Abstract
The results of this study indicate the need to develop interventions targeting intentional facial emotional expression (EE) abilities for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD produce expressions that are perceived as less genuine than those of neurotypical children. Aspects of EE are linked to social communication challenges among people with ASD.
Primary Author and Speaker: Sharada Krishnan
Contributing Authors: Emily Kilroy, Christiana Butera, Laura Harrison, Aditya Jayashankar, Anusha Hossain, Alexis Nalbach, and Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
Difficulties in social communication are a defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Facial expression plays a vital role in nonverbal social communication. While much literature has observed that individuals with ASD have impaired recognition of others’ emotional facial expressions (Uljarevic & Hamilton, 2012; Trevisan & Burmingham, 2016), few have investigated the ability to make emotional expressions (EE) which are recognizable by neurotypical peers (Trevisan et al., 2018). Furthermore, the relationship between EE and social functioning in ASD is not well explored. Understanding communication through EE in ASD is necessary for therapy aimed at improving social skills. This study aimed to compare EE in children with ASD and typically-developing (TD) peers and explore the relationship between EE and social communication challenges in children with ASD. This quantitative study employed an experimental design. Participants aged 9-17 years old (M = 12.20, SD = 2.36) were recruited from clinics, schools, and social media groups in the Los Angeles area. Participants were age and IQ-matched across groups, and were right-handed, English speakers, and had a Full Scale IQ > 80. Inclusion criteria for the ASD group was a confirmed ASD diagnosis, and for the TD group was no existing psychiatric or developmental disorders. Twenty-two participants with ASD and 24 TD peers were filmed while demonstrating 11 emotional expressions on command. Three-second videos of expressions were each rated on average 59.06 (SD = 14.91) times by college students in surveys which included a forced-choice emotion identification question and scales for valence, arousal, and genuineness. EE accuracy was measured by the percentage of responses to forced-choice questions that matched the intended expression. An analysis of covariance was performed separately on accuracy, valence, arousal, and genuineness, with group and emotion as within-participant variables and IQ and age as covariates. Pearson correlations were conducted to relate EE measures with the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Social Responsiveness Scale Second Edition (SRS-2). A significant main effect of group was observed for genuineness (F(1,45) = 10.192, p = .002), with ASD expressions perceived as less genuine than TD expressions. Main effects of group were not observed for valence, arousal, or accuracy. For the SRS-2, angry arousal and happy arousal had significant correlations with both the Social Communication and Interaction composite score (R = -.513, p = .021; R = -.502, p = .024, respectively) and the total score (R = -.527, p = .017; R = -.455, p = .044, respectively). For the SCQ total score, robust correlations were found with both the excited arousal (R = -.665, p = .004) and surprise arousal conditions (R = -.569, p = .007). These results indicate that while individuals with ASD do not have a deficit in producing accurate, or recognizable, EEs on command, their expressions are perceived as less genuine compared to their TD peers. Overall, in the ASD group, lower perceived arousal in high arousal emotions (angry, happy, excited, surprise) was related to greater social communication difficulties and general social functioning challenges. Taken together, findings suggest that children with ASD, while able to produce recognizable EEs, have challenges with the subtler aspects of EE, such as perceived genuineness and eliciting appropriate levels of arousal in the viewer, which may contribute to social-emotional communication difficulties in ASD. These findings underscore the importance of addressing the more subtle aspects of EE in interventions for children with ASD and can inform the development of targeted interventions addressing their unique social communication needs.
Trevisan, D. A., & Birmingham, E. (2016). Are emotion recognition abilities related to everyday social functioning in ASD? A meta-analysis. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 32, 24–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.004
Trevisan, D. A., Hoskyn, M., & Birmingham, E. (2018). Facial expression production in autism: A meta-analysis. Autism Research, 11(12), 1586–1601. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2037
Uljarevic, M., & Hamilton, A. (2012). Recognition of emotions in autism: A formal meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(7), 1517–1526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1695-5