Basic emotion recognition of children on the autism spectrum is enhanced in music and typical for faces and voices

Abstract

In contrast with findings of reduced facial and vocal emotional recognition (ER) accuracy, children on the autism spectrum (AS) demonstrate comparable ER skills to those of typically-developing (TD) children using music. To understand the specificity of purported ER differences, the goal of this study was to examine ER from music compared with faces and voices among children on the AS and TD children. Twenty-five children on the AS and 23 TD children (6–13 years) completed an ER task, using categorical (happy, sad, fear) and dimensional (valence, arousal) ratings, of emotions presented via music, faces, or voices. Compared to the TD group, the AS group showed a relative ER strength from music, and comparable performance from faces and voices. Although both groups demonstrated greater vocal ER accuracy, the children on the AS performed equally well with music and faces, whereas the TD children performed better with faces than with music. Both groups performed comparably with dimensional ratings, except for greater variability by the children on the AS in valence ratings for happy emotions. These findings highlight a need to re-examine ER of children on the AS, and to consider how facilitating strengths-based approaches can re-shape our thinking about and support for persons on the AS.