Facial expression coding in children and adolescents with autism: Reduced adaptability but intact norm-based coding

Rhodes, Gillian, Burton, Nichola, Jeffery, Linda, Read, Ainsley, Taylor, Libby and Ewing, Louise ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5263-1267 (2018) Facial expression coding in children and adolescents with autism: Reduced adaptability but intact norm-based coding. British Journal of Psychology, 109 (2). pp. 204-218. ISSN 0007-1269

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Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can have difficulty recognizing emotional expressions. Here we asked whether the underlying perceptual coding of expression is disrupted. Typical individuals code expression relative to a perceptual (average) norm that is continuously updated by experience. This adaptability of face coding mechanisms has been linked to performance on various face tasks. We used an adaptation aftereffect paradigm to characterize expression coding in children and adolescents with autism. We asked whether face expression coding is less adaptable in autism and whether there is any fundamental disruption of norm-based coding. If expression coding is norm-based, then the face aftereffects should increase with adaptor expression strength (distance from the average expression). We observed this pattern in both autistic and typically developing participants, suggesting that norm-based coding is fundamentally intact in autism. Critically, however, expression aftereffects were reduced in the autism group, indicating that expression-coding mechanisms are less readily tuned by experience. Reduced adaptability has also been reported for coding of face identity and gaze direction. Thus there appears to be a pervasive lack of adaptability in face-coding mechanisms in autism, which could contribute to face processing and broader social difficulties in the disorder.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2017 05:09
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 02:44
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63685
DOI:	10.1111/bjop.12257

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