title: Knowledge of basic emotions in adolescent and adult individuals with autism.
abstract: An experiment was carried out in which 30 adolescent and adult patients with autism and 30 age- and IQ-matched Down syndrome patients were instructed to choose one of the chocolates that were hanging near four pictures displaying facial expressions of basic emotions (fear, anger, happiness, and sadness). As predicted, most of the Down syndrome patients took the chocolate near the happy face picture. Unexpectedly, however, autistic patients made more responses to the fearful face picture. Also, Down syndrome patients were more capable of naming the four basic emotions than autistic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Abnormal Psychology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muris
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meesters
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lomme
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged