scholarly journals Reading the mind in cartoon eyes: Comparing human versus cartoon emotion recognition in those with high and low levels of autistic traits

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412098813
Author(s):  
Gray Atherton ◽  
Liam Cross

People who have a high degree of autistic traits often underperform on theory of mind tasks such as perspective-taking or facial emotion recognition compared to those with lower levels of autistic traits. However, some research suggests that this may not be the case if the agent they are evaluating is anthropomorphic (i.e. animal or cartoon) rather than typically human. The present studies examined the relation between facial emotion recognition and autistic trait profiles in over 750 adults using either a standard or cartoon version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) test. Results showed that those scoring above the clinical cut off for autistic traits on the Autism Quotient performed significantly worse than those with the lowest levels of autistic traits on the standard RME, while scores across these groups did not differ substantially on the cartoon version of the task. These findings add further evidence that theory of mind ability such as facial emotion recognition is not at a global deficit in those with a high degree of autistic traits. Instead, differences in this ability may be specific to evaluating human agents.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Tortadès ◽  
Roberto Gonzalez ◽  
Francesc Alpiste ◽  
Joaquín Fernandez ◽  
Jordi Torner ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Emotional Recognition (ER) is one of the areas most affected in people with schizophrenia. However, there are no software tools available for the assessment of ER. The interactive software program ‘Feeling Master’ (a cartoon facial recognition tool) was developed to investigate the deficit in facial emotion recognition (FER) with a sample of patients with schizophrenia in a pilot project framework. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to test the usability of ‘Feeling Master’ as a psychotherapeutic interactive gaming tool for the assessment of emotional recognition in people with schizophrenia compared with healthy people, and the relationship between FER, attributional style and theory of mind. METHODS Nineteen individuals with schizophrenia and 17 healthy control (HC) subjects completed the ‘Feeling Master’ including five emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and surprise). Regarding the group with schizophrenia they were evaluated with the Personal and Situational Attribution Questionnaire (IPSAQ) and the Hinting Task (Theory of Mind) to evaluate social cognition. RESULTS Patients with schizophrenia showed impairments in emotion recognition and they remained slower than the HC in the recognition of each emotion (P<.001). Regarding the impairment in the recognition of each emotion we only found a trend toward significance in error rates on fear discrimination (P=.07). And the correlations between correct response on the ‘Feeling Master’ and the hinting task showed significant values in the correlation of surprise and theory of mind (P=.046). CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, the study puts forward the usability of the ‘Feeling Master’ in FER for people with schizophrenia. These findings lend support to the notion that difficulties in emotion recognition are more prevalent in people with schizophrenia, and that these are associated with impairment in ToM, suggesting the potential utility of the FER in the rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 835-839
Author(s):  
Eunchong Seo ◽  
Se Jun Koo ◽  
Ye Jin Kim ◽  
Jee Eun Min ◽  
Hye Yoon Park ◽  
...  

Objective The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is a common measure of the Theory of Mind. Previous studies found a correlation between RMET performance and neurocognition, especially reasoning by analogy; however, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. Additionally, neurocognition was shown to play a significant role in facial emotion recognition. This study is planned to examine the nature of relationship between neurocognition and RMET performance, as well as the mediating role of facial emotion recognition.Methods One hundred fifty non-clinical youths performed the RMET. Reasoning by analogy was tested by Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) and facial emotion recognition was assessed by the Korean Facial Expressions of Emotion (KOFEE) test. The percentile bootstrap method was used to calculate the parameters of the mediating effects of facial emotion recognition on the relationship between SPM and RMET scores.Results SPM scores and KOFEE scores were both statistically significant predictors of RMET scores. KOFEE scores were found to partially mediate the impact of SPM scores on RMET scores.Conclusion These findings suggested that facial emotion recognition partially mediated the relationship between reasoning by analogy and social cognition. This study highlights the need for further research for individuals with serious mental illnesses.


2011 ◽  
Vol 189 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Javier Martino ◽  
Sergio Adrián Strejilevich ◽  
Guillermo Fassi ◽  
Eliana Marengo ◽  
Ana Igoa

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Peter A. Gloor ◽  
Andrea Fronzetti Colladon ◽  
Erkin Altuntas ◽  
Cengiz Cetinkaya ◽  
Maximilian F. Kaiser ◽  
...  

Can we really “read the mind in the eyes”? Moreover, can AI assist us in this task? This paper answers these two questions by introducing a machine learning system that predicts personality characteristics of individuals on the basis of their face. It does so by tracking the emotional response of the individual’s face through facial emotion recognition (FER) while watching a series of 15 short videos of different genres. To calibrate the system, we invited 85 people to watch the videos, while their emotional responses were analyzed through their facial expression. At the same time, these individuals also took four well-validated surveys of personality characteristics and moral values: the revised NEO FFI personality inventory, the Haidt moral foundations test, the Schwartz personal value system, and the domain-specific risk-taking scale (DOSPERT). We found that personality characteristics and moral values of an individual can be predicted through their emotional response to the videos as shown in their face, with an accuracy of up to 86% using gradient-boosted trees. We also found that different personality characteristics are better predicted by different videos, in other words, there is no single video that will provide accurate predictions for all personality characteristics, but it is the response to the mix of different videos that allows for accurate prediction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Tortadès ◽  
Roberto Gonzalez ◽  
Francesc Alpiste ◽  
Joaquin Fernandez ◽  
Jordi Torner ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED The interactive software “Feeling Master” (a Cartoon Facial Recognition Tool) was developed to investigate the deficit in facial emotion recognition (FER) with a sample of patients with schizophrenia in a pilot project framework. 24 persons with schizophrenia and 17 healthy control (HC) subjects completed the “Feeling Master” including five emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear and surprise). Regarding the group with schizophrenia they were evaluated with the Personal and Situational Attribution Questionnaire (IPSAQ) and the Hinting Task (Theory of Mind) to evaluate social cognition. Descriptive data showed suitable usability, adaptability, effectiveness and efficiency of “feeling master”. Patients with schizophrenia showed impairments in emotion recognition. The individuals with schizophrenia remained slower than the HC in the recognition of each emotion. Regarding the impairment in the recognition of each emotion we only have found significant error rates on fear discrimination (P=.07). And the correlations between correct response on the “Feeling Master” and the Hinting Task showed significant values in the correlation of surprise and Theory of Mind (P=.46). In conclusion, the study puts forward the usability of the “feeling master” in FER for people with schizophrenia. These findings lend support to the notion that difficulties in emotion recognition are more prevalent in people with schizophrenia, and those are associated with an imparment in ToM, suggesting the potential utility of the FER in the rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia.


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