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What's in a face? The case of autism
Author(s) -
Hobson R. P.,
Ouston J.,
Lee A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1988.tb02745.x
Subject(s) - psychology , autism , facial expression , perception , abnormality , emotion perception , face perception , developmental psychology , emotional expression , identity (music) , cognitive psychology , communication , social psychology , neuroscience , physics , acoustics
Groups of verbal MA‐matched autistic and non‐autistic retarded adolescents and young adults were tested for their ability to recognize emotion and personal identity in photographed faces and parts of faces. The tasks were to match expressions of emotion across different individuals, and to identify unfamiliar individuals despite changes in emotional expression. Faces were also presented upside‐down. The results indicated a specific abnormality in the way autistic individuals perceive emotion, and possibly sex, in people's faces. In addition, however, autistic subjects’ superior ability in matching upside‐down faces suggested a more far‐reaching abnormality in their perception of faces.