FACIAL EXPRESSION RECOGNITION DEFICITS IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are an umbrella term for lifelong neurobehavioral disorders characterized by a set of social (verbal and nonverbal) communication challenges and behaviors and restricted, repetitive behaviors. Emotions serve many functions, but primarily they help with the appraisal of stimuli and driving of responses. Emotional processing and facial recognition are integral abilities that influence the acquisition of social skills. For individuals with ASD, it is hypothesized that facial recognition deficits contribute to social communication traits. The bulk of previously conducted research has utilized static images of facial expressions. This study utilized videos of spontaneous expressions. Participants were tasked with labeling facial expression valence. Neither a participants’ level of ASD severity or their age were significant predictors of facial expression valence labeling. Furthermore, neither independent variable, age or ASD severity level, had a significant impact on their overall accuracy of labeling facial expression valence. On average, videos of a happy facial expression were most correctly labeled, while sad faces on average were the most incorrectly labeled videos