title: Brief Report: Reduced Prioritization of Facial Threat in Adults with Autism.
abstract: Typically-developing (TD) adults detect angry faces more efficiently within a crowd than non-threatening faces. Prior studies of this social threat superiority effect (TSE) in ASD using tasks consisting of schematic faces and homogeneous crowds have produced mixed results. Here, we employ a more ecologically-valid test of the social TSE and find evidence of a reduced social TSE in adults with ASD (n = 21) relative to TD controls (n = 28). Unlike TD participants, the ASD group failed to show the normative advantage for detecting angry faces faster than happy faces, either within crowds of neutral or emotional faces. These findings parallel prior work indicating a reduced sensitivity in ASD to facial cues of untrustworthiness, and may reflect a vulnerability for evaluating social harm.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Dallas, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 800 W. Campbell Rd, GR41, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA. nsasson@utdallas.edu.
authors.forename: Noah J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Sasson
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Dallas, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 800 W. Campbell Rd, GR41, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathon R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Shasteen
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Dallas, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 800 W. Campbell Rd, GR41, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Pinkham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anger superiority; Emotion; Face in the crowd; Threat detection; Threat superiority