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Impairment in face processing in autism spectrum disorder: a developmental perspective

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Findings on face identity and facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are inconclusive. Moreover, little is known about the developmental trajectory of face processing skills in ASD. Taking a developmental perspective, the aim of this study was to extend previous findings on face processing skills in a sample of adolescents and adults with ASD. N = 38 adolescents and adults (13–49 years) with high-functioning ASD and n = 37 typically developing (TD) control subjects matched for age and IQ participated in the study. Moreover, n = 18 TD children between the ages of 8 and 12 were included to address the question whether face processing skills in ASD follow a delayed developmental pattern. Face processing skills were assessed using computerized tasks of face identity recognition (FR) and identification of facial emotions (IFE). ASD subjects showed impaired performance on several parameters of the FR and IFE task compared to TD control adolescents and adults. Whereas TD adolescents and adults outperformed TD children in both tasks, performance in ASD adolescents and adults was similar to the group of TD children. Within the groups of ASD and control adolescents and adults, no age-related changes in performance were found. Our findings corroborate and extend previous studies showing that ASD is characterised by broad impairments in the ability to process faces. These impairments seem to reflect a developmentally delayed pattern that remains stable throughout adolescence and adulthood.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all participants with their families who took part in this study.

Conflict of interest

B. H.-D. receives industry research funding from Vifor Pharma. K. K. received speaking fees from Novartis and Medice. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

    Ellen Greimel, Martin Schulte-Rüther & Kerstin Konrad

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

    Ellen Greimel & Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Munich, Pettenkoferstraße 8a, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Ellen Greimel

  4. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Campus Marburg, Germany

    Inge Kamp-Becker & Helmut Remschmidt

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  1. Ellen Greimel
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  2. Martin Schulte-Rüther
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Correspondence to Ellen Greimel.

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Greimel, E., Schulte-Rüther, M., Kamp-Becker, I. et al. Impairment in face processing in autism spectrum disorder: a developmental perspective. J Neural Transm 121, 1171–1181 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1206-2

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