Recognition of Immaturity and Emotional Expressions in BlendedFaces by Children with Autism and Other DevelopmentalDisabilities

摘要

The recognition of facial immaturity andemotional expression by children with autism, languagedisorders, mental retardation, and non-disabled controlswas studied in two experiments. Children identifiedimmaturity and expression in upright and inverted faces.The autism group identified fewer immature faces andexpressions than control (Exp. 1 & 2), language disordered(Exp. 1), and mental retardation (Exp. 2) groups. Facialinversion interfered with all groups' recognition of facialimmaturity and with control and language disorderedgroups' recognition of expression. Error analyses (Exp. 1 &2) showed similarities between autism and other groups'perception of immaturity but differences in perception ofexpressions. Reasons for similarities and differences be-tween children with and without autism when perceivingfacial immaturity and expression are discussed.