title: Emotion perception in music in high-functioning adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
abstract: Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) succeed at a range of musical tasks. The ability to recognize musical emotion as belonging to one of four categories (happy, sad, scared or peaceful) was assessed in high-functioning adolescents with ASD (N = 26) and adolescents with typical development (TD, N = 26) with comparable performance IQ, auditory working memory, and musical training and experience. When verbal IQ was controlled for, there was no significant effect of diagnostic group. Adolescents with ASD rated the intensity of the emotions similarly to adolescents with TD and reported greater confidence in their responses when they had correctly (vs. incorrectly) recognized the emotions. These findings are reviewed within the context of the amygdala theory of autism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada. evemariequintin@gmail.com
authors.forename: Eve-Marie
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Quintin
authors.forename: Anjali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhatara
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poissant
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fombonne
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Levitin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001307:Auditory Perception; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index