title: Discrimination of face identities and expressions in children with autism: same or different?
abstract: Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) characterized by the association of communication and socialization impairments, and by repetitive stereotyped behaviours. The Minnesota Test of Affective Processing (MNTAP) was used to investigate the discrimination of face identities and face expressions by autistic children. Young children in the 6- to 10-year-old age range suffering from PDD were compared to paired normal children. When the expressions on faces remained neutral, autistic patients had more difficulty in distinguishing different faces than in matching the same facial identities in face pairs: they perceived different faces as being identical. However, recognition errors disappeared when expressions were changed together with face identity. When autistic children were asked to distinguish expressions, they discriminated better identity than difference, just as normal children do. Analysis of face and expression discrimination in terms of identity and difference is a novel approach for the understanding of the clinical features of autism. Autistic children seek sameness and use an atypical strategy to analyse human faces and expressions.
authors.affiliation: Equipe Développement de l'unité, INSERM U 483, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, 149-161 rue de Sèvres, 75015 Paris, France. laurence.robel@free.fr
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Robel
authors.forename: Kéreddin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ennouri
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Piana
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vaivre-Douret
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perier
authors.forename: Martine F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Flament
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mouren-Siméoni
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception