism ◽

Young Adults With Autism

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Fostering Socio-Emotional Competencies in Children with Autism using a Parent-Assisted Serious Game: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

10.31219/osf.io/pgc7m ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Simone Kirst ◽

Robert Diehm ◽

Katharina Bögl ◽

Sabine Wilde-Etzold ◽

Christiane Bach ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Emotional Awareness ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Multicenter Rct ◽

Autism Symptomatology

Objective: Serious games (SGs) are a promising means of fostering socio-emotional skills in children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, alexithymia and emotional empathy have not yet been addressed adequately, and there is a lack of randomized controlled trials (RCT) to investigate skill maintenance and the transfer to functional behavior. Method: The manualized, parent-assisted SG Zirkus Empathico (ZE) was tested against an active control group, in a six-week multicenter RCT. Eighty-two children aged 5-10 years with ASC were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and three-month follow-up. Parent-rated empathy and emotion recognition skills were defined as the primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes included measures of emotional awareness, emotion regulation, autism social symptomatology (Social Responsiveness Scale), and subjective therapy goals. Results: Training effects were observed after the intervention for empathy (d = 0.71) and emotion recognition (d = 0.50), but not at follow-up. Moderate effects on emotional awareness, emotion regulation, and autism social symptomatology were indicated by the short and mid-term assessments. Parents reported treatment goal attainment and positive training transfer. Conclusion: While a six-week training with ZE failed to induce lasting changes in empathy and emotion recognition, it may be effective for improving emotion regulation and mitigate alexithymia and general autism symptomatology.

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Imitation and recognition of facial emotions in autism: a computer vision approach

Molecular Autism ◽

10.1186/s13229-021-00430-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hanna Drimalla ◽

Irina Baskow ◽

Behnoush Behnia ◽

Stefan Roepke ◽

Isabel Dziobek

Keyword(s):

Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽

Group Differences ◽

Emotional Expressions ◽

Adults With Autism ◽

Recognition Of Facial Expressions ◽

Computer Based

Abstract Background Imitation of facial expressions plays an important role in social functioning. However, little is known about the quality of facial imitation in individuals with autism and its relationship with defining difficulties in emotion recognition. Methods We investigated imitation and recognition of facial expressions in 37 individuals with autism spectrum conditions and 43 neurotypical controls. Using a novel computer-based face analysis, we measured instructed imitation of facial emotional expressions and related it to emotion recognition abilities. Results Individuals with autism imitated facial expressions if instructed to do so, but their imitation was both slower and less precise than that of neurotypical individuals. In both groups, a more precise imitation scaled positively with participants’ accuracy of emotion recognition. Limitations Given the study’s focus on adults with autism without intellectual impairment, it is unclear whether the results generalize to children with autism or individuals with intellectual disability. Further, the new automated facial analysis, despite being less intrusive than electromyography, might be less sensitive. Conclusions Group differences in emotion recognition, imitation and their interrelationships highlight potential for treatment of social interaction problems in individuals with autism.

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Is it Avoidance or Hypoarousal? A systematic review of emotion recognition, eye-tracking, and psychophysiological studies in young adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions

10.31234/osf.io/jrypt ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Helio Clemente Cuve ◽

Yu Gao ◽

Akiko Fuse

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Young Adults ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Integrative Model ◽

Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽

Autonomic Arousal ◽

Adults With Autism ◽

Gaze Patterns ◽

Young Adults With Autism

A systematic review was conducted for studies exploring the link between gaze patterns, autonomic arousal and emotion recognition deficits (ERD) in young adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) in the context of the eye-avoidance/hyperarousal and the orientation/hypoarousal hypotheses. These hypotheses suggest that ERD in ASC can be explained by either exacerbated physiological arousal to eye-contact interfering with emotion recognition, or blunted arousal not engaging the necessary attention and awareness mechanisms to process emotionally salient cues, respectively. Most studies have suggested that individuals with ASC display an overall reduced attention to the eyes, however, this was not always associated with ERD, and some studies also reported ERD with no evidence of atypical gaze patterns. The evidence from psychophysiological studies is also mixed. While some studies supported that individuals with ASC are hypoaroused during emotion processing, others reported hyperarousal or even partially supported both. Overall, these results suggest that the current autonomic arousal and gaze hypotheses cannot fully account for ERD in ASC. A new integrative model is proposed, suggesting a two-pathway mechanism, in which avoidance and orientation processes might independently lead to ERD in ASC. Current methodological limitations, the influence of alexithymia, and implications are discussed.

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