title: The 'Reading the Mind in Films' Task [child version]: complex emotion and mental state recognition in children with and without autism spectrum conditions.
abstract: Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties recognizing others' emotions. Research has mostly focused on basic emotion recognition, devoid of context. This study reports the results of a new task, assessing recognition of complex emotions and mental states in social contexts. An ASC group (n = 23) was compared to a general population control group (n = 24). Children with ASC performed lower than controls on the task. Using task scores, more than 87% of the participants were allocated to their group. This new test quantifies complex emotion and mental state recognition in life-like situations. Our findings reveal that children with ASC have residual difficulties in this aspect of empathy. The use of language-based compensatory strategies for emotion recognition is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. golano1@mail.biu.ac.il
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Golan
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baron-Cohen
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Golan
mesh_terms: D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D003210:Concept Formation; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D013067:Speech Perception